Pain relief post-surgery - Pump or Epidural?

[angiemitch]

Hi all;
Just a question. I've been given the option for my pain relief immediately following my re-section surgery. They will either give me an epidural, or a morphine pump where I can press the button as needed. Any opinions? My sister-in-law is a nurse on a post-surg floor, and she recommends the epidural, as she's seen good/fast recovery with her patients who've had it. I'm leaning that way as well, so that I'm not in tons of pain immediately when I wake up after surgery. What do you think? My surgery is today, sometime after 5pm EST.
thanks!
Angie

 

[stickman7755]

I just got the morphine pump. The worst pain for me is when my bowels started up again. Good luck!

 

[Manzyb]

I had the pump, but I wish I would have gotten an epidural. When I woke up in the recovery room I was in terrible pain and it took them a while to be able to get the pain under control.

An epidural would make you completely numb, and to me, that would have been amazing.

 

[akduck]

I will be having a resection on July 5th, and will have an epidural. The surgeon said it helps recovery go better.
Good luck with your surgery!

 

[highlandsrock]

Hello Angie

Probably too late for you to read this but definitely epidural (and then the morphine pump when the epidural falls out!!!). I had an ileostomy in October 2010 and woke up with virtually no pain by having the epidural. It did drop out a day before it was supposed to be removed but by then the pain was manageable and could be controlled by simple Paracetamol.

I took an iPad into hospital so I could write down (blog) what was happening and how I was feeling - it was mostly a very positive experience but I will mention the nausea that some patients go through before their digestive system kicks back in. You probably won't get it, as it only affects 25%, but it is the one thing that I wish I had been warned about.

Good luck. Let us know how you get on

Regards

Nigel
w w w.highlandsrock.blogspot.co.uk

 

[angiemitch]

thanks everyone ... your comments are not too late. I was cancelled again today, and still haven't had the surgery. Very frustrated. Will update again once I FINALLY get the surgery.

 

[melodie]

Just reiterating what everyone else said - the epidural is really good and you do bounce back quicker - just make sure that they are ready to deal with your pain once the epidural is done. My docs weren't, and that became a nightmare of its own. Good luck!

 

[Mia E]

i had a pump and found i was in a LOT of pain when i woke up. they also took a while to get it under control. i then had the nurses and pain people telling me i was pressing the button too much!!! so then when i was in pain i sat there crying cos i was scared to press it (dumb i know)! finally i got a different pain lady and she told me that if i needed it i needed it, she scolded the nurses for only giving me 2 paracetamol tablets with morphine and demanded they give me paracetamol iv. i felt like a druggie when that iv went in, it was bliss!! i hadn't realised how much pain i was in!!

so in summery, make sure they get it right for you, that the dose is right and the other pain meds with it. the epidural means you cant move right away, i was out of bed straight away.

good luck!

 

[Jamie Everitt]

Pump was fine, I did not want an epi. I squeezed that bad boy every 6 mins, plus they gave me co-code mol every 4 hours. To be honest the pain from the actual cuts is not great, but the bruising that comes a few days after is far worse, and the epi will be over by then. it seems bad at the time, but you will look back and know it was all worth it. Our bodies bounce back from these things.

Hope all goes well for you.

J

 

[angiemitch]

well, I ended up with the pump, not by choice. I was told that I'd be given a choice when I got down there, and wasn't. Honestly, I don't even remember the moment that they put me out with the general anesthetic ... the last thing I remember they were still scurrying around the room and connecting me to the table and stuff and the next thing I know I'm awake in recovery. And I awoke in horrific pain, I can still remember crying out and yelling, and whimpering until they got it under control. I didn't realize I was in recovery at the time, I asked my husband later and he said I was perfectly comfortable by the time he saw me, so it obviously all happened in recovery.

I didn't really love the pump. I could press it every 8 mins, but it didn't really give me pain relief. More just a numbing/"high" feeling, but the pain was still really intense. They took me off the pump this morning at about 6am, and gave me a percocet at around 8am, and it is FAR more effective for me. I only felt dizzy for a minute or two, then sleepy for a few minutes, and then ok. And the pain is definitely subdued. I think Percocet will be my choice if I ever need it again in the future. Morphine didn't really do much for me.

And I still don't know why I didn't get asked about the epi? I'll have to ask the doc when I see him next. Ah well. On my third day, still waiting for gas or a bm. Still on clear fluids. Yuck.
Angie

 

[PsychoJane]

Hey Angie, good to see you finally got your surgery and that it seems to have been going well! May you have some relief for a while now!

Just saying:

And I awoke in horrific pain, I can still remember crying out and yelling, and whimpering until they got it under control.

Seems to be a standard without the epidural. I did the same and it all happened in the recovery room. I remember that before I left for surgery, my mother had try to comfort me by telling me that I would not be in pain after. I had surgery as a teenager but I could not relate to that experience since they had harsh time with taking out the tubes and I was in ICU for a while and all. So when I came back to my room the first thing I told to my family members was that it was not true that I would not have pain because I did the exact same thing you did. It was as if I were waking up in the morning, same feeling, but with the intense agony. Lol. I remember the nurse telling me to breath slowly as I was hyperventilating and my answer to that was something like: "what are you waiting to give me oxygen!!" then she said, it's gonna make things worst (which is true but considering the context I thought it was a great idea) and then I asked her for a paper bag(which seemed like the best of all option in my head:ylol so I could breath properly and she laughed lol! Anyway, just a slice of life

I don't know why you did not get the option between the twos before surgery. Did the aneasthesist came to see you and talk a bit before you went to the surgery room? That is when he decided that it was not appropriate for me by asking me a few questions. If you did not even get these few questions from the aneasthesist maybe it was more of a safety move than anything else. There are certain conditions with which epidural is to be avoided due to the risk of blood clot and the chance of paralazing from it.

Anyway, I wish you a speedy, pain free, complications free recovery!