Chronic pain with upcoming surgery

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about the upcoming surgery and I have one question about your meds, you said you wear a patch for pain and knowing what that patch is would help answer your questions about post-op meds a little better. Anyway broad advice here without that knowledge. The very best way to ensure your pain management goes as smooth as possible is to have your Gyn and your PM work it out "Before " your surgery date. Very important because GYN Dr's are not really good at pain management and nothing I have seen here in all these years has convinced me otherwise. If your PM does not have privileges at the hospital your having the procedure done then its imperative for you to meet with the hospitals pain management team before if they have one and ask them to coordinate with your PM. If they don't have a pm team your immediate pain management usually is met by the anesthesiologist and I always speak to them as well and make sure I have a copy of my medical records and pm records at his disposal.

The best out of all that is to make and have a plan in place before the actual procedure day. In the most likely event a PCP pump will be used where you can have control over the amount of meds and how often you get them via your IV for the first 24-48 hrs and here's where the knowledge of what that patch is comes in to play. Some protocol will call for holding some of your regular meds during the hospital stay and relying on what's in the Pcp pump others will continue regular meds in addition to something else onboard and some Drs choose upping your dose on regular meds instead of adding a different one. As you can see it's important to know what is going to happen before.

Generally speaking if the plan is in place prior pain management usually is ok if not anything is up to chance.

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Vickie
CHRONIC PAIN MODERATOR


When something bad happens to you, you can let it destroy you, let it define you, or you can let it strengthen you.

Hi Sgober & welcome to the forum. Since you are on Butrans you should not have trouble getting adequate pain mgt for a couple of days. But, its like Vickie suggested, get with the dr & get a plan before the surgery to help insure everyone is on the same page. What we find a lot is folks are strong opioids that have surgery then they do not have good meds to handle the post op pain but considering its Butrans you should be fine. Vickie was wondering if it Fentanyl I am betting & it is very strong. medication.

Good luck woth your surgery.

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Susie
Moderator Chronic Pain & Psoriasis Forums

Welcome to the forum. I cannot speak to all the meds you are taking but the advice above is good. I do have chronic spinal pain and also had a hysterectomy two years ago. The worst pain was from them putting my neck into the wrong position during surgery. The surgical pain was not bad at all and I had the full meal deal. Compared to my neck surgery it was like going to the dentist. I am sure compared to your daily pain it will be nothing. You will feel the normal post surgery fatigue and an ache you know where but it really is an easy surgery to heal up from, barring no complications (I got septic phlebitis from an IV attempt and that hurt more than the surgery too). Take care and make sure everyone knows the meds you take etc, especially the nurses. Hopefully you have someone who will be looking out for you?

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C4-7 ACDF on June 2014:Large plate, 8 screws: done for spurring all levels, vertebrate collapsed and pushing on spinal cord.
Severe osteoporosis, DDD and osteoarthritis - all levels of spine
Failed L5/S1 LD surgery, spondylitheisis, stenosis, etc.
Migraines, cervicogenic headaches,hysterectomy, melanoma
Health nut, fit, active my whole life in spite of: tailgater did me in...