Abdominal pain 4 weeks post laproscopy

[Giantwillowaphid]

Hiya, I had a laprascopic endometriosis removal 4 weeks ago- it was a bit unexpected as it was initially just for a look around, but turned out to be stage 3 and they had to remove a fair bit. I also had the mirena coil fitted.

Recovery has been pretty onerous, gas pains took a week to subside, wounds took 3 weeks before they finally started to heal up, and I'm still not able to walk more than about 10 minutes without pain.

The latest thing is abdominal pain when I do anything. Feels sort of like a pulled muscle, but I haven't been heavy lifting or doing anything in particular. Is this normal? The surgeon implied I would be fine after a couple of weeks so feeling like I'm doing recovery wrong rn lol.

[Lofty1589]

Very normal! For me, it was 6-8 weeks before my stomach even started to feel better. A lot has been removed meaning there will be a substantial amount of internal healing going on. My local Endo nurse said it can sometimes take up to 12 weeks to start feeling better and notice a difference

[Giantwillowaphid in reply to Lofty1589]

Oh thank you! That is so good to know. It does feel more like a 'healing' sort of pain than what it was before, but I am so desperate to get back to working and doing things properly and don't want anything to go wrong and curtail recovery further. I guess I just have to be patient and give myself time...

[Lofty1589 in reply to Giantwillowaphid]

Giving yourself time is the most frustrating part because you appear all healed from the outside. I had 4 weeks off work and I work from home so thankfully it wasn’t too bad heading back to work. Just ensure to rest plenty and keep your fluids up. Wait until week 6 or so to start lifting heavier things and stop immediately if there is pain

[KittyTherapy]

Hi, I had surgery in March of this year, they did quite a lot to remove the adhesions, endometrioma and save my ovary. I also had the coil fitted.

Information was so poor re. Recovery and i too was under the impression that i should be mostly up and running by a couple of weeks. I understand everyone is different but i feel they should of prepared me better. I was also struggling with my mood particularly in the first week post op, I think bc of all the meds as well as the surgery.

I was signed off for 6 weeks. Didn't start doing anything until 2 weeks (pretty much stuck in bed). Then when I went back to work I came back on phased return. I already had reasonable adjustments in place prior to my op but I also had a review appt with occupational health when I came back.

Even though the surgery is keyhole, it's still major surgery with all the internal stuff they've done so remember that and take the time you need. As said, internal takes much longer to heal than external x

[Giantwillowaphid in reply to KittyTherapy]

Thank you, really is heartening to know it's not just me! My work is in landscape maintenance so it's very physical and seems like I should definitely lower my expectations as to when I can crack on with it!

My endo came on so quickly, I went from walking 13km a day to barely being able to stagger across the garden in about 8 months, proper life on hold nonsense. So I think with the surgery done I just want it to be 'over' already.

[KittyTherapy in reply to Giantwillowaphid]

Sounds like a huge adjustment for you when your usually so active. Definitely just remember to pace yourself and cut yourself some slack when you do go back to work! I did find that the more active I became, I was spotting more but that has slowly improved and the gynae didn't seem concerned by this