Those of you who had a CSection were you sent home with Painkillers??

[littlemiss26]

I am about to have my third c section on tuesday and I have just been told by the midwife that it is now the hospitals policy not to send women home with painkillers after a csection. For my last two i was sent home with 10 days worth of two different types of painkillers (codeine and something else) which i took for the ten days. I am pretty worried about coming out of hospitla with no pain relief - she advised me to stock up on paracetamol (which in my experience will no way cut it!). She also said that the last four women she saw post natally had to go to emergency out of hours gp to get painkillers on prescription once home. I just wanted to find out if this is normal policy for other hospitals, and if anyone has managed with just parcetamol after a section!

Emcs - codeine and felt like hell

Elcs - paracetamol as felt fine. Till the spinal headache kicked in and then I got some codeine. I did ask for and get some codeine while in hospital but I didn't need much.

You can get paracetamol/ codeine from the pharmacy. (done that for tooth problems)

Yes, discharged possibly later than average UK (3.5 days after emcs, 3 days after elcs) - just used paracetamol at home. It was no issue whatsoever but I did need to take them religiously every 6 hours and be very careful not to OD!

Buy some codeine or ask pharmacist for advice.

I rang my doctor and he wrote a prescription for whatever I had in hospital.

Yes both times, with paracetamol and codeine.... Stopped taking codeine after a day each one as it was constipating me and I didn't need it.

I was sent home with 2 days worth of dihydrocodein, 2 days! I was in agony, but thankfully I had been on dihydrocodeine for SPD so still had some of that left and diclafenic(sp) for a week.

I was sent home with codeine, plus also senna and lactulose. I only took the codeine for a day and then moved into paracetamol and ibuprofen for a couple of days.

I have plenty of codeine left. Want some?

From memory, I had codeine and paracetamol. I never felt any pain after my emcs and I put that down to regularly taking the pain killers. The MW's warned me to take them religiously as once you let the pain in it is harder to stop it again (I have no idea if that is true)

Having post surgery pain and a baby to look after must be the combination from hell. Surely they can't save that much money from not prescribing codeine?!

I had Voltarol and paracetamol, both available at the chemist.

But it sucks that you don't get any from the hospital.

Or tequila may work too :o

I think I got sent home with paracetemol and diclofenac. I don't think I had more than a few days worth of the diclofenac though. I was sorry to say goodbye to the morphine in the hospital...

I wasn't sent home with any painkillers after either my EMS or ELCS, just told to take paracetamol & ibuprofen regularly- which was what I was given in hospital as well was quite upset to miss out on the good drugs.
The only thing I came home with the second time was fragmin injections to inject myself, which was great fun

I was the first time (EMCS), but not the second (ELCS).

I was in a lot of pain second time round and leapfrogged paracetamol and ibuprofen. It took me much longer to recover, that time.

My midwife said she couldn't believe the hospital didn't give pain relief any more and my best friend's husband, who is a GP, said the same. He said a c-section is like an appendectomy (if your appendix weighed 9lb!) and you wouldn't expect anyone to recover from that without pain relief.

Yes.

After my ECMS I had morphine tablets for 2 days and diclofenac. Had paracetamol and codeine at home.

Was sent home with diclofenac after my planned CS.

Will they even give you an automatic prescription for decent painkillers? Or is it a case of 'tough and take paracetamol'.

It makes me so angry that hospital treat post CS women so badly . After my first CS I spoke to the post-birth counsellor (a midwife) and she was even angrier than me about the way they were turfed out and given little support. If you have any other abdominal surgery you would not be expected to be 'up and about' soon after the op nor would you be expected to care for anyone or sent home without adequate pain relief.

You could raise it with PALS. I have it on good authority that hospitals shit themselves listen when a patient liason team chases them up about something.

Sounds pretty brutal to be sent home without painkillers. Brutal and really f*ing stupid. How does your hospital expect you to care for your newborn in the first few days without managing post-operative pain?

I had an ELCS on April 19th and pain was managed beautifully by B'ham Womens Hospial. I had oramorph, codeine and paracetamol for first 24-48 hours. Not allowed oramorph on discharge, but given about 7 days supply of 30mg codeine and separate 500mg paracetamol tablets. I'm 13 days post-op and managing well on paracetamol now.

Please don't let them send you home without pain meds.

I haven't had a c section but a blanket ban on pain killers is inhumane. A simple prescription reduces stress on both the while family and oohs/GP/pharmacy.

I would be kicking off at this blanket statement now!

After the first I was sent home with 2 days worth of voltarol and 5 days worth of paracetamol. After the second I was sent home with nothing, but I wasn't really on that much pain relief in hospital so I assumed they thought I didn't need it. I managed fine with paracetamol for a few days afterwards but I do have a high pain threshold.

I had Diclofenac which made me feel awful.

I was sent home with 3 scripts. While in the hospital I was given codine tablet every 6 hours like clockwork. I went home on day 5, a sunday afternoon and the pharmacy couldn't fill the script. Luckily our neighbour is a nurse who showed up with 2 codine tablets to take me through to the Monday morning. If you go home on a Sunday have them give you the script on Friday PM so it can be filled by someone before you arrive home.

FWIW - I found that taking 500mg nurofen every 4 hours during the day and one codine tablet at night worked well for me. The codine helped me sleep. After day 10 I didn't take anything because I found I was over exerting myself without realising it due to not feeling pain.

If they send you home without pain relief get your GP to prescribe it instead. The hospital are probably just trying to push the cost onto the community. Which sucks. But your GP should help. Don't do without x

I miss the codeine

Totally agree with you, Casserole.

got diclofenac and codeine (5 days worth i think). if they hadnt given it to me i would have just bought from chemist on way home assuming i couldnt get to gp same day. thing is, these tablets dont cost much at all so they really arent saving that much if thats their motivation for not giving them. probably cost a lot less than the cost of readmission/extra MW intervention due to pain

I had my CS nearly 3 years ago. Even when in hospital, asking for painkillers was like pulling teeth. Compare that with an operation in a different part of the same hospital, just a few months later. Nurses were falling over themselves to offer me drugs. And when I said no (because it didn't hurt, not because I'm a martyr) they were gobsmacked. Do you think it's a maternity ward thing?

Wow a real mixture of experiences! I think it's a ban to save money and like casserole said a way of putting it on someone elses budget! I have looked into the idea of talking to PALS as I have no intention if leaving without something! My last section was almost exactly two years ago and the midwives at the time made a big thing about how important it was for me to take painkillers after the op! I have my pre op appointment tomorrow and will raise it then and see what response I get :-)