Post Surgery Pain - Expected time Period

[FrankL0]

Hi Guys. I've just joined FrankTalk and this is my first post.

I'm in UK, Hertfordshire, 30 miles north of London.

Had my insert operation on 17 July at UCLH, performed by Prof Muneer.

Now 18 days post op and suffering significant pain. Some days better than others but today is pretty severe and I can't stand for long before having to sit in my recliner with an ice pack. Pain killers (tried, Ibuprofen, Codeine) have virtually no effect.

Went to see my GP a week ago and he thought it was an infection so I'm day 8 of 10 additional (to the antibiotics course given by the hospital immediately post op) course of antibiotics.
But it doesn't seem to have reduced the pain!

I'm still positive about having had the implant and my GF has been wonderfully supportive and caring.

My questions are:
- has anyone else experienced this level of continued pain?
- how long am I likely to endure before it starts to subside?

TIA for your support.

[Bigdog4all]

Sorry to hear about your pain. I think each and everyone of us have experienced the implant differently. Being a diabetic, the AMS was my preferred choice. For infections prevention. I was blessed to have two UROs that was highly referred and I had consulted all answers to my 50 or so questions. Still all was not perfect. Great surgery, no pain, no scares, no excess shrinkage, great healing, but.....That Pump ball was my issue. That Pump ball was hard as a ROCK. I was lucky enough to have a couple AMS Tech Support persons to schedule meetings/appointments with me. Once I was assured that I couldn't damage or break anything down there, I felt better and with plenty of exercises, the Pump ball softened up. Yes, ICE will be your best friend. You might want to try a donut pillow. I modified my donut pillow, by opening the nutz area. Cut it wider. Needed extra room for that third nut. And yes, pain meds don't always work. Most times you need to take pain meds before (post) pain. Not once you in pain. So stick to your ICE. Start documenting when, how, and what everything when you get pain. Both for you and your URO.

[Old Guy]

Sorry you are having pain this far along. Yes, I remember my first few weeks. I was just feeling slightly less pain when my surgeon tried to deflate me. That sent me home hurting bad. I had to get Percocet to calm the pain down a couple days after that. Then about the fourth week the pain subsided greatly, as long as I didn't do anything stupid. I was still tender for several more weeks, and if I remember right it was near 5 months out when the majority of my pain/soreness was finally gone. It just slowly decreased as the weeks passed.
Hot baths helped me reduce the pain in the early weeks. I also found a small dab of Aspercream smeared along my shaft would ease any soreness most of the day.
Hope your pain goes away quickly.

[Kodixx]

FrankL0, first, congrats on joining the bionic brotherhood ! FWIW, as a comparison, at 2 weeks post-op I was still on oxycodone to control pain -- although I had an unusually difficult recovery with lots of swelling and edema. Between 2 weeks and about 6 weeks I stayed on extra strength Tylenol. Because of the swelling I couldn't start cycling until almost 8 weeks. There are lots of guys who recovered faster, and some who recovered slower. At 2 weeks right now you are within the averages, and ice ice ice remains the best advice

Best wishes.

- Chuck

Hi Guys. I've just joined FrankTalk and this is my first post. My questions are:
- has anyone else experienced this level of continued pain?
- how long am I likely to endure before it starts to subside?

[2435tjklAS]

If you don't have much experience with pain pills and don't know what works for you, one solution might be taking a lot more codeine. I looked it up and it's weaker than oxycodone. And standard prescription is only 5mg for oxy and I always ask for or just take more. Opioids do tend to be very effective and you likely don't have a supplier of them so building an addiction isn't realistic. I don't necessarily think I'm wrong about my approach here to simply take more if what you do take doesn't work. Ask your doc for more and stronger ones.

[Wodjathat]

Time is a beautiful thing. Hopefully the pain will subside over the coming days / weeks.
For what it’s worth when it starts getting to feel better don’t back of the pain medication too quickly. I made that mistake and paid the price.
As my surgeon said, best to manage the pain than chase it.
Best of luck to you

[Bilko79]

I’m into my 5th week and the pain is severe for me. I can’t wear underwear, someone suggested aspercream to relieve the pain

[ElbowRoom]

If you don't have much experience with pain pills and don't know what works for you, one solution might be taking a lot more codeine. I looked it up and it's weaker than oxycodone. And standard prescription is only 5mg for oxy and I always ask for or just take more. Opioids do tend to be very effective and you likely don't have a supplier of them so building an addiction isn't realistic. I don't necessarily think I'm wrong about my approach here to simply take more if what you do take doesn't work. Ask your doc for more and stronger ones.

Ask specifically for hydrocodone instead of oxycodone. It has the same pain killing effectiveness, but is 8x less addictive. I’ve taken it off and on for years for back pain and never gotten addicted or dependent…I take it for a couple of days when I need to, but often it will be weeks or a month between uses and I don’t suffer any issues with discontinuing it. Just only use any opiate when you really need it and only minimum dose needed.