The Goal of Pain Management Is to Get You Up and Moving
- Pain management can help promote a faster recovery, so it's a priority for both you and your doctor
- Many patients will receive a "multimodal pain regimen" that includes an epidural, nerve-blocking injections, and anti-inflammatories, which keep most post-surgical pain well-controlled
- Doctors have gotten really good at helping patients manage pain without narcotics
- Movement helps alleviate post-surgery pain, so the sooner you're up and walking the better
It's a big surgery, and though you should expect to feel some discomfort during your recovery, doctors have a lot of tools to use to help control post-surgical pain.
Read MoreIntraoperatively, or during surgery, your surgeon and their anesthesia team may provide abdominal block injections, which numb nerves going to the abdominal wall and also minimize the need for narcotic drugs afterward.
Following surgery, doctors may draw on "multimodal pain regimens," which can include an epidural, a shot that numbs the lower half of the body similar to what many women might be given during childbirth. Patients might receive nerve blocks that are injected into the incision, different strategies of pain patches or pain pills, or other types of pain medications. You may be prescribed round-the-clock non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and muscle relaxants, which usually keep pain well controlled. “Even warm packs, changing positions [in the bed] and using pillows can help,” says Barbara Dehn, nurse practitioner at El Camino Women's Medical Group.
There are many ways to help you manage discomfort beyond narcotic painkillers, which doctors try to use sparingly. That's because they can leave you too groggy to get up and move around, which doctors want you to do as soon as possible to hasten your recovery.
'Don't Be Brave'
Some patients, however, may need narcotics to manage pain during their recovery, especially if their surgery was extensive. Pain is one of those things that's very subjective, and everyone experiences it differently. So, don't put on a brave face, says Dehn. "I’m a former ICU nurse, so I’ve taken care of a lot of people after surgery. And what I can tell you is, you need to stay ahead of your pain. That means taking your pain medication as directed. Don’t worry about getting addictedyou won't. This is significant pain, and it’s important to stay on top of it. Don’t wait until it gets so bad [that] you can’t control it."
The Goal of Pain Management Is to Get You Up and Moving
The goal of pain management is to get patients up and moving around as soon as possible after surgery, oncologists tell SurvivorNet. Movement, even on the day of surgery, makes a huge difference not only for managing postoperative discomfort but also for encouraging a faster return of bladder and bowel function, and may lessen your chance of developing complications. All of which help speed the healing and recovery process.
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