Question:
Comments on pain after abdominoplasty, brachioplasty and mastopexy?

I am having abdominoplasty, brachioplasty, and mastopexy on February 3, 2004. I am not afraid of the surgery, however; the pain first felt when waking up afterwards is bothering me. I am in need of honest but encouraging comments and suggestions from anyone who can help. I had a LAP RNY on August 28, 2002 and have lost 120 lbs. With the Lap, my pain was (1-10) a 2. I have been told this will be a 15. I have help planned for the first week after surgery. Thanks to all replying.    — Linda K. (posted on January 27, 2004)

January 26, 2004
When I had lap RNY, that pain upon waking was much, much worse than when I woke up from my abdominoplasty (with a lower body lift) and mastopexy. Before my reconstructive surgery, I specifically told the anesthesiologist that I was worried about the pain on wakeup since the lap RNY had been so painful, and he told me it would be much better, and that he'd make sure I was comfortable. I remember on waking that they asked me the level on a scale of 1 - 10, and I think I said "4", but it was quickly reduced w/ the pain meds. Tell your anesthesiologist your concerns, but I have to say that the reconstructive surgery was much easier than I anticipated.
   — mom2jtx3

January 26, 2004
hi i had open ryn and my pain was at least 8-9 with the tummy tuck maybe a 3 make sure you tell them your concerns about pain
   — SHELLEY C.

January 26, 2004
Everyone is different, of course, but the pain from RNY was much worse than my abdominoplasty, brachioplasty and breast augmentation. Of course, I had open RNY and not LAP. After RNY, my initial pain was 8-9 and when waking after reconstructive surgeries it was a "4". The worse part about any of my reconstructive surgeries was the hernia repair with the abdominoplasty because they had to go back through the muscle to fix the hernia. Good luck to you!
   — Lynette B.

January 27, 2004
I had all 3 of these procedures done at once on 3/31/03. It really wasn't that bad for me. I also didn't have alot of muscle tightening. That is what determines how bad it will be pain wise for you. After I woke up it wasn't that bad at all. I just felt a 'tightness' all over. Don't worry, you will be VERY drugged up! The worst thing about the recovery was for me, was the constipation a few days later. Not fun when your stomach muscles are sore! I had NO pain in the breasts except when the drains came out from under the arms. Those suckers HURT! My arms did kinda bug me but it wasn't unbearable. If you want to see my pics, email me at [email protected].
   — Kris T.

January 27, 2004
I had the abdominoplasty (pain scale of 3) and a brachioplasty (pain scale of 8) but haven't had a mastopexy. I think your arms and upper body will hurt much more then your lower body will. You don't realize how much you use your arms. Your upper body is probably going to be wrapped like a mummy!! Take the painkillers BEFORE you have pain and keep on a schedule of them. Trust me, it helps.
   — Patty H.

January 28, 2004
Linda, I am 2 weeks and 1 day from tummy and arms being done. I took pain meds for 36 hours then I stopped,the pain was not what I expected--much less. I felt worse after the pain meds--miserably sleepy. My husband is a Doctor and he said along with my plastic surgeon having more than one procedure done at a time makes sense because your brain can only process one pain at a time. In my case either my arms hurt or my tummy, not both. My arms were more tender than my tummy. I had surgery on Jan 13 I began walking on the treadmill on Jan 16 (It was slow but I was exercising again) Good Luck Nancy Pennington
   — Nancy P.

January 28, 2004
I had an abdominoplasty (vertical anchor-incision with four abdominal drains) and brachioplasty in 2001 following a lap RNY in 2000. I also would have rated my lap RNY a "2" on a 1-10 scale. Remembering that everyone's tolerance to post-op discomfort is very different, I just have to say that my plastic surgery was the most "comfortable" surgery I ever had. I woke up in the Recovery Room with very manageable discomfort in my abdomen and couldn't even tell that I had had surgery on my arms...in fact, I asked the nurse if my surgeon had "forgotten to do them"! Pre-operatively, I was offered a choice between having the surgery in the operating suite of the plastic surgeon's office, or having a one-day stay in the hospital. As an RN, I was a little doubtful that a six-hour surgery would be manageable as an outpatient, so I opted for the hospitalization. In hindsight, I could easily have done this on an outpatient basis....was up walking in the halls the next morning, and taking Percocet tablets for discomfort....was back to work in a full-time office position in two weeks. Not everyone will have had this same great result, but your pain scale report with your lap RNY probably indicates that you have a fairly good tolerance for discomfort. Please feel free to write me personally...best wishes!
   — Diana T.

January 28, 2004
I had all three procedures done on 9/25/03, and the pain was much worse than I anticipated. I had a lap/RNY and took myself off the morphine in the hospital and never took a single pain killer once home. I have always had a high pain tolerance, and thought I would be able to tolerate the plastic surgery easily. I was wrong. There was very little discomfort with the breasts. The drains in my abdoment were almost intolerable...an absolute nightmare. However, my arms hurt the most, and continued to hurt until the stitches loosened up. Even today, more than 4 months later, there's still some pulling/tightness when I stretch my arms. The overall experience was so unpleasant for me, I decided against any further surgery - for now. I don't know why I had such a bad experience (in looking at all the other responses, I seem to be in the minority) but I had a top notch surgeon, who just made the front page of our regional newspaper for being the only doctor to ever perform a nerve transplant, and has been featured on the Discovery Channel more than once. When I would complain about how awful I felt or how slow my recovery was, he always said it was because of the amount of procedures I had done all at once. Hopefully, you'll be in the majority who feel it's a walk in the park.
   — Cyndie K.