Problems post-op

Hi everyone

I am a bit concerned about what I am experiencing after my surgery?

I underwent a laparoscopy 4 days ago. Was in theatre almost 2 hours and experienced very high pain levels post-op. I remained in Hospital overnight and was sent home the following day.

The pain was still a huge issue and we even had to phone to doctor to prescribe stronger pain relief.

I’ve been experiencing this constant high pain level along with nausea and feeling faint. However I did feel quite a bit better yesterday and even went on a short walk.

Unfortunately this was short lived and I have been well again.

Last night I woke up with severe pain in my incisions (particularly the belly button one) which has lasted all day. The pain is also around my general pelvic area and is so intense - the pain relief I am taking does not take it away and it only ever takes the edge off for a couple of hours. I have also had bad nausea and sickness and have struggled to walk around today without everything going black and me feeling like I’m going to pass out.

My wounds look fine so I don’t think there is an infection. The medication I am taking is paracetamol, naproxen and tramadol. I also have an anti sickness drug.

Is this normal or should I be concerned?

Thanks in advance

Lauren

[Sfarre]

To be honest, this sounds the same as what I went through. I was in considerable pain and discomfort for about three weeks (I'm now 6 weeks post op and mostly back to normal). I went back to the doctors about a week after surgery and they upped my codeine to the max allowed dose and told me to not leave any breaks between taking it. Make sure you get plenty of rest. I found lots of pillows around me and under my knees helped a lot with getting comfortable. I found that herbal tea (fennel, camomile) helped me with the sickness and nausea. I also stuck to a liquid diet (soups, smoothies etc) for a while which also helped.

Try to stay positive and don't push yourself too hard, recovery from surgery is a process but you'll get there.

Obviously, if there are warning signs of infection (pus, red around wounds, not healing or pain getting increasingly worse) then definitely go get it checked out.

[Hidden in reply to Sfarre]

Hi Sfarre thanks for your reply!

I am going to my GP tomorrow to talk about pain relief (as I am also on other medication for other conditions). I just didn’t expect it to be like this! My first 2 laps were not as painful as this.

Thanks for the tips about pillows - I hadn’t thought much about using them to help me.

Thank you ❤️