When in the hospital do they give you pain meds to control the pain?
The have me liquid codeine for when I get  home...does that work?
For the two days will I pretty much be out of it?
thanks Bill

In Hamilton they gave me meds to control the pain.  I was given a sugar free liquid form of codeine for home but didn't use it after I got home.
I was out of it the day I came out of surgery but bounced back relatively quick.  Everyone is different so it varies according to the individual.

Until they took the i.v. out, they would put the pain meds into the i.v. line.  Afterwards they gave me tramadol - crushed.  I always took what was offered!  After about 15 minutes of taking the tramadol I needed to sleep.

When you wake up you need to be sipping and getting up and walking the best you can.  I loved the ice chip machine on the floor.  It was my best friend.  You need to get the gas moving.  Tooting becomes a real need.

Judy

oh trust me Bill, Hamilton is awesome when it comes to pain and nausea control. I had  nausea BAD and every 4 hrs they would come in and change my "bag".  If I needed anything pain all I had to do is call and they would come with pain meds to put in the IV.

You betcher a$$ they give you pain meds in the hospital!! :-) They won't let you writhe in agony - don't worry!! A patient's experience of extreme pain hampers a smooth recovery, it said in one of my booklets. They are constantly asking you what your pain levels are and will come to give you more meds as necessary. Never once did I feel like they wouldn't give me something for the pain.

They sent me home from the Ottawa Civic with a prescription for dilaudid (derivation of morphine) and children's liquid tylenol. The tylenol was what worked best, believe it or not.

I would say while you're in hospital you'll be a LITTLE out of it and maybe for the first couple days when you get home but not nearly bad enough so that you won't know what's going on.

:-)

Bill, the pain wasnt that bad. Honestly, try not to anticipate the worst. Hope for the best.

as always...thanks guys for being a great resource for reassurance...

Hamilton was, indeed, wonderful about pain management. I really didn't have pain at all - thanks in part, I believe, to not trying to be a martyr and taking all that was offered in the first 24 hours post op.

Just a heads-up, though... once you're taking things by mouth they'll want to try to switch you to an oral med. I believe it's Liquid Tylenol. That made me dump something awful! I spent my second night so sick. They finally managed to get the nausea under control after about 4 hours.

I have a bad reaction to anesthesia every time I have surgery. The nausea is out of control. I let them know this prior to surgery and they threw everything at it. I was still a bit nauseaus but nothing like I experienced previously. The staff are really wonderful and I found I never had to wait for anything.

Good luck!