pain medication

Okay, so im 5 weeks out, and I start work monday.   Is it still normal for me to still need pain medication? my tummy is okay from the abdominalplasty, but i notice that when I stop the pain medication and try ibprofen or tylenol for my arms they dont seem to help at all. I start feeling uncomfortable and i feel like my arms are in pain and they burn to even where I touch them it's hot. It's not severe, but its to the point where I cant do daily routines right, so I have to continue the pain medication just to get by the day. I tried go without it as soon as an ran out, but my arms are a mess. I don't know if I should ask the doctor for more pain meds. Is this normal? Do arms take longer to heal? How long did you stop taking pain medication for your brachioplasty? I

I didn't take narcotic pain medicine with my brachioplasty.  I think narcotic pain medicine slows the healing.    He did prescribe me Celebrex which is a Nsaid but suppose to be alot safer for WLS patients then Ibuprofen.  Some doctors swear by it and some still say it is an Nsaid.   That seemed to be enough for me.    Tylenol did nothing and still does nothing for me.

Each person is different and if you still feel alot of pain I would request some more. 

Good Luck!!

I can't relate to the whole brachioplasty piece, but just wanted to chime in on the whole NSAIDs piece.  My PS told me to take Ibuprofen 3 x day to build up a therapeutic dose in my system, which of course WLS patients are not supposed to take.  But I called my GB surgeon and he said its ok to take but I should take it  with food AND I should use something like Prilosec OTC while I'm taking the Ibuprofen.  Hope you find some relief from the pain.

I listened to the advice of this board and got off all of my pain meds. It took about two-three days but then I felt much better. I would go see your doctor. I had a brachioplasty 3 years ago and my arms were so tender but they were never "hot". You can discuss the pain meds with your doctor at that time.

Good luck.

Regina

The doctor suggested a lower dosage of the pain medication i was taking.  He told me the pain should eventually go away within a month, i hope so!  It hurts most in the morning when i've just woken up. What do you mean it took you about 2-3 days to go off pain meds?