Today I went off my pain meds. This morning I just decided that the only way to find out if I actually needed them was to stop taking them. So far it's been 9 hours since my last one and I don't feel the need to take another. I have some soreness in my right thigh, related to my previous post, but otherwise appear to be pain free at this time. Of course, these things take 24 hours to get of your system sometimes, so the book is not entirely closed.
Along with the realization that the meds were not obscuring any major pain, I was able to properly assess how much weight I'm safely able to put on my leg. I've been basically walking all but normally but have remained a little cautious about putting all my weight on my leg and so have been sort-of using one crutch. Honestly, today I realized I just don't need it. I can walk 90% normally without it. So, I ditched it. It's not an ego thing, so if I find that the situation re: pain and stability changes, I'm happy to pick up the cane or crutch again. I just don't see why I should pretend to hobble around when it feels perfectly normal to walk again.
Now, if I could just resolve the issues with my two nerves: my pudendal nerve and the blood popsicle which could or could not be damage to my lateral cutaneous nerve. Damage to the pudendal is most often transient, as a result of traction, but the lateral cutaneous (where the numbness and swelling is) can be either transient or, in some cases, permanent. This would be a result of the actual procedure damaging the nerve. Unfortunately, I don't think there's anything I can do to speed the process along in either cases.
Another 6 days to my first post-op appointment. Even 2 weeks seems too long now. I don't know what they were thinking with 3 weeks. I really just want to get checked-out, properly assessed, and sent to PT at this point.
6 comments:
Woohoooo!!!:)
You know, drugs are interesting... Everytime my wife has given birth without the drugs, her recovery is a couple of hours. Add the drugs and it's a couple of days.
Same with me (granted my surgery was very mild compared to yours) but I got off the drugs after 24 hours, and just felt so much better. I was back to running within 2 or 3 days - my friend who took the drugs took over a week.
Drugs definitely serve a purpose, but I think we can heal alot better without them where possible!
Good on ya! And glad to hear the recovery is going well.
Yay, off the drugs. I'm w/ Koda on this one, I think the fear of the pain is way worse than the pain itself. I had the same experience when I stopped the Vicodin: it really wasn' that bad.
Well, it wasn't quite as easy as I thought. Quitting cold-turkey wasn't such a good idea. Talk about a sleepless night! So, I'm still taking a 1/2 pill every 6 or so hours... weaning is definitely the strategy.
I hear all of you on your fear of drugs but I'm not quite as anti-drugs as you all. If I need them, I'm going to take them and who knows how much pain I would have been in if I had come off them sooner. I know I was in a hell of a lot of pain in the first 12 hours, even WITH them.
And E, the fear of pain is NOT worse than the pain itself. Sorry, can't agree with you there. Pain is painful. I'm no martyr.
You're no martyr, but your pain threshold is admittedly not that high, so I can see how that is totally true for you, that pain is painful. For me, it's the other way because I have a high pain threshold. I don't feel a great deal of pain, mostly, and when I do it takes A LOT to make me uncomfortable. But the thought of having pain stresses me out, even if then the pain itself is not that big of a deal.
And by the way, this is not always good because I end up being in pain for a long time before I notice and do something about it, and by then I'm exhausted.
As you say in your next post, how/whether you take pain meds has to work for you and your body, I don't think there's any right way to do it. What worked for me is not going to work for you at all, and I would never have been able to bear painkillers for this long.
The important thing is that you're comfortable with your level of pain and you're able to heal and get enough sleep.
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