Ditto! I hope all is well. sending hugs and healing love,

Hi, he's in a bit of a flare. Things were pretty normal post-surgical pain till Saturday. He can barely tolerate any weight on it at all and is having trouble sleeping at night. I'm wondering about the post-op meds for the incision pain. It seems like I read before that narcotics can affect glial cell activity and have a negative impact on crps pain. But I can't find it again.

I have a call in to the doctor to see if they can get him in for a nerve block, and maybe take the stitches out a few days earlier than planned (they have him scheduled for 15 days post-op. First surgery, they came out 10 days post-op.) Once those are out, we can get him back in a pool and I'm confident things will start to settle and reset from there. I've asked them to bump up his Lyrica too. Waiting to hear back.

Hi Swimtime,

It sounds like all the extra anesthesia goodies have worn off. I am not surprised about the weightbearing pain. Those bones have got to be sore! You are right opiates can increase glial cell activity so short term use is recommended. Did he ever try tramadol (listed as an option for opiate hyperalgesia) or get relief with it? It blocks NMDA receptors so works differently, still short term use but a different approach. It ironically gives some people headaches, self included, but I felt it was worth it for the other pain relief.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/765277_4

Interesting that they want to leave the stitches longer this time. ??? You can always have them steri-strip it. I did that for while for reinforcement. Just watch how long he stays in the water...

He tried tramadol last winter. It worked well for a very brief time, then started making him anxious and unable to sleep even more, and stopped working on the pain (perhaps because he wasn't sleeping.)

Last time he had staples. They called me back about it and said staples are handled differently, and stitches shouldn't come out for the full two weeks.

He's having what I like to call a "reset" day. And by that I mean, not even attempting weight bearing, just relaxing and letting the pain level go way down so he can try again tomorrow. It's been an effective method for him before. We're counting the days till those stitches come out!

Sorry to come in so late, but wanted to wish him a successful recovery. I hope the "reset" works and he is feeling better tomorrow. ~mama mac