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Original poster

Pain relief after cs - is this excessive?

35 replies

PrincessScrumpy · 08/09/2011 12:49

On Tuesday 30 August I had my twins by emcs (36w +5). 6 hours later I was up and walked a few steps to a wheelchair to be taken to SCBU, where dtd1 was taken immediately after birth. Both ended up in SCBU and so I was on a ward nearby walkin back and forth to see them. I did every nappy change (standing) and feeds every 3 hours so was very active. I was not pain free at all but carried on as I wanted to be with my babies. On day 6 I requested more paracetamol and some codiene as I had very little left (self administrating). The mw was horrified and said as I was basically healthy I shouldn't need them but if I did I should provide them as it costs £10 to them but less than £1 for me to buy. However she wrote in my notes that my pain relief seemed excessive.

I was on:

2x Paracetamol 4 times a day (5 hours apart)
1 or 2 x codiene taken with paracetamol - I took 2 for the 1st 4 days, then on day 5 took 1 tablet with paracetamol twice, then none for the other 2 paracetamol doses. I regreted this in the night as I was getting up so much, and so on day 6 (when I popped home for 2 hours to see dd1 and wanted to be able to cope with 2 flights of stairs) I took a codeine in the morning and then before bed to help with night feeds/walks to SCBU. This was when I asked for more tablets and was told I was takin too many, despite following what the mw had written out.
a few ibruprofen spread out for first 3 days but I didn' find them affective so didn't bother after that. (probably took 6 in total).
I'm now day 10 and still taking occasional paracetamol. Pain is fine and I felt well managed.

Does this sound like I am a big wimp to take so much?

OP posts:
faverolles · 08/09/2011 12:54

Sounds about normal to me. I had 4 cs - the first I was on (and needed to be on) pain relief for nearly 6 weeks - paracetamol and ibuprofen regularly.
Congratulations :)

Booboostoo · 08/09/2011 13:30

Congratulations on the arrival of your babies!!!

Each person is different but I had a lot more pain relief and did a lot less that you! I only got up the day after the c-section and walked in the room on day 3, walked in the hospital on day 4. I had the epidural in for the first 48 hours and could self-medicate, I pressed the button often in the first 24 hours less often the second 24 hours. I was on maximum dose of codeine in the hospital after that and took paracetamol for another 7 days at home (decreasing doses). I didn't have any pain this way and was able to recover really well. Personally I think that when you need to look after a baby you need good pain relief as pain wears you down and makes everythng harder.

Katiebeau · 08/09/2011 14:07

Wow -- you're hard. My DS was on a morphine pump as was a friend!! Also you are not supposed to self medicate in hospital! What if you collapsed - how would they know. Also £10 to them - crap, the NHS get drugs much cheaper then we pay over the counter.

Congratulations!!

Boosaphena · 08/09/2011 15:14

Shit, I have an elcs in 3 weeks, I hope I get more drugs then that. You sound hard as nails to me. Congratulations

turkeyboots · 08/09/2011 15:20

For the first 4 days after my section I took every painkiller offered and still ended up asking for more. Was getting oral morphine on day 2! So agree with the above - you is well hard!

mosschops30 · 08/09/2011 15:25

What the fuck does the mw care, its not like shes paying for them Angry
this really annoys me, my mw witheld my pain meds until dh reported it to a senior mw, she was a fucking bitch.
I am a nurse and i cant stand other nurses who say things like 'well she doesnt look like shes in pain' Angry. If my patient says they are in pain, then theyre in pain end of.

Ignore shit mw, take the pain medication as you feel necessary. I was still taking mine 3 months after CS but had other issues too

Original poster
PrincessScrumpy · 08/09/2011 15:27

mw told me it was excessive and they were doing me a favour letting me stay so I could feed my babies! this was on day 6 - clearly she didn't get why I wanted to bf my prem babies.

Lead midwife did apologise but I'm now upset that my notes make me sound like a druggie.

OP posts:
mosschops30 · 08/09/2011 15:29

Sorry for swearing, am very sweary atm and this sort of attitudein the nhs really winds me up.

Im not interested in money, im not paying for it. Dont get me wrong im jot wasteful but patient comfort, pain relief and cleanliness comes above budget for me

SummerRain · 08/09/2011 15:38

I didn't even have a CS and the mw and SCBU nurses were begging me to take pain relief due to the strain of going back and forth to SCBU constantly, so for someone who'd just had major abdominal surgery I think you were taking remarkably little.

I refused to take anything and bloody regretted it when I almost couldn't drive ds2 home the day he was released as I was crippled with after pains and damage done to tears from exerting myself for 5 days straight

you were lucky they did let you stay though. They discharged me on day 2 when I had no milk expressed and lived an hours drive from the hospital... I had to get the social worker involved and raised hell and they let me stay another night but it was additional misery I didn't need with a seriously ill baby. They seemed so bemused by my wish to breastfeed Confused

ShowOfHands · 08/09/2011 15:38

I think it depends on the individual. I had my second emcs on Saturday and haven't needed any painkillers. This does not mean that another woman doesn't need lots of painkillers afterwards. You're an individual and quite capable of assessing your own needs.

mercibucket · 08/09/2011 15:47

Bloomin eck showofhands - none at all? Hardcore!

ShowOfHands · 08/09/2011 15:52

Well obviously I had a spinal block for the procedure itself but otherwise nothing. Grin Didn't need it with dd either. Not sure why but it's probably just one of those things. It's certainly not related to pain thresholds, I think it's luck.

Our hospital were always offering me pain relief and the other women on the ward would just ask if the paracetamol/diclofenac weren't cutting it. Any woman in pain after surgery being denied adequate pain relief is horrific.

Justfeckingdoit · 08/09/2011 16:18

Blimey. I was on diamophine for two days post emcs, which was great, but possibly a bit excessive. But I was not saying no!

They then would not give me any more and told me I could only have paracetamol...I fairly robustly gently pointed out that this was ridiculous and that there must be something in-between the two extremes and was told no!

I was, and still am, a bit WTF? So my pain relief options were morphine or paracetamol? Surely there is a mid way point?

All turned out fine, but spent the last two days I was in hospital in a haze of pain, finding bf very difficult as could not really move.

3 months on we are ok and DD is EBF, but could easily have not happened as was in so much pain I nearly gave up.

fruitybread · 08/09/2011 16:28

OP, no, it's not excessive, and I can't think why on earth your MW was 'horrified'. In any case, if she had any concerns about your health, or any undue pain she thought you might be experiencing, then what exactly did she do to address this? Tell you you 'shouldn't' need painkillers? This does make me quite cross - you've had an EMCS with slightly early twins, who've been in SCBU, and you've been very present for them, and are clearly working hard at BF-ing - all pretty tough, I'm sure, so bloody well done for coping! - and then along comes a MW to knock your confidence.

Pain after CS seems to vary for each individual (unsurprisingly), and it sounds like you have been pretty active. My pain relief post CS was paracetamol and diclofenac, for about a week, I think - and one dose of Tramadol on day 2, when a cowbag of a MW 'forgot' to give my dose of dioclofenac, and so I wasn't on top of the pain.

Congrats on your twins, and if it genuinely bothers you, ask that your notes are amended. It sounds like an odd thing to write, to me. If her concern was that you were taking too much, and so were in danger of accidental overdose, then that's one thing (and your pills should have been adjusted accordingly, and someone should have gone through the protocol with you, to be clear) - but to say that pain relief 'seems' excessive doesn't seem very medical, IYSWIM.

BagofHolly · 08/09/2011 20:19

Your midwife is off her fucking nut.

You had just had major abdominal surgery - if you'd just had a hysterectomy you wouldn't be expected to leg up and down stairs, stand up etc. What a load of cock. I would SERIOUSLY consider reporting her, and complaining about her ill informed, judgemental, unhelpful and inaccurate comments in your notes. What the hell has it got to do with her? What a disgusting attitude.

And FWIW I've had 2 CS, the first one I couldn't walk for a couple of days and was wheeled up to SCBU, and the second (with twins) I hobbled about my room. Both times I had enough hard drugs to stun Shaun Ryder and Bez, and if anyone had looked at me in a manner that displeased me about my opiate intake, I'd have happily punched them to the ground.

God almighty, that mw might be a woman but she ain't no sister! Please complain!

BagofHolly · 08/09/2011 20:24

And for detail, I was on morphine first time. I'm needle phobic and hate injections and as my canula was out, they were giving me jabs of morphine every 4 hours. I swear it'd get to 3 hours 45 and my bare Lancashire arse would be hanging out of the bed, desperate for a jab of liquid love! One v lovely mw changed it to oramorph, which is a liquid, and I used this to wash down tramadol and codeine. And with this delightful cocktail I slipped gently into the loving arms of opiate heaven. Excessive? Possibly. Anyone else's business beyond my consultant's? Nope.

Flisspaps · 08/09/2011 20:27

I was just coming on to say what BagofHolly said about you having had major abdominal surgery. I had surgery on my foot 2.5 years ago and was given more painkillers to bring home than you've had there.

Complain, definitely.

GlaikitFizzog · 08/09/2011 20:28

Sounds about the same as I had. Although I did have a MW one night who didn;t give me my bedtime codiene "in case I needed" to take something through the night. I bloody well needed it then! Plus I was only taking half the dose the Dr had prescibed anyway so I had some in reserve if I needed it!! I waited til she disappeared and cornered another MW (She was lovely) and she sorted me out. Lovely MW had had a CS herself, and said she would never deny another woman pain relief after going through it herself.

I would put a complaint in writing if I'd been treated like that. And £10 WTF, how much is a prescription nowadays (I'm in Scotland, so its free here)?

WomanwiththeYellowHat · 08/09/2011 20:35

Agree with everyone else. My first CS was after 24 hour labour - I was on so much morphine I could barely remember my name the next day.

Even second time round, which was lovely and calm, I took the drugs. My midwives were obsessed by the idea 'that there are no medals for enduring without painkillers'. Your MW sounds like a nutcase - she wasn't a night-time midwife at St George's in Tooting by any chance? They gave me all sorts of insane, judgemental and unhelpful advice/commentary first time round.
Second time round I just didn't speak to them Grin

FutureNannyOgg · 08/09/2011 21:16

Surely you shouldn't be self-medicating in hospital, they need to keep track of what you take when, so you don't take too much or take drugs that are not compatible with each other. I got a right rollocking when I was in hospital and suggested taking my own paracetamol.
Post c sec I had paracetamol and voltarol, I would have quite fancied some codeine.

Meglet · 08/09/2011 21:24

The midwife is talking shit.

I was on voltarol and morphine tablets for 5 days after my EMCS. Then codiene and paracetamol (and maybe voltarol too) for a couple of weeks. Paracetamol for another 3 weeks after that. I felt like utter crap for weeks.

Eglu · 08/09/2011 21:30

Sounds perfectly reasonable. I had a 3rd degreetear, not anywhere near as much of a recovery as a cs and they forced drugs on me.

I was given paracetomol, ibuprofen and dihydrocodeine in case the others weren't cutting it. These were given to me to take home with me.

Beamur · 08/09/2011 21:34

My hospital gave me a shedload of pain relief after cs - hard core stuff for a few days with a reducing amount and different drugs for the next 7-10 days. My pain was well managed and without me asking for it.

Georgimama · 08/09/2011 21:36

Not at all excessive, I was sent home with diclofenac to take x 3 per day for up to four weeks post C section with paracetomol. I actually only took painkillers for three days after discharge as I didn't need them but what you are taking is by no means excessive.

lollystix · 08/09/2011 21:38

I had to beg for paracetamol after mine - had to remind them every 4 hours. They didn't want to give it to me despite emcs and 3 pints blood loss. Fuckers! Took my own in for ds2 but he came out the door rather than the sunroof thank god.