Post op pain and sickness, please help :(

[Vincentcat]

Hi everyone

I had my 2nd lap 10 days ago where they mobilised my rectum and urethra as they were embedded in my pelvic wall, removed adhesions and endo from bowel, bladder, rectum, ovaries, uterus.

I expected to feel pain and generally not great but I'm feeling a lot worse than expected. The pain in my left side is relentless, won't go with strong pain relief, but what's worse almost is constant nautia and vomiting. I haven't physically been sick many times but since a day or two after the op I've felt sick all day and night, like I could vomit at any minute. I ended back in the hospital 3 days ago, they took blood and dipped my wee and said no obvious signs of infection, although my inflammation markers were very high, unsurprisingly. They said I was just overdoing it and to give myself atleast another week before I notice any improvement, I just don't know how much longer I can handle this.

I had complications following my first op but I never felt this awful. Has anyone else experienced this or have any advice as to what I should do?

Thanks ladies xxx

[RJS626]

It sounds almost rude to give such an obvious response, but do get yourself some anti-nausea medication. I had a horrendous post-op recovery where a huge bubble of gas was caught between my bowel and diaphragm which caused tremendous pain, but worst for me was constant absolutely intolerable nausea. I was taken to A&E because I couldn't breathe, lay, eat, talk, go to the toilet without pain and between the strong pain relief and the anti-nausea meds, it was the latter that made all the difference to my recovery. You just can't get your strength up while nauseas to ride out the pain, and the pain relief might be contributing to the nausea depending on what you're taking. As well as anti-nausea meds, my lap leaflet mentioned sea bands which you can order for two quid online, they are wristbands which target anti-nausea pressure points. I don't know whether they work myself, but it's worth trying if you can as it won't affect the anti-nausea medicine. Remember to stay as hydrated as possible as dehydration contributes to nausea significantly, obviously. Sorry I don't have any proper tips but I guessed you might not have anti-nausea medication to hand as you hadn't mentioned it, and for me it really was the biggest life saver.

[Vincentcat in reply to RJS626]

Thank you so much for your reply, sorry it's taken so long for me to reply!

I should have said you're absolutely right but I have anti-emetics, cyclizine and ondansetron. I even have cyclizine injections that my husband administers for me as he's a trained nurse. So I have the anti sickness side covered, but honestly only the injections have been taking the edge off for a few hours and they're 8 hourly!

It seems that if I eat little and often and pretty much don't get out of bed the sickness and pain is manageable now, but even a shower or a potter into the kitchen is enough to leave me in a sweat and not sure if I'm going to vomit. Is that normal? I've had a lot done and I guess I may just have an unrealistic expectation of when I should be feeling better, just so hard to judge when you can't see your insides!

Absolutely no harm in those sea bands, I've put a cold flannel over my wrists which is strangely cathartic. Can I ask when you went into A&E did they give you anti-sickness medication through a canula or orally? I feel like I need some more fast acting anti-sickness and pain relief to almost give me the ability to relax and rest, I'm so tense because of the pain and worried because when I feel sick it feels like it could happen at any second! Xx

[RJS626 in reply to Vincentcat]

Don't apologise for any delay in responding!! From what I have read on here, the way you're feeling is to be expected if you had a lot done. I think we can all be guilty of rushing to get back to normal when we'd ordinarily tell other people to stay rested if they were us. The anti-sickness medication was only prescribed to take home with me and that was oral, 8 hourly too (I think ondansetron). That does sound really rough, at least it sounds like you have great support in your husband. If you do start to worry though don't be reluctant to call your GP or anything. Hope you find today a little easier and hopefully if you have more reassurance that you shouldn't be trying to get back to normal yet you can relax easier and find that makes a difference too xx

[amelialloyd]

I am so sorry you’re going through this, it really is horrendous. had agonising unrelenting pain following total pelvic peritoneal excision and felt so nauseous and like I was crawling out of my skin. I rang my surgeon who asked the dr in the hospital to prescribe me some anti nausea meds. I would strongly advise you ask your doctor to prescribe you some, it should give you some relief.

Fresh ginger tea also helped to settle the nausea. It is unpleasant to drink but makes a big difference.

As for the pain, I’m so sorry that the pain in your left is awful. I had a similar thing after my op and I was told I’d had as much pain relief as I could.

Another nurse came in on shift and recognised that the pain meds I was on were not working for my body.

She said that just because the drug is classed as a strong medication doesn’t necessarily mean it works for your body and that not everyone will get pain relief from certain drugs. I didn’t get any pain relief whatsoever from tramadol, but a painkiller classed as less ‘strong’ (codiene with other things) worked well for me. The nurse said that it’s all to do with how your body processes chemicals and everyone processes different chemicals differently.

So I would strongly recommend you contact a doctor and tell them you are in too much pain to handle, and ask what you can change to.

Hope you’re okay xxxxx

[Vincentcat in reply to amelialloyd]

Hi. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. That is so true about pain meds, it seemed as a matter of course after my c-section all women got given tramadol, maybe it has less effect on your milk or something, but co-codamol is definitely my go to drug. It's felt more like a cramping pain this time, very specifically in my left side and left lower back. Because I had everyone scraped off my pelvic wall I'm wondering if it was mainly on that's left side and that's why I have the pain there. Co-codamol definitely dulls the pain, the hospital advised diclofenac suppositories, I used them for 4 nights but didn't feel any relief so stopped.

I just wish I knew what was a normal amount of time to expect to atleast start to feel better? I saw my surgeons on Sunday and they said give it atleast another week so maybe I'm just rushing to feel better too soon?

Thanks again xx