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Pain meds post-op

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  • Pain meds post-op

    I was wondering if anyone could share their experiences about how long their child was on pain meds after surgery. Also, are you given instructions on how your child should be weaned off of these meds?

    I'm reading a lot about withdrawl, but I'm not sure if it's more of a difficulty with the older population than with the teens.

    Any advice would be appreciated.

    Thanks!

  • #2
    Doesn't anyone have any thoughts on this?

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    • #3
      My son was on narcotic pain meds for about 2 1/2 weeks post-op. His pain was unbelievably minimal to me (I'm a pain wimp) and he felt much better off the meds - more normal and able to eat and focus more clearly. He took a couple of regular strength tylenols whenever he had a need for meds after that.

      What seemed to help his pain the most was walking. Anytime he seemed to be feeling any pain, I'd suggest a walk. He always said it helped him to feel better. Luckily I was able to be around that whole summer to walk with him as needed.

      We were given no instructions about weaning off the meds. It just sort of happened naturally. First I stopped waking him up to take them. Then we started seeing how long he could go before he wanted to take something strong for the pain. If the pain came on too badly (once this happened) we went back to the scheduled times of dosages.

      I don't think there's really a risk of addiction with such a temporary situation for most kids.

      Good luck with everything!
      Laurie

      Mother of Alexander & Zachary:
      Alex is 16 years old and in the 11th grade. He has congenital scoliosis due to a hemivertebrae at T10. Wore a TLSO brace for 3 1/2 years. Pre-op curves were T45 & L65; curves post-op are approx. T31 & L34. Had a posterior spinal fusion from T8 to L3 on 7/12/07 at age 12. Doing great now in so many ways, but still working on improving posture.
      Zach is 13 years old and very energetic.

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      • #4
        Thank you, Laurie. This does help. I've tried to read back through the posts of the children who had surgery last fall, but I must be missing about how most of the children cope with being weaned off of the meds.

        I only remember Mary Lou saying that her dd wasn't on the meds for very long either.

        Any other moms want to weigh in?

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        • #5
          Hi
          I had my surgery at the beginning of the summer. I was on pain meds consistantly for the first 2 1/2 weeks. After that, I just naturally started spacing out the doses (usually because I forgot, got busy, or just wasnt in much pain) so that I would go 8-9 hours between some doses instead of 4-6. When I went to my 3 week appointment, my doctor suggested replacing every other dose with tylenol to start and then to gradually start taking more tylenol and less vicodin. I did that and have been completely off pain meds since 4-5 weeks post-op. I still take the tylenol every once in a while (probably once every 2-3 days) but I am pretty much pain free at 2 months post op. My surgeon gave me a back up prescription of vicodin at my 6 week appointment so that I would have in just in case, but I haven't needed it. I had no problems with withdrawl.

          I agree with Laurie about the walking. I felt so much better when I was walking and getting out of the house. I found I needed the pain meds much more on the days that I was just lying around. I think it made me pretty stiff.
          Sarah
          22 year old grad student
          Boston brace from 12-14
          surgery on June 1, 2009 T3 to L2
          Yale New Haven Hospital Dr. Grauer
          Thoracic curve 47*
          Thoracolumbar curve 54*

          Surgery Photos
          http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...8&l=a2a5799140

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          • #6
            We've definitely been doing slow weaning. My daughter is 4 weeks post op and is down to 1/2 a pain pill before bed. We still have that fear she will hurt herself while sleeping. We plan to stop that this week. She left the hospital with a prescription to take every six hours that was supposed to last 2 weeks. We still have the same bottle and if we stop all pills this week, there will still be some to throw away. I was concerned about possible withdrawal so I didn't push her off of them.
            Anyway, after a few days at home I started waiting till she said she was hurting before giving her another pill, but did not go more than the six hours during the night for that first week. During the second week she started going longer and longer between pills between pills during the day and I started to see how long she could go during the night till it was one pill before bed and one 12 hours later. Then just a few days after that I made her try half a pill during the day and a few days after that no pill in the morning. I waited till she said she felt sick when she laid down at night to cut that pill in half. Now we have the goal to be done with that in a couple nights.
            I may have drawn it out too long, but I believe in waiting for cues to be confident I am doing the right thing.
            Good luck to you.

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            • #7
              Thank you, all! This is a big help!

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              • #8
                Pain meds post-op

                My 17 year old daughter was on the pain meds about 6 weeks. After about 4 weeks she gradually reduced her dose. I basically left it up to her. Now at 8 weeks post op she doesn't even take Tylenol. (She says it doesn't work anyway so I guess she must be putting up with a little discomfort still.) What helped her a lot during the first month was having Lydocaine patches (2 patches on 12 hours/off for 12 hours. I usually put one patch upper right and one patch lower left and then alternate the position of the patches the next day) in addition to the pills. She said that those patches really helped a lot.
                .

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