What does post-op pain compare to?

[bluestone]

My surgeon always stressed to me that this surgery is a very personal thing-you cant compare yourself to other people because some have more work done than others.For example he apparantly did a lot of work on my lower back which explains why I was in horrendous pain around my right hip for weeks-couldnt even walk to the bathroom without gritting my teeth-doesnt mean that will happen to you.
Plus my spine was in his words 'stiff and hard work' which resulted in him having to use 28 screws-especially around the apex of my spine-which is why im having problems with some protruding ones there.

Everyone is dfferent so please dont think that because someone said they have awful pain it will mean you will too.

[progress]

Pain

In hospital the worst pain was from a bowel ilius. I would suggest doing everything possible to avoid this. My spine area itself didn't hurt at all. I had a bad abdominal ache like a severe gnawing stitch that was so bad they gave me a scan to rule out something insidious. That went away slowly over a few weeks. My surgery was all posterior and I'm still not sure what that pain was but my doctor said he did a lot of work on that side. Because my bowel was so distended I went off all pain medication except panadol for a few days around day 5 and it wasn't that bad, it was the abdominal ache that got me back on tramadol. Now at almost 5 months I get a bit of soreness around the lower right back and a little mild sciatic feeling on that side. I think once I start stretching this will help because I think I have really tightened up. Does anyone else need to do stretches and how early after surgery is ok?
Kelly

[Kayde]

Post op pain

I had children -natural childbirth and I don't think I would compare my post op pain to that. I would compare it more to the worst sunburn of your life. Your skin feels funny and everything hurts to touch it for a while like deep inside. You constantly need the pain relief but you can move and get around you just get sore and you walk funny Then comes the itchy phase and if you have any rotation correction you ribs feel like you were hit by a baseball bat. With that said I'm glad to say like sunburns it only lasted for me a few days relatively speaking. I was off the oxy in 2 weeks. Didn't know you had to wean off so the withdrawals were no fun. I thought I had the flu lol. Anyway my dr put me on butrans patches and gave me lidoderm patches and that got me thru the sore ribs when I became more active. Still need it ever so often. He also got me a e-stim that if I overdo I can use to help relieve the pain. It is much better than the tenz unit they suggested first.

[Roxjanine]

My earlier post referred to post op pain after Day three when my epidurals were removed. My immediate post op pain and for the three days I had the epidurals, was nil. Just a general, mild achiness which didn't stop me from sleeping. I wonder why they don't use the epidurals (I had two) in the US. Anybody got any information on this? My surgeon sets the epidurals before closing.

Is it because of a fear of infection at the epidural site?

I have to say it did give me a three day break after surgery, to sleep and recuperate before I had any pain, which I was grateful for.

My Dr said he didnt like the epidural because it is too numbing and it could prevent them from knowing if you are pain free because of the medication or if something could actually be wrong. Essentially, the pain is good indicator that there isnt any nerve damage etc.