Reducing pain killers post-op

[sandirs]

Does anyone have any advice about reducing the amount of medication they are taking? I've been on a huge amount for several months: 8 x 200mg Paracetamol and 8 x 5 mg Tramadol a day, plus 3 x 400 mg Ibuprofin a day, and 1 Diazepam. Since the operation, 10 days ago, I have wanted to reduce the amount of medication and successfully cut out the Diazepam but when, yesterday, I only took 6 Tramadol and reduced one of the Ibuprofin to 200 mg, I had a ghastly night unable to get comfortable in any position. Like so many, I am sleeping apart from my husband to avoid keeping him away by my thrashing around. It was only by listening to the radio that I was able to get some distraction from the pain and discomfort.

I imagine it's better to be drugged then in acute pain, but it does worry me to be on such high doses for so long. What experiences do you have to share?

 

[Liz G]

I guess my first question would be - what did the surgeon say about post-op regime?
My second - what about your GP have you talked to her / him?
3rd - have you been booked in for rehab of any kind? If so can you get advice about your particular op through the rehab team?

4thly - everyone's pain tolerance is different so it's difficult to know what would be the best advice on-line.

I'm sure there's lots of people out there with similar experiences that will help you think this through better than I can.

Best wishes
Judith

 

[Eliza B]

Wondering if you tried to cut down to much too soon on your pain killers, 2 Tramadol and 1 Ibuprofin in one day is quite a lot. What about just cutting down 1 Tramadol OR 1 Ibuprofin in one day, then see how you go and if that works try to cut out 1 more pain killer in a few days time. It may take weeks or months to wean yourself off of them but that will be miles better than suffering the pain.

This is what I did when I was on anti depressants took me over a year to do it but I am now free of them, trying to cut down too fast can back fire on you and you end up back where you started. Can only quote on my own experience as I'm not medically trained, would suggest seeing/speaking to your surgeon or GP if you are worried or unsure.

Good luck and I hope that you are soon free of pain

Cis

 

[loryntoo]

Dear Judith and Cis,

Yes, I think you are right that I tried to cut down too much too quickly. I've now made an appointment with my GP to discuss things with him.

Thanks for the advice,
Jan

 

[Pud]

Hi Jan

Good luck - let us know how you get on.

Cheers
JJ

 

[kykonmhy]

I haven't posted for a while but am still on huge amounts of pain-killers because I made the mistake of making a short bus trip a fortnight after my operation. The surgeon had advised me to begin swimming after the wound had healed so thought I would try to bus first to see if I could risk using it to go to the swimming baths. What a mistake. By the time I had reached my destination (a journey of about 10 minutes) I began to feel pain. Went into a department store and up the escalator. Pain intensified rapidly so I paid for my goods quickly and went back down, by this time finding it hard not to groan out loud. Went home by bus because the bus stop was a hundred yards nearer than the taxi rank and there happened to be a bus there. Had to ring my husband to help me up the road as I was in such acute pain that I could scarcely move. My GP saw me that afternoon and increased the Ibuprofen but by the next day could not even get downstairs so he made a home visit (good old NHS) and prescribed MST and Oramorph, as well as continuing with Ibuprofen and taking up to 8 diazepam a day which helped me get back on an even keel again.

Things are now, two weeks later, much better and I have not taken any Oramorph for several days but am finding it hard to reduce the MST although I am managing to walk for about 30 minutes a day, using a stick and with a slight limp, but the exercise certainly helps. I realise that the seats on a bus are pretty hard and the winter has left the roads full of pot-holes which presumably does not help as the bus drivers tend to take things at quite a lick. I realise that I overdid things but do feel that I should have had much better advice when discharged from hospital. I'm now frightened of risking the bus which makes things complicated as I have to take taxis everywhere. Not only does my husband not drive but I can't believe it would be wise for me to do so when I'm still taking morphine.

Still, life seems much more cheerful than it did. Wouldn't it be wonderful to construct a booklet that could be given to people after their operation warning of possible set-backs? I really think some of the surgeons have no idea what people go through and I could have been saved so much with a little more advice. I find this forum most helpful although navigating it is not as easy as I would like.

 

[RomInnoni]

If you're still looking to reduce your painkillers then you might want to look into hypnosis to help relieve the pain. As well as the effect of the relaxation process, there are several techniques a hypnotherapist might use such as distracting you from the pain, helping you to diffuse the pain, or redirect the pain to a part of the body where it is more bearable, or in some cases results can be gained through direct suggestion that you no longer feel the pain, or that the pain is dulled. Whichever hypnotherapy techniques are used, the hypnotherapist should leave you with self-hypnosis techniques so that you can control the pain outside of the sessions.

The One Show on BBC showed a slot on the pain research that was being carried out at Birmingham University. During the research they have found that a subject under hypnosis not only feels less, or no pain but that a different part of the brain is active when the person is subjected to pain while under hypnosis (using heat for the pain). When carried out on the presenter, the heat level he found unbearable normally was described under hypnosis as being "like a pleasant massage". The heat setting was on the maximum that was safe without causing damage to the skin.

The journalist Robert Temple attempted to research and write a book on the fact that hypnosis / hypnotherapy was dangerous and ineffective. On completion of his research, the tone of his book was the opposite. With regard to pain relief, he wrote:

 

[Mess Of A Dreamer]

Hi

I was on the same combo as you only more tremadol and pregabalin, I found that I could cut down very slowly on each - I had a roller coaster week coming off the pregabalin but after that managed to reduce the others when I felt the pain was being managed by less.
Hope this helps
mumof2

 

[dreamofjeanie24]

Hi - in my other role as a pharmacist the combination of drugs you are on very common. You dont say what sort of op you had - and that does determine how long you made need painkillers.

The advice I always give to patients about post op painkillers is to take paracetamol regularly. take ibuprofen regularly - with or after food - you don't want stomach problems as well - and only take Tramadol when needed. So my advice would be to keep the Ibuprofen at 400mg three times a day and cut down on the Tramadol first.

Hope that helps

 

[Fex]

hi all i had a rvision of a discectomy 4 n half weeks ago im still in agony just cut down on my tramadol last week iwent cold turkey .havin lots of other problems spoke to my gp he says its normal .ifeel worse now than i did after my first discectomy three years ago help is this normal feel like im goin in sane

 

[rovieteobby]

quarr4bank, see tashane's advise about paracetamol and ibuprofen regularly and go back on the tramdol for a short time if you need to. pain like that will just delay your healing and is just isnt neccessary. Take your pain killers at regular intervals and seperately so as your taking something every few hours and always leave something for bed to help you get off to sleep.
Once your pain is controlled and your able to gradually increase your activtly levels to managable levels then think/develop a gradual withdrawal programme, cutting out opiates (tramadol, oramorph,mst) first only by one tablet every few days as your body adjusts, then your ant-inflammatory's then your paracetamol it should take you several weeks. Before you start reducing your dose or during this time therapy can really really help, hypnotherapy, aromatherapy, reflexology, reiki whichever appeals or works best for you, as you become more confident in the therapy your journey towards being pain free or rmanaging residual pain will be so much easier as will being tablet free or only as required.
Modern medicine is a wondeful thing many medicines are life changing and enhancing, however we should also remember that we are so much more than physical beings, and pain in particlar has such an effect on our emotinal and mental self. A holistic approach that supports all of us has to be a better way forward IMHO
hope i have explained all that ok
pollyp with love and blessing for a speedy recovery to you both.
ps dont forget all analgesics can cause constipation, drinks lots of water and eat lots of fiber to avoid this

 

[VampyreGirl123]

Quarr4bank, I really sympathise. Has your GP prescribed any morphine? That was the only thing that helped me when I was practically screaming with agony after inadvisedly going on a bus a fortnight after the op. My L3 discectomy was at the end of February and I've just managed to come off the slow release morphine. It's been a question of slowly reducing (from 3 twice a day to 2 twice a day to one twice a day over an eight week period). Now I'm just on Ibuprofen and a daily Omeprazole to protect the gut and, thanks to lots of walking, physio exercises and patience, I'm practically pain-free. My GP has been fantastic but I still wonder why the neurosurgical team at the hospital gave no warning about how bad things could get. So good luck. I hope you feel better already and will steadily improve. At one stage I thought I would never be out of pain so feel quite euphoric at being so well, despite having to take things easy and get lots of rest. Jan

 

[parisa film]

Hi i'm sorry your in pain as i know myself it's not nice just be thankful you can control your pain with drugs and tbh it's not such high dose so don't be concerned too much.
I was on 8 tramadol 50mg a day plus the usual suspects to no pain relief at all, now i'm on pure codine phosphate 30mg 8 times a day with amatrypline or however it's spelled i'm often sick towards the end of the day but apparently not much else other than me agreeing to another operation which i said no to is all they can offer.