Before Surgery
Managing Pain After Surgery
Managing your pain after surgery is important for your recovery as well as your comfort.
Pain control gives you these advantages:
- You may enjoy greater comfort while you heal.
- With less pain, you can start walking, do your breathing exercises, and get your strength back more quickly.
- People whose pain is well-controlled seem to do better after surgery. With less pain, you can increase activities—this helps to decrease your risk of having some problems such as pneumonia and blood clots.
Pain is personal and can be an unpleasant feeling such as throbbing, shooting, burning, stabbing, and other sensations. The type and amount of pain you feel may not be the same as others feel—even those who have had the same operation. Our goal is to help you reach a tolerable level of pain control. Even with pain medicine, you can expect to have some pain after surgery.
You can help your doctor and nurses “measure” your pain. Your nurse will ask you to rank your pain level on a scale of 0 to 10. By using the pain rating scale below, your pain can be more effectively managed.
You may also set a pain control goal (such as having no pain that’s worse than “2” on the scale). You will need to tell your nurse when your pain level is higher than your goal. Few people are able to meet a goal of “0.” Reporting your pain as a number helps the doctor and nurses know how well your treatment is working and whether to make any changes. You may not reach your comfort level goal. Working together, we will make every effort to keep you as comfortable as possible while maintaining your safety.
Pain medications can often cause nausea and itching. Tell your nurse if these occur. These side effects can be treated.
Medication is only one part of pain control. The methods listed below can be effective for mild to moderate pain and to boost the pain-relief effects of drugs. There are no side effects. These techniques are most effective if they are learned and practiced before your surgery.
Be sure to talk with your nurses and doctors about:- Pain control methods that have worked well or not so well for you before.
- Any concerns you may have about pain medicine.
- Any allergies to medicines you may have.
- Side effects that may occur with treatment.
- Medicines you take for other health problems. The doctors and nurses need to know, because mixing some drugs with some pain medicines can cause problems.
After your operation, your nurses and doctors will ask you about your pain because they want you to be comfortable, and also because they want to know if something is wrong. Be sure to tell your doctors and nurses when you have pain.
