Surgeon only gives Tylenol after surgery

[Anonymous]

Look OP the doctor isn’t a good match for you so move on. You are also giving a lot of red flags as a patient with this “urgent” surgery that clearly can’t be too urgent. It isn’t a travel experience. It’s surgery and you should expect some discomfort and uncomfortableness.
Your doctor is correct IMO to not release pathology in a portal. My mom learned of her cancer this way and it was traumatic as she sat and waited for answers.
100% team doctor.

[Anonymous]

Your thread title is misleading and doesn’t even match what you wrote in the original post. You sound like a very difficult person.
Good luck with your next consults. It sounds like you went into this one with your mind already made up of what should/should not happen. Did you try asking the surgeon why this was their policy on pain management and actually listen to the response?

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

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.

You didn’t read the post. More doctors will prescribe additional pain medications. If some continues to experience pain beyond what otc meds can handle. But they don’t just send every patient home with bottles of narcotics benzos just in case they have pain or anxiety. It is shopping around as OP doesn’t even have any pain yet and that pain may be well managed with otc. Just because the current culture is to pop pills for everything and feel nothing mentally or physically doesn’t mean that approach is supported by the medical field. It has led to massive amounts of lives ruined in the past and just isn’t modern medicine. The approach now is to treat the patient and their individual needs, not to hand out bottles of narcotics and benzos to anyone who wants them just in case they have pain that isn’t managed with otc.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

I have had two major surgeries and both times I was prescribed Ibuprofen and oxycontin. I would only take one or two oxycontin and could have managed without it, I actually didn't like how it made me feel.

[Anonymous]

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.

You didn’t read the post. More doctors will prescribe additional pain medications. If some continues to experience pain beyond what otc meds can handle. But they don’t just send every patient home with bottles of narcotics benzos just in case they have pain or anxiety. It is shopping around as OP doesn’t even have any pain yet and that pain may be well managed with otc. Just because the current culture is to pop pills for everything and feel nothing mentally or physically doesn’t mean that approach is supported by the medical field. It has led to massive amounts of lives ruined in the past and just isn’t modern medicine. The approach now is to treat the patient and their individual needs, not to hand out bottles of narcotics and benzos to anyone who wants them just in case they have pain that isn’t managed with otc.

+1
Why won’t OP say what the procedure is? I’m team doctor even with the biased reporting from OP.

[Anonymous]

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

Trash. You’re just trash, my god.

[Anonymous]

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.

I agree with you 100%. That level of rigidity in pain management would be a red flag to me - what other subjects are they rigid about that might effect the surgery and my recovery.

This is OP. It's this exactly. Rigidity in a way that doesn't seem to care about the patient's experience. They also don't release pathology results when they become available. You have to wait until your follow up appointment with the surgeon a couple of weeks later so the surgeon can "contextualize" them. I suspect they have that policy because people called the office upset after reading their results on MyChart, and they don't want to deal with crying callers. But very few people need context to understand "carcinoma" or "benign." They just don't want to deal with outside of the follow up appointment.

OP, are you a patient in a major health system? Because most are releasing pathology results to patients directly via their systems’ electronic portals as standard practice these days (including post-surgery).

This is due to the Cures Act, explained well here:

https://mychart.wellstar.org/MyChart/en-us/docs/tipsheets/CURESACTPATIENTFAQ.pdf

Refinement of this requirement is under broad review, but I don’t think changes have been implemented, so I’m not sure the practice would even be allowed to withhold the pathology results:

https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/digital-health/states-move-give-patients-more-control-over-test-results

It’s hard to know what to suggest when you haven’t specified the exact surgery, but it sounds like this surgeon/practice are not responsive to your concerns, and that you won’t be comfortable with each other.

Can you choose a different surgeon (and practice)?

[Anonymous]

I thought I was dying after my implant. The pain was just so so bad until I could get home and take my 3 ibuprofen. I will say the 3 ibuprofen took the edge off and when they wore off, I was back to dying (like in the middle of the night while sleeping).

I am a former alcoholic though and I probably wouldn't have filled a prescription for anything stronger. I do appreciate things like laughing gas, localized numbing, and epidurals that take the edge off while surgeries are happening though.

[Anonymous]

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.

You didn’t read the post. More doctors will prescribe additional pain medications. If some continues to experience pain beyond what otc meds can handle. But they don’t just send every patient home with bottles of narcotics benzos just in case they have pain or anxiety. It is shopping around as OP doesn’t even have any pain yet and that pain may be well managed with otc. Just because the current culture is to pop pills for everything and feel nothing mentally or physically doesn’t mean that approach is supported by the medical field. It has led to massive amounts of lives ruined in the past and just isn’t modern medicine. The approach now is to treat the patient and their individual needs, not to hand out bottles of narcotics and benzos to anyone who wants them just in case they have pain that isn’t managed with otc.

DP. Pain is better managed when you get ahead of it, and a pain Rx (for a short duration) often will be called in during the time of major surgery, before the patient heads home, for that reason. Refills are not automatic, but often will be filled after a detailed discussion with the health practice.

The current view is not opposed to offering these meds; in fact the pendulum is very carefully swinging back due to doctors’ concerns about how poorly pain has been managed for their patients over the past decade as a result of the severe limits on opioids.

Again, pain is very individual and procedures affect people differently.

Some of you are actually posting out-of-date and incorrect info, with a dollop of proselytizing on top.

[Anonymous]

OP hasn't said what the surgery is, so we really have no way of knowing whether tylenol tends to be sufficient or not.

Even according to OP's own report, she feels like the doctor WOULD prescribe stronger opiods IF the patient needed them after trying Tylenol.

I'm not sure what the problem is, OP... you try tylenol and see how it goes. If you need more, you ask for it through the nurse line or messages. It's not that hard.

[Anonymous]

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.

You didn’t read the post. More doctors will prescribe additional pain medications. If some continues to experience pain beyond what otc meds can handle. But they don’t just send every patient home with bottles of narcotics benzos just in case they have pain or anxiety. It is shopping around as OP doesn’t even have any pain yet and that pain may be well managed with otc. Just because the current culture is to pop pills for everything and feel nothing mentally or physically doesn’t mean that approach is supported by the medical field. It has led to massive amounts of lives ruined in the past and just isn’t modern medicine. The approach now is to treat the patient and their individual needs, not to hand out bottles of narcotics and benzos to anyone who wants them just in case they have pain that isn’t managed with otc.

DP. Pain is better managed when you get ahead of it, and a pain Rx (for a short duration) often will be called in during the time of major surgery, before the patient heads home, for that reason. Refills are not automatic, but often will be filled after a detailed discussion with the health practice.

The current view is not opposed to offering these meds; in fact the pendulum is very carefully swinging back due to doctors’ concerns about how poorly pain has been managed for their patients over the past decade as a result of the severe limits on opioids.

Again, pain is very individual and procedures affect people differently.

Some of you are actually posting out-of-date and incorrect info, with a dollop of proselytizing on top.

Not out of date or incorrect care. I guess it is different approaches. Where I am we provide individualized, patient centered care which means that having surgery isnt' an automatic narcotics and benzo script for everyone. I am surpised your doctors still hand it out like candy and don't take a more controlled or individualized approach and that surgery = whatever you want for pain before the pain even happens. Pain management is important but where I work, there is no longer the view that narcotics are the only option for pain management. We have a chronic pain clinic that doesn't even prescribe narcotics. There are many ways to manage pain and using narcotics as your solution for every patient who has surgery without any assessment of the individual or their need led to major addiction, overuse and dependency issues. I would say that your approach is more old school - to not recognize the harms of opioids and the dangers of overprescribing and using them broadly for all patients who are surgical patients.

[Anonymous]

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!

A qualified medical professional thinks otherwise, but go off...

[Anonymous]

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.

You didn’t read the post. More doctors will prescribe additional pain medications. If some continues to experience pain beyond what otc meds can handle. But they don’t just send every patient home with bottles of narcotics benzos just in case they have pain or anxiety. It is shopping around as OP doesn’t even have any pain yet and that pain may be well managed with otc. Just because the current culture is to pop pills for everything and feel nothing mentally or physically doesn’t mean that approach is supported by the medical field. It has led to massive amounts of lives ruined in the past and just isn’t modern medicine. The approach now is to treat the patient and their individual needs, not to hand out bottles of narcotics and benzos to anyone who wants them just in case they have pain that isn’t managed with otc.

DP. Pain is better managed when you get ahead of it, and a pain Rx (for a short duration) often will be called in during the time of major surgery, before the patient heads home, for that reason. Refills are not automatic, but often will be filled after a detailed discussion with the health practice.

The current view is not opposed to offering these meds; in fact the pendulum is very carefully swinging back due to doctors’ concerns about how poorly pain has been managed for their patients over the past decade as a result of the severe limits on opioids.

Again, pain is very individual and procedures affect people differently.

Some of you are actually posting out-of-date and incorrect info, with a dollop of proselytizing on top.

Not out of date or incorrect care. I guess it is different approaches. Where I am we provide individualized, patient centered care which means that having surgery isnt' an automatic narcotics and benzo script for everyone. I am surpised your doctors still hand it out like candy and don't take a more controlled or individualized approach and that surgery = whatever you want for pain before the pain even happens. Pain management is important but where I work, there is no longer the view that narcotics are the only option for pain management. We have a chronic pain clinic that doesn't even prescribe narcotics. There are many ways to manage pain and using narcotics as your solution for every patient who has surgery without any assessment of the individual or their need led to major addiction, overuse and dependency issues. I would say that your approach is more old school - to not recognize the harms of opioids and the dangers of overprescribing and using them broadly for all patients who are surgical patients.

No one is suggesting narcotics are or should be “handed out like candy,” or prescribed to every surgery patient. To imply that major health organizations are unaware of the risk of harms from opioid narcotics is nonsensical.