Surgeon only gives Tylenol after surgery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I met with a surgeon today for a consult for significant and urgent surgery. There were a number of things I was unimpressed with but one was that they only give Tylenol. I feel like they would probably give more if a patient was in REALLY bad shape but her take was “some discomfort is normal after major surgery but it should be manageable with Tylenol.” That’s jacked up. We invented medication so that you don’t have to feel pain. Give a patient 3-5 days of pain meds. I’m meeting with other surgeons because this one seems heartless.

Apparently your surgery isn't that urgent.

Quit doctor shopping for drugs. Tylenol and ibuprofen will mitigate most pain. Neither has significant side effects, withdrawal symptoms, addiction potential or other complications. You don't need 3-5 days of narcotics, and if you do, you can be prescribed them when you need them. Demanding drugs you probably won't need in advance is drug-seeking behavior. No, you should not have an expectation of 'zero pain' post-surgery. You should anticipate and prepare for discomfort at a level commensurate with whatever procedure you're having done, and be with it for the brief time it's present because that's life in a body. I would strongly suggest you avoid opioids like the plague they are, as the withdrawals kick in after even short-term use, and 3-5 days is more than enough to trigger addiction.

-long-term chronic pain patient who has BTDT with pretty much all of the painkiller options

Asking for pain medication after major surgery is not “drug seeking behavior.” People have lost their minds!

One thing I have always noted on DCUM is the purist mentality; it is so toxic. Pain meds work! There is no prize at the end for enduring crippling pain after a c-section, hysterectomy, bunion removal, or thyroidectomy.

And I am sick of doctors telling me THEY know my body better than I DO. I see no reason to suffer because someone somewhere is addicted to something. Change surgeons and don't look back OP. If you get home from surgery with only Tylenol and have crippiling pain at 2 am, it will be unnecessarily effing miserable getting relief, trust me, I know.

Agreed. And it’s damn clear that one or more posters are in fact opioid addicts (“chronic pain patient”) who are eager to see their own flaws and failures in everyone else.

Y'all would rather start attacking people you don't even know than listen and read and learn.

I've been totally sober for years, sweetie. If you're mad about me trying to prevent someone from walking the road to hell I managed to make it through, well, that's something for you to take up with your medical professionals (though if they've found a cure for being an inflammed and irritable ass on the internet, I don't know about it). Best of luck to you.

It’s interesting. The people I know who are serious about sobriety would not be addressing another person this way. Maybe they are unusual.

If they’re not acting like this thing up there, maybe they’re not yet um “totally sober.”

She’s the equivalent of a dry drunk inching closer to a barstool.

Thing? One in one's cups thus shouldn't speak or post. Trash.

“Totally sober.” It’s not going well for you, jeez.

OP will be fine. Good luck with the tooth retention, sweetie.

What are you even talking about? Maybe try sobering up before you comment again. Tooth retention? You make zero sense.

You’re methy, sweetie. Very methy. Good luck after the inevitable OD.

You have a black heart and a poisoned soul. Good luck when what you sent around comes back around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of physical dependence and misuse without psychological addiction. The only concern with opioids isn't overdose and addictions (in the stereotypical way that people think of addictions).

Exactly. Not to mention the side effects that occur when you take opiates, addicted or not. You don't get some sort of magical pass from the nausea and constipation just because you're not "a fd up addict"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With knee replacement surgery they tell you to get ahead of the pain.
My DH tried to skip the heavy duty pain meds and it was not pretty for a few days.

He definitely needed the stronger drugs.

This. I've had a lot of different surgeries, and my pain management needs have been quite different in each case. My ACL/MCL/meniscus repair was the worst, and I definitely needed the oxy for about 4 days post-op and multiple nights after that. My bilateral mastectomy wasn't too bad, and I was fine with gabapentin and tylenol/ibuprofen. They might have given me a vicodin or two while I was still in the hospital, but nothing to take home after I was released. Laparoscopic surgeries were trivial, and OTC meds were completely fine.

OP didn't tell us what the surgery is, so we have no idea whether the doctor is being reasonable with the pain meds or whether he's some sort of purist. I would run far from any orthopedic surgeon who thinks OTC meds are sufficient.

You think doctors don't know this? The fact that OP didn't say, and hasn't come back to clarify, strongly suggests they already know they're on some nonsense.

OP probably saw the people ganging up on her and accusing her of being addicted. It is a fact that some doctors are extremely rigid when it comes to pain management. Check out r/medicine and see the debates among physicians about this. Besides not knowing what the surgery entails, we also don't know whether OP has undergone any surgical procedures before.

OP was probably trolling, like most of the people who post here. Either that, or they wanted "support" and bounced when they got a perspective check instead.

The perspective that we should tough out surgical pain versus using an FDA-approved medication that is indicated for surgical site pain? There is zero reason to go back to biting sticks and rolling around in pain because of some junkie somewhere.

My body, my choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With knee replacement surgery they tell you to get ahead of the pain.
My DH tried to skip the heavy duty pain meds and it was not pretty for a few days.

He definitely needed the stronger drugs.

This. I've had a lot of different surgeries, and my pain management needs have been quite different in each case. My ACL/MCL/meniscus repair was the worst, and I definitely needed the oxy for about 4 days post-op and multiple nights after that. My bilateral mastectomy wasn't too bad, and I was fine with gabapentin and tylenol/ibuprofen. They might have given me a vicodin or two while I was still in the hospital, but nothing to take home after I was released. Laparoscopic surgeries were trivial, and OTC meds were completely fine.

OP didn't tell us what the surgery is, so we have no idea whether the doctor is being reasonable with the pain meds or whether he's some sort of purist. I would run far from any orthopedic surgeon who thinks OTC meds are sufficient.

You think doctors don't know this? The fact that OP didn't say, and hasn't come back to clarify, strongly suggests they already know they're on some nonsense.

OP probably saw the people ganging up on her and accusing her of being addicted. It is a fact that some doctors are extremely rigid when it comes to pain management. Check out r/medicine and see the debates among physicians about this. Besides not knowing what the surgery entails, we also don't know whether OP has undergone any surgical procedures before.

OP was probably trolling, like most of the people who post here. Either that, or they wanted "support" and bounced when they got a perspective check instead.

The perspective that we should tough out surgical pain versus using an FDA-approved medication that is indicated for surgical site pain? There is zero reason to go back to biting sticks and rolling around in pain because of some junkie somewhere.

My body, my choice.

Sticks are a no go. Don't want a wood dependency on top of everything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With knee replacement surgery they tell you to get ahead of the pain.
My DH tried to skip the heavy duty pain meds and it was not pretty for a few days.

He definitely needed the stronger drugs.

This. I've had a lot of different surgeries, and my pain management needs have been quite different in each case. My ACL/MCL/meniscus repair was the worst, and I definitely needed the oxy for about 4 days post-op and multiple nights after that. My bilateral mastectomy wasn't too bad, and I was fine with gabapentin and tylenol/ibuprofen. They might have given me a vicodin or two while I was still in the hospital, but nothing to take home after I was released. Laparoscopic surgeries were trivial, and OTC meds were completely fine.

OP didn't tell us what the surgery is, so we have no idea whether the doctor is being reasonable with the pain meds or whether he's some sort of purist. I would run far from any orthopedic surgeon who thinks OTC meds are sufficient.

You think doctors don't know this? The fact that OP didn't say, and hasn't come back to clarify, strongly suggests they already know they're on some nonsense.

OP probably saw the people ganging up on her and accusing her of being addicted. It is a fact that some doctors are extremely rigid when it comes to pain management. Check out r/medicine and see the debates among physicians about this. Besides not knowing what the surgery entails, we also don't know whether OP has undergone any surgical procedures before.

OP was probably trolling, like most of the people who post here. Either that, or they wanted "support" and bounced when they got a perspective check instead.

The perspective that we should tough out surgical pain versus using an FDA-approved medication that is indicated for surgical site pain? There is zero reason to go back to biting sticks and rolling around in pain because of some junkie somewhere.

My body, my choice.

But you know this isn't what happens to patients after standard surgeries in Sweden, Germany, France, and the UK, right? What makes Americans react so very much more poorly to the same procedures?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With knee replacement surgery they tell you to get ahead of the pain.
My DH tried to skip the heavy duty pain meds and it was not pretty for a few days.

He definitely needed the stronger drugs.

This. I've had a lot of different surgeries, and my pain management needs have been quite different in each case. My ACL/MCL/meniscus repair was the worst, and I definitely needed the oxy for about 4 days post-op and multiple nights after that. My bilateral mastectomy wasn't too bad, and I was fine with gabapentin and tylenol/ibuprofen. They might have given me a vicodin or two while I was still in the hospital, but nothing to take home after I was released. Laparoscopic surgeries were trivial, and OTC meds were completely fine.

OP didn't tell us what the surgery is, so we have no idea whether the doctor is being reasonable with the pain meds or whether he's some sort of purist. I would run far from any orthopedic surgeon who thinks OTC meds are sufficient.

You think doctors don't know this? The fact that OP didn't say, and hasn't come back to clarify, strongly suggests they already know they're on some nonsense.

OP probably saw the people ganging up on her and accusing her of being addicted. It is a fact that some doctors are extremely rigid when it comes to pain management. Check out r/medicine and see the debates among physicians about this. Besides not knowing what the surgery entails, we also don't know whether OP has undergone any surgical procedures before.

OP was probably trolling, like most of the people who post here. Either that, or they wanted "support" and bounced when they got a perspective check instead.

The perspective that we should tough out surgical pain versus using an FDA-approved medication that is indicated for surgical site pain? There is zero reason to go back to biting sticks and rolling around in pain because of some junkie somewhere.

My body, my choice.

But you know this isn't what happens to patients after standard surgeries in Sweden, Germany, France, and the UK, right? What makes Americans react so very much more poorly to the same procedures?

They're weak af and can't handle any pain of any kind. It's why they're so nasty to others in pain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With knee replacement surgery they tell you to get ahead of the pain.
My DH tried to skip the heavy duty pain meds and it was not pretty for a few days.

He definitely needed the stronger drugs.

This. I've had a lot of different surgeries, and my pain management needs have been quite different in each case. My ACL/MCL/meniscus repair was the worst, and I definitely needed the oxy for about 4 days post-op and multiple nights after that. My bilateral mastectomy wasn't too bad, and I was fine with gabapentin and tylenol/ibuprofen. They might have given me a vicodin or two while I was still in the hospital, but nothing to take home after I was released. Laparoscopic surgeries were trivial, and OTC meds were completely fine.

OP didn't tell us what the surgery is, so we have no idea whether the doctor is being reasonable with the pain meds or whether he's some sort of purist. I would run far from any orthopedic surgeon who thinks OTC meds are sufficient.

You think doctors don't know this? The fact that OP didn't say, and hasn't come back to clarify, strongly suggests they already know they're on some nonsense.

OP probably saw the people ganging up on her and accusing her of being addicted. It is a fact that some doctors are extremely rigid when it comes to pain management. Check out r/medicine and see the debates among physicians about this. Besides not knowing what the surgery entails, we also don't know whether OP has undergone any surgical procedures before.

OP was probably trolling, like most of the people who post here. Either that, or they wanted "support" and bounced when they got a perspective check instead.

The perspective that we should tough out surgical pain versus using an FDA-approved medication that is indicated for surgical site pain? There is zero reason to go back to biting sticks and rolling around in pain because of some junkie somewhere.

My body, my choice.

Well, sure. Your choice to go doctor shopping for opiates. Good luck when your records get flagged for drug-seeking behavior.

You don't need opiates for every "surgical site pain". You really don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With knee replacement surgery they tell you to get ahead of the pain.
My DH tried to skip the heavy duty pain meds and it was not pretty for a few days.

He definitely needed the stronger drugs.

This. I've had a lot of different surgeries, and my pain management needs have been quite different in each case. My ACL/MCL/meniscus repair was the worst, and I definitely needed the oxy for about 4 days post-op and multiple nights after that. My bilateral mastectomy wasn't too bad, and I was fine with gabapentin and tylenol/ibuprofen. They might have given me a vicodin or two while I was still in the hospital, but nothing to take home after I was released. Laparoscopic surgeries were trivial, and OTC meds were completely fine.

OP didn't tell us what the surgery is, so we have no idea whether the doctor is being reasonable with the pain meds or whether he's some sort of purist. I would run far from any orthopedic surgeon who thinks OTC meds are sufficient.

You think doctors don't know this? The fact that OP didn't say, and hasn't come back to clarify, strongly suggests they already know they're on some nonsense.

OP probably saw the people ganging up on her and accusing her of being addicted. It is a fact that some doctors are extremely rigid when it comes to pain management. Check out r/medicine and see the debates among physicians about this. Besides not knowing what the surgery entails, we also don't know whether OP has undergone any surgical procedures before.

OP was probably trolling, like most of the people who post here. Either that, or they wanted "support" and bounced when they got a perspective check instead.

The perspective that we should tough out surgical pain versus using an FDA-approved medication that is indicated for surgical site pain? There is zero reason to go back to biting sticks and rolling around in pain because of some junkie somewhere.

My body, my choice.

Sticks are a no go. Don't want a wood dependency on top of everything else.

Aren't you just so clever? So smart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I met with a surgeon today for a consult for significant and urgent surgery. There were a number of things I was unimpressed with but one was that they only give Tylenol. I feel like they would probably give more if a patient was in REALLY bad shape but her take was “some discomfort is normal after major surgery but it should be manageable with Tylenol.” That’s jacked up. We invented medication so that you don’t have to feel pain. Give a patient 3-5 days of pain meds. I’m meeting with other surgeons because this one seems heartless.

Apparently your surgery isn't that urgent.

Quit doctor shopping for drugs. Tylenol and ibuprofen will mitigate most pain. Neither has significant side effects, withdrawal symptoms, addiction potential or other complications. You don't need 3-5 days of narcotics, and if you do, you can be prescribed them when you need them. Demanding drugs you probably won't need in advance is drug-seeking behavior. No, you should not have an expectation of 'zero pain' post-surgery. You should anticipate and prepare for discomfort at a level commensurate with whatever procedure you're having done, and be with it for the brief time it's present because that's life in a body. I would strongly suggest you avoid opioids like the plague they are, as the withdrawals kick in after even short-term use, and 3-5 days is more than enough to trigger addiction.

-long-term chronic pain patient who has BTDT with pretty much all of the painkiller options

Asking for pain medication after major surgery is not “drug seeking behavior.” People have lost their minds!

One thing I have always noted on DCUM is the purist mentality; it is so toxic. Pain meds work! There is no prize at the end for enduring crippling pain after a c-section, hysterectomy, bunion removal, or thyroidectomy.

And I am sick of doctors telling me THEY know my body better than I DO. I see no reason to suffer because someone somewhere is addicted to something. Change surgeons and don't look back OP. If you get home from surgery with only Tylenol and have crippiling pain at 2 am, it will be unnecessarily effing miserable getting relief, trust me, I know.

Agreed. And it’s damn clear that one or more posters are in fact opioid addicts (“chronic pain patient”) who are eager to see their own flaws and failures in everyone else.

Y'all would rather start attacking people you don't even know than listen and read and learn.

I've been totally sober for years, sweetie. If you're mad about me trying to prevent someone from walking the road to hell I managed to make it through, well, that's something for you to take up with your medical professionals (though if they've found a cure for being an inflammed and irritable ass on the internet, I don't know about it). Best of luck to you.

It’s interesting. The people I know who are serious about sobriety would not be addressing another person this way. Maybe they are unusual.

If they’re not acting like this thing up there, maybe they’re not yet um “totally sober.”

She’s the equivalent of a dry drunk inching closer to a barstool.

Thing? One in one's cups thus shouldn't speak or post. Trash.

“Totally sober.” It’s not going well for you, jeez.

OP will be fine. Good luck with the tooth retention, sweetie.

What are you even talking about? Maybe try sobering up before you comment again. Tooth retention? You make zero sense.

You’re methy, sweetie. Very methy. Good luck after the inevitable OD.

The projection is strong with this one...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With knee replacement surgery they tell you to get ahead of the pain.
My DH tried to skip the heavy duty pain meds and it was not pretty for a few days.

He definitely needed the stronger drugs.

This. I've had a lot of different surgeries, and my pain management needs have been quite different in each case. My ACL/MCL/meniscus repair was the worst, and I definitely needed the oxy for about 4 days post-op and multiple nights after that. My bilateral mastectomy wasn't too bad, and I was fine with gabapentin and tylenol/ibuprofen. They might have given me a vicodin or two while I was still in the hospital, but nothing to take home after I was released. Laparoscopic surgeries were trivial, and OTC meds were completely fine.

OP didn't tell us what the surgery is, so we have no idea whether the doctor is being reasonable with the pain meds or whether he's some sort of purist. I would run far from any orthopedic surgeon who thinks OTC meds are sufficient.

You think doctors don't know this? The fact that OP didn't say, and hasn't come back to clarify, strongly suggests they already know they're on some nonsense.

OP probably saw the people ganging up on her and accusing her of being addicted. It is a fact that some doctors are extremely rigid when it comes to pain management. Check out r/medicine and see the debates among physicians about this. Besides not knowing what the surgery entails, we also don't know whether OP has undergone any surgical procedures before.

OP was probably trolling, like most of the people who post here. Either that, or they wanted "support" and bounced when they got a perspective check instead.

The perspective that we should tough out surgical pain versus using an FDA-approved medication that is indicated for surgical site pain? There is zero reason to go back to biting sticks and rolling around in pain because of some junkie somewhere.

My body, my choice.

But you know this isn't what happens to patients after standard surgeries in Sweden, Germany, France, and the UK, right? What makes Americans react so very much more poorly to the same procedures?

What are your sources for this claim? From a quick review:

The US and Canada have much higher post-surgery use than Sweden, but the US and UK have seen a similar and substantial drop in opioid prescriptions. France has seen an uptick in prescription opioid use, and Germany still has opioids prescribed somewhat regularly as analgesics:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2749239

https://www.ofma.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Chenaf_et_al-2018-European_Journal_of_Pain-vf.pdf

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/2/180

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3233/JRS-220040

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I met with a surgeon today for a consult for significant and urgent surgery. There were a number of things I was unimpressed with but one was that they only give Tylenol. I feel like they would probably give more if a patient was in REALLY bad shape but her take was “some discomfort is normal after major surgery but it should be manageable with Tylenol.” That’s jacked up. We invented medication so that you don’t have to feel pain. Give a patient 3-5 days of pain meds. I’m meeting with other surgeons because this one seems heartless.

Apparently your surgery isn't that urgent.

Quit doctor shopping for drugs. Tylenol and ibuprofen will mitigate most pain. Neither has significant side effects, withdrawal symptoms, addiction potential or other complications. You don't need 3-5 days of narcotics, and if you do, you can be prescribed them when you need them. Demanding drugs you probably won't need in advance is drug-seeking behavior. No, you should not have an expectation of 'zero pain' post-surgery. You should anticipate and prepare for discomfort at a level commensurate with whatever procedure you're having done, and be with it for the brief time it's present because that's life in a body. I would strongly suggest you avoid opioids like the plague they are, as the withdrawals kick in after even short-term use, and 3-5 days is more than enough to trigger addiction.

-long-term chronic pain patient who has BTDT with pretty much all of the painkiller options

Asking for pain medication after major surgery is not “drug seeking behavior.” People have lost their minds!

One thing I have always noted on DCUM is the purist mentality; it is so toxic. Pain meds work! There is no prize at the end for enduring crippling pain after a c-section, hysterectomy, bunion removal, or thyroidectomy.

And I am sick of doctors telling me THEY know my body better than I DO. I see no reason to suffer because someone somewhere is addicted to something. Change surgeons and don't look back OP. If you get home from surgery with only Tylenol and have crippiling pain at 2 am, it will be unnecessarily effing miserable getting relief, trust me, I know.

Agreed. And it’s damn clear that one or more posters are in fact opioid addicts (“chronic pain patient”) who are eager to see their own flaws and failures in everyone else.

Y'all would rather start attacking people you don't even know than listen and read and learn.

I've been totally sober for years, sweetie. If you're mad about me trying to prevent someone from walking the road to hell I managed to make it through, well, that's something for you to take up with your medical professionals (though if they've found a cure for being an inflammed and irritable ass on the internet, I don't know about it). Best of luck to you.

It’s interesting. The people I know who are serious about sobriety would not be addressing another person this way. Maybe they are unusual.

Ask the people you know to help you start your own recovery program, because it sounds like you need it. Nobody healthy goes this hard on a stranger, and PP wasn't being anything more or less than direct. You're overreacting, probably because you're triggered (and not sober yourself). Let it go or, in recovery language, "drop the rock".

I think you are confused about who was “going hard” on whom. PP has accused the other PP of having an anger problem that requires medical intervention. I have merely observed that this is an unusual thing for someone diligently minding their own side of the street in sobriety to do.

Feel free to take what works and leave the rest. Have a good one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wanting narcotics before the surgery even happens and there is pain, and shopping around to find someone who freely gives them out is a pretty big red flag. A lot of docs now only use them in a very controlled way for people whose pain isn’t managed in other ways. They don’t just send people home with bottles of narcotics anymore for just in case reasons.

No this is not a red flag at all. Not wanting to endure pain because one doctor thinks it’s fine for you to suffer when there is a different doctor that will make recovery bearable is not drug shopping.

History has taught us it is crueler and does more harm to patients to give narcotics out without an individualized need than it is to ask patient to try and manage their pain initially with OTC and request stronger meds if needed.

+1 Some of the people on this thread don't have the ability to handle a hangnail without meds that were designed for end-of-life cancer patients.

What if you were okay? What if everything was fine? What if you barely needed the tylenol, healed beautifully, and it wasn't even an issue?

If you’re ok, then you don’t take the pain meds, obviously. I’m single. If I don’t have things at home after a surgery, I wont be able to get them until at least the next day, if I can get a friend to run an errand for me. (Would they even be able to pick up a narcotic for me? I don’t know.) But it drives me crazy how doctors hand you a paper prescription as you’re leaving surgery rather than letting you get everything that’s anticipate-able squared away beforehand.

Narcotic prescriptions often need to have actual signatures, be presented in person, be picked up by a party 18 and older... That's still not a good reason to hand them out in advance of actual need "just in case". They're not "have on hand in case you need it" meds. That's tylenol. They're "special circumstance that justifies jumping through additional hoops" meds, and responsible people should expect that if they want access.

No, no, no, no, no. If the block I was given has worn off by 1am and I am alone with my 6-year-old son, I have no way of getting an RX IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT to alleviate horrendous pain. Why would you expect me, who knows my body, to suffer because of your addiction issues? 2-3 pills as part of the prep is not feeding addiction, FFS.

Horrendous pain and suffering? You can take tylenol and ibuprofen simultaneously to cut that to a manageable level, and then staggered to maintain pain coverage and avoid breakthrough pain. Be honest: 2-3 pills is a recreational dose.

If you're having the kind of pain that would truly necessitate opioid use, you need to talk to your doctor about why.

Oh you mean telling the doctor that I know my body better than they do and will need pain medication, like OP said she would like to have the option for? But you seem hellbent on just “toughing it out” like a cowboy because, why?

And 2-3 pills will get you through the night until you can speak to your surgeon versus the on-call physician. Or maybe all that is needed to get over the hump where only ibuprofen is needed.

Responsible people know how to prepare for surgery and have the a good understanding how they would like to have their pain managed. We all aren’t recovering addicts or freaking sheep.

Why would people in the US undergoing surgery be so very different from those undergoing surgery in Sweden, Germany, France, and the UK? What about Americans makes them need opioids when those in other countries do not, even after the same surgeries?

Americans expect service, comfort, and ease. It's a cultural thing. Where people in other places might reasonably expect post-surgical discomfort and modify their schedules and expectations accordingly, americans can't deal with pain or inconvenience, and need to micromanage professionals to get what they think they need upfront, just in case.

Overall health outcomes here suck proportionally, yet cost more because of insurance regulations, jumpy docs who are reluctant to prescribe, malpractice suits, etc.

I have chronic pain that is horrific. Do you have any concept of serious pain that will not go away. Its soul sucking and very hard to live with. I don't do pain meds as doctors will not treat you if you don't but I'm basically confined to my house at this point. You don't really understand that kind of pain if you minimize it. I cannot take ibprohen anymore regularly as it did a lot of damage to my kidney's doing it daily. Tylenol does nothing.

Nah, I'm the sober chronic pain person who got flamed upthread. I get it, and I disagree. Mentality is a huge part of pain perception. I've been confined to my home at times too, and I get the psychological complications of isolation and being left out and being misunderstood, etc.

Opiates don't fix any part of that.

I’ve never accepted any pain meds as doctors stop trying to help, well that assumes they try in the first place and most don’t. I have no idea what you mean by sober except to think you were an alcoholic at one point and you self medicated. You don’t have a clue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wanting narcotics before the surgery even happens and there is pain, and shopping around to find someone who freely gives them out is a pretty big red flag. A lot of docs now only use them in a very controlled way for people whose pain isn’t managed in other ways. They don’t just send people home with bottles of narcotics anymore for just in case reasons.

No this is not a red flag at all. Not wanting to endure pain because one doctor thinks it’s fine for you to suffer when there is a different doctor that will make recovery bearable is not drug shopping.

History has taught us it is crueler and does more harm to patients to give narcotics out without an individualized need than it is to ask patient to try and manage their pain initially with OTC and request stronger meds if needed.

+1 Some of the people on this thread don't have the ability to handle a hangnail without meds that were designed for end-of-life cancer patients.

What if you were okay? What if everything was fine? What if you barely needed the tylenol, healed beautifully, and it wasn't even an issue?

If you’re ok, then you don’t take the pain meds, obviously. I’m single. If I don’t have things at home after a surgery, I wont be able to get them until at least the next day, if I can get a friend to run an errand for me. (Would they even be able to pick up a narcotic for me? I don’t know.) But it drives me crazy how doctors hand you a paper prescription as you’re leaving surgery rather than letting you get everything that’s anticipate-able squared away beforehand.

Narcotic prescriptions often need to have actual signatures, be presented in person, be picked up by a party 18 and older... That's still not a good reason to hand them out in advance of actual need "just in case". They're not "have on hand in case you need it" meds. That's tylenol. They're "special circumstance that justifies jumping through additional hoops" meds, and responsible people should expect that if they want access.

No, no, no, no, no. If the block I was given has worn off by 1am and I am alone with my 6-year-old son, I have no way of getting an RX IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT to alleviate horrendous pain. Why would you expect me, who knows my body, to suffer because of your addiction issues? 2-3 pills as part of the prep is not feeding addiction, FFS.

Horrendous pain and suffering? You can take tylenol and ibuprofen simultaneously to cut that to a manageable level, and then staggered to maintain pain coverage and avoid breakthrough pain. Be honest: 2-3 pills is a recreational dose.

If you're having the kind of pain that would truly necessitate opioid use, you need to talk to your doctor about why.

Oh you mean telling the doctor that I know my body better than they do and will need pain medication, like OP said she would like to have the option for? But you seem hellbent on just “toughing it out” like a cowboy because, why?

And 2-3 pills will get you through the night until you can speak to your surgeon versus the on-call physician. Or maybe all that is needed to get over the hump where only ibuprofen is needed.

Responsible people know how to prepare for surgery and have the a good understanding how they would like to have their pain managed. We all aren’t recovering addicts or freaking sheep.

Why would people in the US undergoing surgery be so very different from those undergoing surgery in Sweden, Germany, France, and the UK? What about Americans makes them need opioids when those in other countries do not, even after the same surgeries?

Americans expect service, comfort, and ease. It's a cultural thing. Where people in other places might reasonably expect post-surgical discomfort and modify their schedules and expectations accordingly, americans can't deal with pain or inconvenience, and need to micromanage professionals to get what they think they need upfront, just in case.

Overall health outcomes here suck proportionally, yet cost more because of insurance regulations, jumpy docs who are reluctant to prescribe, malpractice suits, etc.

I have chronic pain that is horrific. Do you have any concept of serious pain that will not go away. Its soul sucking and very hard to live with. I don't do pain meds as doctors will not treat you if you don't but I'm basically confined to my house at this point. You don't really understand that kind of pain if you minimize it. I cannot take ibprohen anymore regularly as it did a lot of damage to my kidney's doing it daily. Tylenol does nothing.

Nah, I'm the sober chronic pain person who got flamed upthread. I get it, and I disagree. Mentality is a huge part of pain perception. I've been confined to my home at times too, and I get the psychological complications of isolation and being left out and being misunderstood, etc.

Opiates don't fix any part of that.

You’re a fd up addict. This poster isn’t 🤷

You're a horrible person, addicted to cruelty. Enjoy your L.

They have addiction issues so they think everyone should suffer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With knee replacement surgery they tell you to get ahead of the pain.
My DH tried to skip the heavy duty pain meds and it was not pretty for a few days.

He definitely needed the stronger drugs.

This. I've had a lot of different surgeries, and my pain management needs have been quite different in each case. My ACL/MCL/meniscus repair was the worst, and I definitely needed the oxy for about 4 days post-op and multiple nights after that. My bilateral mastectomy wasn't too bad, and I was fine with gabapentin and tylenol/ibuprofen. They might have given me a vicodin or two while I was still in the hospital, but nothing to take home after I was released. Laparoscopic surgeries were trivial, and OTC meds were completely fine.

OP didn't tell us what the surgery is, so we have no idea whether the doctor is being reasonable with the pain meds or whether he's some sort of purist. I would run far from any orthopedic surgeon who thinks OTC meds are sufficient.

You think doctors don't know this? The fact that OP didn't say, and hasn't come back to clarify, strongly suggests they already know they're on some nonsense.

OP probably saw the people ganging up on her and accusing her of being addicted. It is a fact that some doctors are extremely rigid when it comes to pain management. Check out r/medicine and see the debates among physicians about this. Besides not knowing what the surgery entails, we also don't know whether OP has undergone any surgical procedures before.

OP was probably trolling, like most of the people who post here. Either that, or they wanted "support" and bounced when they got a perspective check instead.

The perspective that we should tough out surgical pain versus using an FDA-approved medication that is indicated for surgical site pain? There is zero reason to go back to biting sticks and rolling around in pain because of some junkie somewhere.

My body, my choice.

But you know this isn't what happens to patients after standard surgeries in Sweden, Germany, France, and the UK, right? What makes Americans react so very much more poorly to the same procedures?

What are your sources for this claim? From a quick review:

The US and Canada have much higher post-surgery use than Sweden, but the US and UK have seen a similar and substantial drop in opioid prescriptions. France has seen an uptick in prescription opioid use, and Germany still has opioids prescribed somewhat regularly as analgesics:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2749239

https://www.ofma.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Chenaf_et_al-2018-European_Journal_of_Pain-vf.pdf

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/2/180

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3233/JRS-220040

Sure. Same data as you. From your first link:

In this cohort study, more than 70% of surgical patients in the United States and Canada filled opioid prescriptions after 4 surgical procedures compared with only 11% in Sweden.

The exact same surgical procedures, but Swedes require 1/7 the opioid prescriptions post-op as Americans. Why is that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With knee replacement surgery they tell you to get ahead of the pain.
My DH tried to skip the heavy duty pain meds and it was not pretty for a few days.

He definitely needed the stronger drugs.

This. I've had a lot of different surgeries, and my pain management needs have been quite different in each case. My ACL/MCL/meniscus repair was the worst, and I definitely needed the oxy for about 4 days post-op and multiple nights after that. My bilateral mastectomy wasn't too bad, and I was fine with gabapentin and tylenol/ibuprofen. They might have given me a vicodin or two while I was still in the hospital, but nothing to take home after I was released. Laparoscopic surgeries were trivial, and OTC meds were completely fine.

OP didn't tell us what the surgery is, so we have no idea whether the doctor is being reasonable with the pain meds or whether he's some sort of purist. I would run far from any orthopedic surgeon who thinks OTC meds are sufficient.

You think doctors don't know this? The fact that OP didn't say, and hasn't come back to clarify, strongly suggests they already know they're on some nonsense.

OP probably saw the people ganging up on her and accusing her of being addicted. It is a fact that some doctors are extremely rigid when it comes to pain management. Check out r/medicine and see the debates among physicians about this. Besides not knowing what the surgery entails, we also don't know whether OP has undergone any surgical procedures before.

OP was probably trolling, like most of the people who post here. Either that, or they wanted "support" and bounced when they got a perspective check instead.

The perspective that we should tough out surgical pain versus using an FDA-approved medication that is indicated for surgical site pain? There is zero reason to go back to biting sticks and rolling around in pain because of some junkie somewhere.

My body, my choice.

Well, sure. Your choice to go doctor shopping for opiates. Good luck when your records get flagged for drug-seeking behavior.

You don't need opiates for every "surgical site pain". You really don't.

DP. Now you sound hysterical. The DEA has more to do than to scan for who is having surgeries to see opioids. I had an addict client once who tried to go from drug store to drug store trying to get scripts before getting caught and it didn’t work. Busted. Another stole script pad. Busted. I don’t even know the docs use paper script pads anymore for actual scripts —do they?