I had a radical hysterectomy in Nov 2012. Within 2 days of surgery i started with discomfort in the buttock area. Initially I thought it was

[Kizzybelle22]

due to having spent 2 days in bed without moving very much. Ten months later it is still a big problem for me. Sitting is very uncomfortable. I am taking prescribed painkillers that have little effect. I am having weekly physio appts and nothing is helping. I did see a pain specialist a few months ago who said I would not recover, and he thought it was due to a long surgery without being moved. Has anyone else has this, or have any advice to aid recovery ???

[wendydee]

Since I had surgery, ten years ago, I had pain in my lower back which seemed to impact on my sciatic nerve area, buttock, outer leg in the outer thigh, about half way down and just below the knee on the outer side of my leg. I went to the hospital back clinic after x rays and a dexa scan showed nothing. I went to an osteopath and, although it was better immediately after the treatment, it stayed the same. I gave up exercise, then reintroduced exercise with weights and walking on the treadmill and in the open air. It hurt all the time, especially by about 5 p.m. And whenever o had to stand still without walking. interestingly, walking helped it to stop hurting. Anyway, the result of this long hopeless case is that I started doing tai chi a couple of years ago and it is now much, much better. It has taken a while, but the mastery of the moves in tai chi takes time, but it started feeling better after each class almost immediately. I am now largely pain free. It gets worse again if I haven't done any tai chi for about two or three weeks. Some areas of the UK are better served with beginner classes in tai chi so I hope you can find one, if you decide to give it a go. I'm convinced its helped me in so many ways. It's great for preventing osteoporosis and helping balance too. The classes I go are part of the Taoist tai chi association. (taoist.org.uk) I still take paracetamol sometimes, but I don't need all the strong painkillers. Hope this helps you

All the best,

Love Wendy xx

[TinaWright]

Hi, I had quite severe pain in my cocksic bone when sitting after my surgery. I saw a specialist about it who suggested cortisone injections, I didn't fancy that so decided to stay off my bum, I basically hadto always either stand or lie down. It eventually improved on its own and now it doesn't even give me the slightest discomfort. You'd be suprised how we get chucked about in theatre, I feel sure they forget there is a human being in a state of oblivion. I also have fibromyalgia so under stress my whole muscles will contract and this gives me one hell of a flare up. Relaxing ones muscles when they hurt like hell isn't the easiest of tasks in the world but it really is the only answer. Wendy's self managment advice sounds like a good try, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain, its certainly worth giving it a try. Good luck sweetheart xxx

[Kizzybelle22 in reply to TinaWright]

Tina, can I ask you please how long did it take for the pain to stop ? Like you were I am always either standing or lying. It's very wearing and makes a social life almost impossible.

[TinaWright in reply to Kizzybelle22]

I can't really remember, it was one of those things that was always there, then it gradually went away, I still suffer with it on odd occasions even now. I think its just one of those horrible things we ride through, then realise one day its buggered off. I had my surgery 3 years this November, so at a guess I had the pains constantly for at least a year. Bless you, get well soon.

[charlie12]

Hi there

I had a hysterectomy in 2010 and the pain has lasted and lasted . However it has reduced a lot and I have learned to live with it , controlling it with low dose amitriptyline. It takes ages for our bodies to recover from these ops , up to two years in my case.

Exercise is really helpful plus losing weight.....I can manage the first , but the second is hard for everybody.

Take care

Charlie xxx

[vintage62]

Hi, I had operation last year & already had hypermobility in some joints & severe arthritis in them all, my spine is affected as I have one leg slightly shorter & weaker than the other one. The pain after I had the operation was terrible after injections in my back & taking 3 different painkillers at once it was not getting any better, I went to pain clinic for a 2nd opinion & was given some more painkillers & also some chilli cream which I can highly recommend. I have tried every anti inflammatory product to use on skin out there but this is the best I've ever had obviously my pain will never go away & has not all be caused by operation but if it can help relieve my pain it is certainly good. Try asking your doctor about it, it must be quite new as I've had problems for a very long time & I've never heard of it before but I would certainly give it a go if you can get some.

[vintage62]

Sorry forgot to add the weight loss & gentle exercise are also very important, the more weight you carry round the more pain you will cause also relaxing your muscles which is not easy to start with but helps a lot & 2nd the tai chi which is very relaxing. If your pain is really bad you can be taught relaxation exercises to help, I have had these & find when I'm in severe pain they help with the pain.

[TinaWright in reply to vintage62]

Strangely enough, my fibromyalgia and arthritic pains are better now than they have been when I was 2 stone lighter, I knowcthat doesn't make a lot of sence. I will never give up trying to lose the weight though. I have my daughters wedding in october but the weight lose is so slow!!!!!!!!

[vintage62 in reply to TinaWright]

I know about the weight loss I've tried & cannot lose the stone I put on & to be honest it's my knees that are really painful & that has nothing to do with my operation. I not overweight & I've decided I don't think it will make that much difference & I'm not worrying about it anymore. I went to my daughter's graduation & managed, I think stressing out makes the pain worse as your muscles tighten up so I've decided to just get on with it & have had a lot less pain than when I was trying to do everything different people tell you to do. I have felt much better doing my own version & getting less stressed so I'd say go with what makes you feel better as I don't really think even the doctors can 100% get rid of pain & I've been backwards & forwards to hospital for many years without much improvement on the pain front & am fed up of going. I done so much physio I could have been in the Olympics if it had worked. Don't stress about the weight unless you are classed as seriously obese it doesn't have that much effect on your health stress is far worse. Hope your daughter's wedding goes well. Sue.

[charlie12]

I have finally managed to loose a few pounds on the husband diet.....you heard it here first ! This involves giving my husband half or two thirds of my carbs at supper. He is newly involved with competitive sport , so can eat this and more. I could exercise for 100 years and loose nothing , but eating less works.....but is so hard.

I know that our local cancer centre tells people to not stress about looking weight unless you are morbidly obese.

[TinaWright]

Hi Again ladies,

My knee pain started durring chemo, it was quite painful for quite a long time after chemo, I was convinced it was the extra 2 stone I was carrying. Well, guess what? The weight hasn't gone anywhere but the knee pain buggered off all by itself eventually.

You are quite right Sue, stress and worry increases pain and is far worse for ones health than an extra couple of stone. I am happy, my oncologist was happy with my weight this week, so I'm not too stressed about it.I'm alive and at the moment cancer free thats the important thing. Ascfor the pains they come and they go, I have good day's and not so good days, but I've learnt to live with chronic pain and fatigue, its really very much apart of me, it was made worse with the chemo though and that could have been partly caused by the worry and stress.take care all of you, stay focussed on kicking cancer's arze and if we can achieve that then I guess we have won the biggest battle of all.

Love with hugs from Tina xxxxxx

[TinaWright]

You can rub ibruprofen gel on the knees and other painful areas, it seems to help my muscles relax, I expect it will once the pain has eased. I also find a combination of 2 co-codemol and 2 ibruprofen tablets every 4 hours is a good balance of pain medication, it seems to work well for me. But never mix co-codemol withbparacetamol because it already has paracetamol in it. Notvsure if it's save to take oral ibruprofen tablets as well as using the gel, check with your doctor or pharmacist first. I need to find that one out for myself too.

[Cathy1968]

Hi. I just had a hysterectomy and have dreadful buttock pain. My surgeon says it is caused by them suturing the vault of the vagina to a ligament called the sacrospinosis ligament to prevent it from prolapsing. The literature he provided says it can cause problems for several months but gradually gets better on its own. I

[Sunfleury-UK in reply to Cathy1968]

This is an old post from 4 years ago (although feint they are all date marked) - unfortunately, despite many requests the threads remain active. I wish they could be closed to comments after a time so they remain a useful point of reference.

You'll find that some people move on with their lives and put their experience with OVCA behind them. Sadly with these older posts are also comments from dear friends who are no longer with us and much missed...

Sx