Heart Surgery and the Pain Management You’ll Need

Heart surgery is serious surgery, that’s not something you don’t know, right? After all, you wouldn’t be reading this right now if you or someone you know weren’t about to have heart surgery. And you’re probably curious how painful this is going to be during and after, and you should know that it’s going to be pretty painful. But your doctor will put you on a pain control regimen before you are discharged.

However, by the time you are discharged, your pain will be mild to moderate, because if it isn’t, your doctor will most likely not discharge you. You will be prescribed pain management medication when you return home, please be sure to take it as instructed. This is prescribed to help you get up and move around. Don’t worry about being addicted to it, as long as you take it only as prescribed.

Then, when your follow-up appointment comes, your pain level will be at a minimal level by then. Patients have expressed concern about chest and shoulder pain, raising alarm that it could be angina. This is understandable and you should not hesitate to call your doctor if you experience this pain.

However, this is usually nothing more than bone and muscle pain. Again, don’t be afraid to call your doctor! Better safe than sorry.

With effective pain management medications, you’ll heal faster and more comfortably. This prescribed medication will also keep the possible risks of complications to a minimum. Believe it or not, you will get up quickly because your doctors will teach you breathing exercises. These exercises will restore your strength sooner and are also good for pain control.

Where will the pain be felt?

During your recovery period, you will feel burning, pain, or pressure in your chest and especially around the incision site while the tubes are still in place. When the doctor and nurses remove the chest tubes, you will feel some discomfort and it will be painful when you start to move and when you have a cough, sit, walk.

You will also have pain in other areas. Your throat will be scratchy and sore from the breathing tube that was inserted during your surgery. If the doctor removed an artery or vein from other areas of your body, you will also have some pain there. And you will have some pain and stiffness from lying down during surgery and while in the ICU. Again, your doctor will prescribe pain management medications and treatments that will relieve discomfort and pain.

Numbness of the incision area

Some patients have complained of temporary numbness in the arm, chest, hand, or leg where an arterial line was inserted. This is completely normal and will improve over time. It can take months for some people and only a few weeks for others. This happens due to the manipulation during surgery of the nerves.

Control and monitor your pain

Once the anesthesia in the ICU wears off, you will be given pain control medication intravenously, and once you return to your room, your pain control medication will be in pill form or in suppository form if you are unable to do so. swallow.

Or you may be kept in an IV for another day or two. The nursing staff will do regular checks of your vital signs and ask about your pain level so you can feel comfortable following your doctor’s orders for pain management medications.

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