Is surgery really painful?

[fruitsnaks]

I have see people say that they have pain and people say that they have had no pain at all why is that? What is the gas pain that everybody talks about? Is it just that they pass gases?

[dxgolsen]

No, it's surgery. I don't think it's just gas pain, though that may be some of it for some. I had incision and suture pain. It wasn't horrible at all - i felt a little beat up the first few days, but absolutely nothing intolerable or not manageable. A heating pad helped resolve the remaining suture pain that I had at week 2.

[one4sailn]

I am the BIGGEST wimp, to be totally honest. The pain was VERY minimal. After a couple days, I wasn't taking pain meds at all. (Did I mention what a wuss I am? Needles freak me out.) The gas pain is from the anesthesia during the procedure. When I woke from surgery, I felt like someone had kicked me in the shoulder. I was told of this in advance, and had the Gas-X strips on hand. Wasn't an issue when I stayed on top of it.

[Melissa888]

Very little pain, I would call it discomfort. I have not taken one pain med since they rolled me into my hospital room after surgery. I feel better than ever! I am a stomach sleeper and began sleeping on my stomach the first night home. Everyone tolerates pain differently, just remember, there is a huge difference between pain and discomfort.

[RoDean]

The gas is from the surgery, they pump your abdomen full of gas to distend it to make the surgery easier. that gas gets stuck inside there with no place to go. you walk constantly to move it around and hope it passes. if it settles in you back or shoulders it is very painful. mine all stayed in my stomache area this time, and lasted along time, couldn't walk it off, but it too is very tolerable.

[Loopie]

I had NO pain. My surgeon sucks the air out of the abdomen at the end of the procedure so I had very little to no discomfort from the air. Walking made me feel better but it could just be b/c you get uncomfortable lying in bed. I was on Dilaudid PCA (patient controlled device), Toradol every 6 hrs for first 48 hrs. Then I was on Vicodin liquid. I stopped taking it 4 days after surgery.

[tspice]

I had a lot of pain. I didn't expect it because I was continuously told that that there wasn't much pain. Getting into an upright position was extremely painful and I couldn't stand completely straight until one week post op. I was Tylenol with codeine liquid. I am almost 4 weeks post op and continue to have pain but it is more bearable. There is only one incision that caused this pain, it is the one they remove your stomach through.