Question:
Allergic to every pain medication I have ever taken
I've figured out after four major surgeries that I am allergic to any of the good heavy duty pain medications that I hear are used for post-op pain. Morphine, Darvocet, Vicodan, Lortab, Soma, Codeine - I can't take any of it without nausea and vomiting. I didn't use any pain meds when I had my c-section because of this, but I'm not sure if the pain from the open RNY will be as manageable as the c-section. What do I do if I can't have post-op pain relievers? — Gretchen M. (posted on April 4, 2003)
April 4, 2003
Have them get in advance the reports from your previous surgeries. Get this
info to your surgeon in advance and get them to consult with anestalogy.
Previousa surgeries made me vomit terribly but there is great anti nausea
meds availble today. With some planning you should do fine. Talk to
everyone before surgery!
— bob-haller
April 4, 2003
You are probobly not "allergic" to these medications. Nausea is
an expected side effect to narcotics. Taking an anti-nausea medication
along with the narcotic works well, sometimes visteriol not only helps the
nausea but potentiates the pain releiving effects of narcotics.
— DrQ
April 4, 2003
You didn't mention "Demerol". I chose Demerol over Morphine for
my post-op pain as Morphine has always made me very sick. It works great
and nooooo nausea. If this medication cannot be used either, you may want
to check with Anesthesiology in that hospital and your doctor to see if
they use spinal blocks to control post-op pain. Works fantastic and you
won't get sick. Good luck!!
— thumpiez
April 4, 2003
I think Demerol is Morphine mixed with phenagren to control the nausea. I
always get nauseated too on pain pills, but I'd prefer nausea to intense
pain. Ask your surgeon about that, there has to be some drug out there that
won't make you sick.
Joy
— kjonhjk
April 4, 2003
Bob's advice is excellent, the anesthesiologists like to see your prior
surgery records and to be made aware of your prior experiences. Add my
vote to the Demerol fans, too -- after my RNY, morphine gave me some dry
heave problems (and I just found morphine made me too "out of
it"). For me, demerol was a vast improvement.
— Suzy C.
April 4, 2003
I didn't use any pain meds for either of my surgeries and really didn't
need them. I know that everyone's pain tolerance is different, but I think
if you got through the post-op period of a c-section, you may be OK. I
never even had a pain pump either time.
— garw
April 4, 2003
I'll chime in and say that I didn't need any pain medication either. It
wasn't a walk in the park, but I wasn't in excrutiating pain either. I've
had two c-sections myself, and I think that the c-sections were more
painful. After my initial surgery, I honestly believed that my surgeon had
not performed my surgery, because I was expecting to be doubled over in
pain. There's no guarantee that your experience will be the same, but
hopefully you have a high pain threshold.
— Melissa B.
April 4, 2003
Hi - I'm an RN and I work in surgery. I just wanted to chime in with an
observation. Nausea and vomiting are not generally considered "true
allergies".... not that it doesn't make you miserable. But my point
is - If you tell your doctor and anesthesia doc early enough, then they can
hep you plan for either alternative pain relief or for anti-nausea meds to
take in conjunction with your pain meds. Just don't wait till the last
minute to let them know! Good luck on your surgery. :)
— Anne R.
April 4, 2003
Hi - I'm an RN and I work in surgery. I just wanted to chime in with an
observation. Nausea and vomiting are not generally considered "true
allergies".... not that it doesn't make you miserable. But my point
is - If you tell your doctor and anesthesia doc early enough, then they can
hep you plan for either alternative pain relief or for anti-nausea meds to
take in conjunction with your pain meds. Just don't wait till the last
minute to let them know! Good luck on your surgery. :)
— Anne R.
April 4, 2003
I have allergic reactions to narcotic based pain killers. But I can
tolerate dilaudid, which from my understanding is a synthetic form of
morphine. This pain killers was used for me when I had a series of
debraidment surgeries following a post-op staph infection when I had back
surgery. I was on for 12 days. I did have withdrawl symptoms though, so
when I had my open RNY I opted to not have any pain medication. The first
24 hrs were really rough but everything was pretty tolerable after that
inial period. Talk to your doctor about your concerns maybe there's a
medication out there that will work for you or possibly they can combine
your pain medication with something for nausea. Good luck on your
journey.(open, distal, non-transected RNY on 05/07/02, pre-op 263lbs 5'6'',
now 153lbs, 11 lbs to goal)
— Kelly S.
April 5, 2003
i am allergic to percoset and would not advise demorol either, when i took
demerol after my c-section i had heavy duty hallucinations. i actually used
my teeth to tear up hospital sheets because i thought they needed them for
bandages down the hall, i also thought people werehiding in the closet and
that my husband was cheating on me! Its funny now, but pretty scary at the
time.
— s H.
April 6, 2003
I am also allergic to more stuff than I can list. What a pain. My biggest
problem is making people listen. So many nurses have tried to tell me that
my symptoms are common until you insist on the words severe and accute. I
just had my surgery on the 1st of April and it went fantastic. I made sure
that my surgeon had lots of back up information from previous surgeries. I
provided the anesthesia (sp?) reports. If you ask former doctors you can
get them sent to your surgeon. Then they have records of your reactions to
prior drugs. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO INSIST THAT THEY LISTEN...the only time I
didnt (allegy to reglan) I ended up with chewed up cheeks, tongue and
chipped teeth (the nurse did not appologise by the way).
: ) Best Wishes!
— K P.
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