CO2 after operation

[hardyloveit]

I had a few operations yesterday and they pumped me full of the co2 and said it would eventually go it's so painful today in my shoulders and stuck on my diaphragm and it's hurting to breath! Does anyone know how to try and disperse it quickly?

It sounds like they failed to decompress it through the laparoscope before they took it out, OP. I used to remind trainee surgeons to open the valve and press on the abdomen, if I saw them about to withdraw the scope without bothering.
Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do now except take painkillers and wait. The gas isn’t in your gut or stomach, where you could burp it out - it’s in your closed peritoneal cavity, and there it will stay until it’s gradually absorbed into your bloodstream and excreted via your lungs. The shoulder pain is referred pain - the phrenic nerve supplies the diaphragm and the shoulder tip, so your body is simply misinterpreting the pain under your diaphragm as coming from your shoulder.

It should settle over the next couple of days though.

Thank you! It's so bloody painful, worse than where my actual op was. I've had the procedure many times and never remember it being this bad

I get this horrifically - it's the only thing I've ever needed morphine for! I've learnt getting up and pacing around as soon as I am able helps it sod off!

I had two laps where I had this - peppermint oil capsules helped a bit but I swear I needed the morphine more for the gas pain than the surgical pain! It did get better after a couple of days. Then I had a further op with a brilliant surgeon who obviously managed to do what Babdoc mentioned and I had no gas pain at all!