Chest pain after LNF Surgery

Hi Everyone,
I’m 16 days post-op (LNF surgery). I’m doing well except for a deep, throbbing chest pain I get when I lean back in my chair, and when I go to bed at night. When I’m horizontal, it intensifies. My pain meds don’t give me much relief, either. This subsides quite a bit after being vertical for a couple of hours; it’s not totally gone, but much improved. (I'm still sleeping elevated).

I had this before surgery and I know it is stress-related, as I was at my wits’ end looking for a fix to my agony, so I had been on .50mg of Xanax 2x daily. I weaned off this medication 10 days before surgery to lessen the withdrawal, but I don’t know how long it takes to wean off without issues. I took it this morning. I also abruptly stopped smoking on June 14th and became VERY ill. Stopped Nexium 40mg 2x daily cold-turkey.

I’m just wondering if I am having pain from withdrawal of all these addictions. If anyone has experience with this, I’d love some input. I’m so tired of feeling like crap and thought that, by now, I would be feeling tons better. Don’t have any acid reflux so that’s GOOD.

I’m still on liquid diet (until my follow-up visit July 20th) and it’s making me sick with all the ‘sweet’ stuff. I can only have what I can pour and only certain things, so that leaves strained cream soups and few choices that are allowable. Everything else I can have seems to be loaded with sugar even though I bought organic juices.

At this writing, I have reduced my pain meds to every 6 hours or longer (from every 4 hours) as I would like to be free of the pain meds by the time I have my follow-up appointment.

Sorry this is so long, but it’s all important and any input would be appreciated to ease my mind so I can stop fretting and concentrate on healing, THANKS!

Hi SweetieUK,
I can always count on you, girl! Thanks for the input. I'm trying to wean off pain meds to get rid of this horrible constipation. I will take them when I need to and am not on a particular time schedule although I won't go past 7-8 hours. That's about when I really need one.

I'm just concerned about when laying back or laying down why the chest pain amps up so much! It is really uncomfortable and I've not read this about anyone else who had this surgery. It gets better after I've been up and about for a few hours but never seems to go away.

Are you able now to eat and drink anything you want? I SO look forward to progressing beyond this liquid 'torture'. The 'sweet' is taking it's toll!

Hi Sharon Z,
Yes, I know I'm in a hurry to recover. I feel I've lost so much quality of life already, I'm in a hurry to have QUALITY! lol! I know I'm expecting too much too soon and thank you for reminding me of that .. I know I must slow down and let myself heal at my body's own pace.

I will pick up some liquid Tylenol and see how I do with that. I am on full liquids but that still doesn't allow me much more than clear liquids did. I was told to only consume anything that can be poured. As it is, I am eating smooth yogurts, nutrition drinks, jello, popcicles, organic fruit juices, fruit smoothies, prune juice, and strained cream soups. That's it and it's getting OLD AND TIRED. Hopefully, my surgeon will give the okay for me to graduate to a soft diet and that will open up possibilities like oatmeal, scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes with gravy, yum!

Yes, I'll hang in there! Thanks for your support - I really appreciate it, Sharon!