Pain after surgery problems

I am really in need of some answers and assistance and this appears to be the best place to go! This is my first post here and it is because after 6 months my doctors finally figured out what was wrong with me..

6+ months ago I had throbbing pain in my pernium area (prostate?) There were times I couldn't sit or walk and ultimately went to the ER and by the end of that week the left side of my scrotum was lanced.

3 months later it wasn't healing and I went to the hospital to have it drained. They gave me the wrong take home instructions and my packing was left in for two extra days although I don't think that has anything to do with this.

2 months later the healing still wasn't where it should be so I am sent to a referral to a general surgeon I had been seen a urologist surgeon. He tells me he will do another drainage and hopefully this time we will get to the bottom of it.

The surgery happens I wind up having a fistula that is partially removed and 3 setons placed in the tracts. So I am admitted overnight.

The next day a visiting nurse meets with me to tell me I am going home and that we are setting up a service to pack my wound ( holy ****ing painful! ) I wind up asking my nurse how this is possible since I can't move and I wind up staying in the hospital for 5 days.

While in the hospital I was on .5mg morphine q3 with 5mg percocet for breakthrough pain I needed the breakthrough nearly all the time for most of the days I was there.

Upon leaving I am told I am getting 5mg percocet every 6 hours as needed - I have to say something close to 5 times before they changed it to 2 5mg tabs every 4 hours as needed for 3 days. I tried taking 1 tab and was still in alot of pain. I need to take it as prescribed unless I get a good sleep in which case I get a little break.

I will run out of pills tomorrow and don't understand how I am suppose to make it to my appointment next week! As is I am pretty much just lying down all day my quality of life sucks I am only 22 years old.

Is this procedure not suppose to be painful?

Have you called your doctor to troll them about the pain? If not, why not? You've taken the medication as prescribed, which i would be sure to mention when you call. Don't leave a message on a refill line if the doctor has one. Speak to a nurse if possible or leave a message for the doctor or his PA explaining exactly what you did here, that you've been taking the meds as prescribed, your pain is still severe, and you'll run out before your appointment next week.

This approach should hopefully get you a refill or an earlier appointment. Good luck!

Thanks everyone.. My mom called their office and they filled a 7 days supply but went from 2 5mg percocets to 1 every 6 hours instead of 4. I am hoping to be in less pain tomorrow but I am not one to just bear the pain so I am going to be a very unhappy camper if the new script doesn't alleviate my pain. I hate how the opioid crisis hurts patients with real pain :/

pm, has any of the surgeons told you what caused your problems? Do you have IBD by chance, such as crohns? I forgot to ask you in my original post.

Take care.

Thanks everyone I didn't take more than prescribed but I did try some advil I have had too much tylenol imo. Today was miserable I could barely do anything and my bowel movement was so painful. Ill call tomorrow if the pain doesn't become bearable but I refuse to lie in bed all day long.. I really do feel like I am on the receiving end of the war on drugs and my doctor acts like I shouldn't feel anything

I don't know if the BM was painful due to constipation. If so, Susie's advice is really good. If it was soft stool, but still excruciatingly painful, that can also be caused by the pudental nerve. I know before the pudental nerve block I got, anything other than liquid stool felt like I was being jabbed with a knife. As I am a female, I also would have intermittant jabs of pain around my female areas; and sometimes even urinating would produce jabs of pain. It got to where I was using almost all of my IR pain meds just for toileting activities.

My GI doc confirmed that it was neurological, rather than mechanical -- and that I was not suffering from constipation. She said I could use topical lidocaine, but I have a severe allergy to it so that just made things much worse.

Hope they are able to find something that helps you. I know how intensely miserable it was for me when that nerve was inflamed.

You may want to use Miralax for bowel management while you are taking a narcotic for pain management.

Miralax is an osmotic laxative and can be used safely without risk of bowel dependency.

Another option to ease bowel movements when taking narcotics is to take supplemental magnesium. "Natural Calm" is a readily available magnesium supplement (Whole Foods, Amazon). It is a powdered form of magnesium citrate which you add to any fluid/juice/water. A nice quality about Natural Calm is that you can titrate the amount that you take depending on what you need.

Milk of Magnesia is an old stand-by that is also safe and effective. Magnesium is an essential element in muscular contractions. The magnesium in Milk of Magnesia simply helps nudge the large intestine to contract more effectively.

I hope that your psychologist can be a advocating voice for your needs tomorrow. Unrelenting pain need not be part of your post operative recovery.

The idea of a pedundal nerve block by one of the prior posters is certainly a solid idea and worth consideration.

Sending you healing wishes for a better tomorrow,
- Karen -