Ouch! Dressing of wound left by abscess removed from back

[Belo]

I am in such pain! I had an abscess removed from my back yesterday and it has left a 1.5" hole. I've just been to the first of what will be daily visits to the GP to have the packing removed, wound cleaned, and re-packed (so it will heal from the inside out). IT HURT LIKE HELL!

Has anybody had something similar? I've been given no pain management advice. I've taken Voltarol but it doesn't seem to have done much. I screamed out several times whilst the nurse was pulling out the old packing and could hardly drive afterwards. Only now, two hour later, am I starting to be able to function again. I still feel sick and shaky. I'm dreading tomorrow, and the next day etc. I mentioned local anaesthetic to the nurse and she just laughed. I wasn't laughing. I was in too much pain and feeling too shaky to ask her why not and what else I could do to manage the pain.

What are the best pain killers? And, how long before the pain starts to lesson? Any advice here would be great.

[Floralnomad]

Ring the GP and tell them that you need some prescription strength painkillers to take before you have the dressing done . Take them about 20-30 minutes before the appointment. Also get a different nurse ,it's not a laughing matter. Don't take no for an answer ,everybody's pain threshold is different and you are entitled . Good luck

[CMOTDibbler]

DH had the same a couple of months ago, and it hurt terribly. But nothing really helped with that acute pain, and he has tramadol. It was better after the first couple of days.
Overall, start taking ibuprofen and paracetamol regularly, and it will help with te pain.

[Sparklingbrook]

DH had one of these. He said having it packed was the worst pain he has ever experienced. He also had to have silver nitrate put on it.

The pain did lessen as time went on, he had to go every day, then every other day, then once a week.

[Belo]

Thank you Floralnomad. That is sensible advice. I don't seem to be thinking properly at the moment... CMOTDibbler I will be holding onto the fact that the first couple of days are the worst...

This time 10 years ago I was in labour with DD1. I kept trying to tell myself that that was worse whilst having the packing removed. It didn't help.

[Belo]

I now have some Codeine Phosphate. Hopefully that will make tomorrow better. Just been reading the side effects leaflet. I'll probably be next seen on here posting for advice on constipation!

[Sparklingbrook]

Hope you start to feel better soon. Must be very uncomfortable being on your back, are you sleeping ok?

[Belo]

Luckily I always sleep on my stomach!

I'm feeling a lot better than I was this morning. In retrospect, I think I was in sort of shock afterwards. I really had not been given any indication as to how painful the changing of the dressing and the packing of the wound would be. It was completely unexpected. I'm dreading tomorrow, but I think if I'm expecting the pain and have had the pain killers it will be a lot better. I hope!

Thank you for your thoughts.

[Sparklingbrook]

Yes, at least you know what to expect now. DH and I have just been discussing his and he claims it was worse pain than childbirth-not sure how he knows that.

The worst bit was that DS2 ran into DH and the sebaceous cyst burst. he had got an appointment with the GP the day after to get it sorted properly.

[Belo]

Sparkling Brook I would sort of agree with your DH, but only for the 1st day. Today was not so bad as I'd had Codeine before I went. However, I did faint half way through so the nurse finished it off whilst I was out! I think that is the way forward. I will try and faint at the beginning tomorrow

[Sparklingbrook]

Sounds like it's sort of getting better Belo. If fainting works for you.

They had to put silver nitrate on DH's because it was healing faster on the outside than the inside. He said that wasn't fun.

[Belo]

I googled silver nitrate last night... I so hope I don't need that. Please give your DH all of my belated sympathies.

[Sparklingbrook]

It's more or less healed now Belo. Hard to believe it would when I first saw it after it had popped.

[Belo]

How long has it taken him to get to the 'almost heeled' stage?

[Sparklingbrook]

About 6 months.

[Belo]

As my daughter would say OMG! I'm going on holiday in a months time... Hope it won't need dressing by then. I better find out if trips to see a nurse in the states are covered by my travel insurance policy!

Your poor DH... 6 months is not good. (For my sake) I'm hoping he is an extreme case!

[LemonEmmaP]

I had similar many years ago and, like you, I passed out the first time. (Thinking back, it was pretty dangerous, as I was left alone in the bath - back in the days when you stayed in hospital for 24 hrs post op - and came close to fainting in the bath on my own. Luckily I managed to press the alarm before I lost it completely.) Just to reiterate what others say, it gets much easier as each day goes by, so hopefully you'll find the same goes for you. Mine was pretty much healed after a few weeks - maybe 4-6 weeks? I forget now. I was a student at the time and went back to uni after a couple of weeks, and then went to get dressings changed every few days. Good luck!

[Sparklingbrook]

He probably was Belo. If he had got to the Doctors and had it surgically done rather than DS2 bursting it I think it would have been better. It was a bit raggedy IYKWIM.

He didn't have the dressings on for 6 months though. It was on his shoulder so quite easy to conceal.

[Lisafisheryoung]

Hi I glad I'm not on my own ive just had an abcess removed from my nipple it was horried for a week ad half I'm now feeling better but been 3 weeks now and I thought it would of been nealy healed its still 1 cm deep an packing everyday is not nice and trip to doctor everyday is a night mare I couldn't belive when Ireland that they gave u no painkiller the hospital sent me home with 2 different ones hope u are recovering well now

[toulsonjenny]

Hi, I’ve literally got out of hospital a day ago, I had a 6-8cm big abscess removed from my bum. It’s been extremely painful and today I had my dressing changed for the first time and I felt exactly the same I was screaming and crying in agony and my mum said the hole in my bum was the size of a golf ball. The placing is very difficult and I can barely move or sit down it’s so painful. My nurse today was very helpful and she told me to take paracetamol and ibuprofen alternate them every 2 hours. Hope this helps!