Scheduled for Surgery in Two Days: Seeking Advice on Epidural for Pain Control

I'm scheduled for possible reversal in two days.  Yea!!!!   I'm scared to death though......eight hour surgery doesn't sound fun.  Tons of adhesions, a certain level of pain for 6 months,  and surgeon saying " it's a hot mess in there".  Nice!  LOL

So, I'm going to have the epidural for pain control placed pre op.  I havent had this before ( four abdominal surgeries now).    My question is if any of you have had this, did it help speed your recovery along?   I know it will come out in a few days, but if it is effective I am hopeful it will help.

I have been getting dehydrated, had a big time blockage ( thanks all for your tips on how to manage them at home, and worst, my appliances have been leaking this past week.   Way to go for a smooth transition into reversal. LOL

hi laura good luck with your reversal and have a speedy recovery. ron in mich.

Laura, I had an epidural prior to my first bowel resection surgery.  It did a wonderful job of controlling the surgical pain.  However I did have a complication that wasn't so pleasant.  Epidural headaches.  You can read more about them here.     

Mine was pretty servere and I needed two blood patches.  A month after this surgery I ended up needing a second and opted not to have the epidural, but the surgical pain was much worse the second time around.   -  

God forbid if I ever need another surgery, I'd do the epidural again pray for no headaches.     

Good luck on the reversal!

Hi Laura,

     I have also had 4 or 5 abdominal surgeries...our joke was why not have put in a zipper??  I was always very stubborn and insisted on having the morphine pump for pain control even though the anesthesiologist would recommend the epidural.  With the morphine pump I would develop nausea and it would constipate me therefore slowing down the time it took to get OUT of the hospital.  The last go round in 2009 I thought I would try the epidural.  My God!!  How dumb had I been!!  It was a much better level of pain control with none of the nausea of morphine.  I regretted all my previous stubbornness.

     So, go for it and good luck and do not worry about the epidural.

     Lynn


     P.S. I just read dsmithsc91's remarks and the fear of the headache, which i first learned about in my childbirth classes, were part of my resistance.  Try three natural childbirths and forget about headache pain!! Still and all I would go for the epidural.