Asked to provide own painkillers!

I took my own cocodamol on the post natal ward after my c section. I told them I'd already taken paracetamol when they tried to give me it, and I got told off for it - they were only going to give me paracetamol and ibuprofen, screw that. That was 3 years ago.

My dh had to take in painkillers when he had a brain tumour removed. He was on Oramorph for 3 days though. Then something else they gave him but on day 6 his own painkillers.

Hopefully your DH made a quick recovery and with no mental impairment, but as a general rule of thumb I think it's probably best for the hospital to manage drug regimes for people undergoing brain surgery!

My mum is due to have an operation this month (if it goes ahead). She has also been told to bring in painkillers for afterwards.

Thanks Chatty. By the way, I had oral morphine first say 24 hours. One midwife withheld it as some point to point that I was moaning with pain. My anaesthetist came in for a chat and was shocked and told them to give me a pump if needed (incidentally, morphine seems to do little for me and quickly runs through my system).
I didn't mind not being given stronger stuff at discharge as I was doing fine with 1g paracetamol every 6 hours. What I minded was not being told in advance to get it. I recall the lack of paracetamol all over the country before first lockdown. And there will be people who won't have it at home so being told in advance would be good.
OP, discuss your pain management options before admission. Am sure Oral morphine will be provided. Good luck and enjoy

Congratulations Ginger

WTF. Paracetamol? I am so angry on your behalf. Women I know with csection had oral morphine first couple of days in patient then took home strong prescription only pain relief (tramadol) for over a week and in between doses was in pain. I know not everyone feels the same but BYO paracetamol is fucking ludicrous. Pain isn’t a moral issue, it’s a normal and expected physiological reaction after major abdominal surgery.

Pretty shocked that you've been asked to bring your own medication into hospital, but I very much doubt this will be all that's on offer. They will also prescribe morphine etc as needed, it's just that these are the baseline OTC medications that everyone can obtain (and are much cheaper to buy than for the NHS to provide). I've also worked as a midwife in Canada and there the hospital provided the analgesia but we gave it to women for them to self-medicate while inpatient. I think it works much, much better since there is no waiting around for the patient. Furthermore drug rounds spent doling out OTC medications are such a time suck for midwives and take a lot of time away from clinical hands-on care, when most people are perfectly capable of taking their own paracetamol, just as they do at home. I just can't believe you've been asked to supply it yourself!

Just gave birth by CS a few days ago. On the ward, was given pain killers and after 24-36 hours I could manage on paracetamol alone or combined with ibuprofen. Not for everyone of course. What annoyed me was I was told I was being sent off home with pain killers only to realise they only gave me dihydrocodeine to use in worse case scenario. I wasn't told to buy my own paracetamol or ibuprofen or what dose to use (just got home and realised, no paracetamol or ibuprofen, no instructions!). My annoyance being: there will be people who arrive home with no pain killers and they don't stock any who will then have to frantically need to make arrangements (some of them single mums with no support). And others who won't know the dosing. Yes, many can easily arrange these but it's just a hassle one can do without when recovering from the big event that is birthing. Granted it was probably just part of the chaotic discharge process (which took over 20 hours and was the least coordinated process I have ever seen!)

My dh had to take in painkillers when he had a brain tumour removed. He was on Oramorph for 3 days though. Then something else they gave him but on day 6 his own painkillers. He came on day 12 so got through a few. I would rather NHS spent it's money on operation than giving people Ibuprofen or good for that matter. I think people should pay for their own meals.

I'm really taken aback.

I've had loads of surgery in my life including plenty as a child.

Decent pain relief is essential. It really is.

Take a fucking paracetamol? Bloody hell.

i was told that they could give me pain relief, but i could have my own if i wanted. some women were ringing their bells for medication and waiting up to an hour to be given it so it was easier for me to take my own and then i just told the nurse and she recorded what i took and when.

Omg just read all OPs posts.

Why 3 days worth of painkillers? Standard section out in 48 hours.

But the main thing. No decent pain relief after major surgery?

What the fuck?

There have been studies showing pain in women and children is under treated. Lots of them.

A fucking paracetamol?

Jesus. That's appalling. I'm genuinely shocked.

Huh?

Not RTFT but I was on morphine after both of mine.

I hope I've missed an update later on...

Sorry, not rtft but saw you were in Leeds. After appendectomy in Leeds I was sent home with no pain relief. It's not only CS this applies to in Leeds. I naively believed that paracetamol would be ok but soon realised that (or otc cocodamol) wasn't touching the pain and had to get emergency gp appointment for stronger stuff. Right old faff and a totally unpleasant & unnecessary experience. Get a prescription ahead of time if you possibly can.

I was told the same, OP, when I was due to have gynaecological surgery. I spoke to my GP and was told she'd prescribe me some codeine to take with. In the end I went private. The casual disregard for potential pain after surgery played a role in my decision. A small part but nevertheless it helped me make the decision.

Something like a C Section is major surgery. Whilst every woman is different, OTC painkillers will not be anything close to sufficient for many.

I'm really shocked by this thread.
A few random thoughts, not necessarily in a logical order:

The NHS has been told not to provide prescriptions for paracetamol to save money. I had thought this applied to TTO's and GP prescriptions which is entirely different to inpatient pain management.

For effective pain relief analgesics should be taken regularly - waiting until you are in pain will mean being in pain whilst waiting for pain relief to kick in. That's why there are specific drug round times for regular administration.

Post LSCS and post vaginal birth the contraction of the uterus can be extremely painful, quite apart from the abdominal surgery and/or perineal damage and haemorrhoids, not to mention engorged breasts. Plenty of pain to go around!

When I was a student midwife, rather a long time ago, we used to give out Aspirin and papaveretum to anyone who wanted it, for the "after pains" (never mind the post surgery pain). This is discontinued now, and would not be considered safe, but I have to say - the women loved it! How times have changed.

In the USA, over prescription of opiates has caused significant problems with addiction. My niece had appendicitis while visiting New York and was given a month's supply of oxycodone to take home, which my sister promptly binned. In the UK, at least in my hospital, post knee replacement (which is extremely painful) standard pain relief is six doses/three days of oxycodone. They rarely prescribe it to take home. We don't have a comparable prescription opioid problem to the USA. (Yes I know lots of people are addicted to a range of prescription drugs, but I'm just pointing out that thanks to the NHS/NICE and prescribing policies we keep a bit more of a handle on it here).

Personally I think it's perfectly reasonable to expect all patients having elective surgery to have a supply of over the counter pain relief at home, however the hospital should be properly managing post operative pain, offering suitable analgesia and managing patient medications safely. It's really not a good idea for patients to be self administering on an ad hoc basis whilst ward staff are coming along offering various other medications. A recipe for disaster I would think.

It's also odd routinely instructing purchase of ibuprofen - not everyone can take ibuprofen and in my hospital anyone prescribed NSAIDS, ie ibuprofen or diclofenac is also routinely prescribed omeprazole or similar for gastric protection. A colleague took ibuprofen for the first time after taking part in a weekend staff endurance event on Dartmoor and promptly had a gastric bleed and had to be hospitalised for several days. A fit young woman with no previous health problems.

It's coupled with ibuprofen as the latter is anti inflammatory rather than actually numbing the pain.

Well of course that's ridiculous and a sign of health system that is not working if you have to bring your own drugs. That is ludicrous.

I'm intrigued by the people who are saying that you should do it because its cheaper to buy it in the supermarket than it is for the NHS. Does this not indicate that the NHS is not terribly good at procuring drugs????? If it was working well it should be able to procure basic pain medication at a much cheaper price that it retails for at the supermarket!

Louiselhrau:

Paracetamol is actually one of the best drugs for pain relief post surgery, literally the best there is so I don't know why so many people are going on about needing something stronger.
......
I don't know where you got that from. It's never even shifted a headache for me so cannot imagine it would be much use post-surgically.

Louiselhrau:

Paracetamol is actually one of the best drugs for pain relief post surgery, literally the best there is so I don't know why so many people are going on about needing something stronger.
......
I don't know where you got that from. It's never even shifted a headache for me so cannot imagine it would be much use post-surgically.