What is the best post surgery pain relief you have had?

[EachandEveryone]

I nearly died three weeks ago I had a massive bleed from my femoral artery. I have cancer in my groin which didn’t help. I had a bridge by pass. I just wanted to say am I being dramatic? My leg is still swollen and I do exercise with a physio every day but the pain is off the scale oromorph isn’t touching it. Ketamine is nice but I don’t want to get addicted to it!! Can anyobe advise at all what is the king of pain killers as it’s really getting me down. And it’s affecting my movement. I’m lying with my swollen leg up when I’m resting but i have a lot of lymphatic fluids in the leg due to the cancer. I need to exercise more but the pain is stopping me.

What strength oromorph are you on? Perhaps discuss with your doctor about upping the dose and seeing what you can take alongside it

I’m on Oromorph as and when o want it also on 35 mg slow release for the cancer morning and night. I just don’t think that morphine touches the sides with me.

Best one I ever had was up-the-bum Voltarol after a C section
just amazing. Im sorry for your troubles xx

Best I had was oxycontin injections but that's not something you're going to be able to get at home.
Tramadol is pretty good, though, in my experience at least, it fucks your sleep up.

if you're still in hospital and haven't had input from an acute pain team then it sounds like that'd be the best thing to ask for. Different types of analgesia work well for different types of pain and it sounds like you have other complex medical problems going on to factor in (as they may affect which drugs are safe/which routes of admin might work best etc). There may also be nerve block/other injection options as well as oral pain relief. If you're not in hospital now, then your oncology team/vascular surgeon should be able to advise/speak to the pain team.

I’m in rehab so abit of both. I have 20mg of oromorph when I want it. I just don’t feel like it does much. They’ve also just started me on OxyContin and something for the nerve pain which takes awhile to start working.

Morphine is great but not given very often. Codeine has worked well for me.

I found ketamine to be very effective post surgery.

Morphine/oramorph is a horrible drug. Best avoided if possible. I'd try every other alternative first.

When I worked in homecare you wouldnt believe how many little old ladies were nothing more than drug addicts getting really nasty if you were running late and their medication was given late.

Morphine.

Tramadol for me. I’ve always said it’s a good job I couldn’t get hold of it outside of hospital or I’d have got myself into a right pickle with it.

It wasn’t post surgery but for pain when I was in A&E…Fentanyl. Within 5 seconds I felt like I was floating on a cloud.
Obviously they don’t dish this out often as it’s highly addictive. Now I just get morphine with tbh, doesn’t touch the pain I get, it just makes me itchy and sick.

I found I got the best pain relief from dihydrocodeine after I had a major operation.

Ask about fentanyl patches - much stronger than what you are getting at the moment or oxycodone immediate and controlled release.
both horrible for addiction but they work well for intense pain relief

Years ago I was given morphine in A and E. Didn’t touch the sides and didn’t seem to do anything to help. when I later saw an anaesthetist he said I just hadn’t been given anywhere near enough but that it didn’t work very well for some people.
But this was 20 years ago, there ought to be better pain relief available now. Hope you’re feeling better soon OP.

Tramadol. BUT my mum actually confiscated it when she realised I was looking forward to my evening dose. I described how I was looking forward to the nice floaty feeling it gave me.

She quite rightly clocked I was sleepwalking into using it gratuitously.

Morphine. I actually felt it go around my body

Same!

fentanyl post tooth surgery when tramadol and co codamol did nothing

I don't find Tramadol much use tbh.

^^ arse administered Voltarol is very effective.

OP it sounds as if your pain is a lot more complex than a normal post op pain as the cancer is still in your leg. So a lot of the suggestions here won't apply to you.

Ketamine is definitely not typically given after surgery so it sounds as if your team are really on it, and getting you on to effective nerve pain killers but you have only just started and not reached effective doses yet.

Fingers crossed you get there soon.

I loved dihydrocodeine

Thank you @AnnaMagnani you are spot on and I think what’s upsetting is that before this I was wearing a support stocking because of all the swelling of course I can’t wear that now because of all the incisions on my leg and the surgeons have never suggested it. My leg is so heavy it’s just adding to everything. I’m quite down about it all.

hopefully the cancer has stayed in one place and the immunotherapy will start working soon.

I had an epidural put in before my last two surgeries and they were left in for around a week afterwards. That was much better than anything else. For other areas of my body had IV fentanyl that I hada button for. That was put up by an anaesthetist.

Well after complaining that Oromorph doesn’t work a nurse has just presented me with 2ml when I have 10mls and said they’ve ran out!!! Ran out??? The pharmacist has had my chart all day. A CD drug gets recorded every time it’s used it’s impossible to run out! She just said she will see if it’s on order. If I’m left in agony all night because they haven’t got it I will go mad in the morning. I have cancer and I deal with my pain relief at home I come into hospital and I’m on half of what I’m on at home after major surgery.