General
Post transplant pain
December 13, 2021
in General
I am 12 days post liver transplant..I was just wondering if anyone has any advice on pain relief.. I'm down to my last two pain meds and Tylenol is useless..any suggestions on how I can get any relief from the back, hip and abdominal pain?
Thank you for your time!
1 - 5 of 5 Replies
Transplant Patient
I asked my doctor for more pain meds. I was on T3's (tylenol with codein) for a few months post transplant. Also a heating pad or wheat bag that you can heat up is great. I had multiple I would use for my pain areas, and always had a hot one on me.
Transplant Patient
@Kriste--
First, congratulations on the new liver! I had a liver transplant June 24, 2005 😄
I had a lot of back, hip, and abdominal pain as well. Tylenol has never worked for me, unfortunately.
The one thing I didn't want to do helped me the most--walking. Each day I would just walk as much as I could and then rest and hydrate, and do it again later when I had more energy.
Your body has been through a traumatic surgery, so it's going to be a painful recovery.
The other thing I started doing was learning about and practicing meditation. Sometimes when the pain was too bad, I could meditate and get relief.
I would say to inform your Transplant Team of your pain and see what they recommend.
Hang in there, and continue to reach out with questions and for support!
I had a kidney transplant three years ago. I am guessing the pain and exhaustion is similar. Definitely talk with your transplant team for advice and to insure everything is fine. Try to walk a little each day and rest when your body tells you. Rest is crucial. You have had a huge surgery and it will take many weeks if not months for your body to heal as well as to wrap your head and emotions around receiving a part of someone’s organ.
Good luck.
Well congrats. I also had a liver transplant in 2012. I also had pain, but did not want to take all those pain meds. I found that walking helped a lot I’ve been walking 3-5 miles a day since my transplant. It helps a lot one thing they neglect to tell you is you’re going to get a lot of muscle atrophy after the surgery. They cut through your muscle and nerves. So be ready for hernias around your scars. I’ve had two hernia surgeries since. But, you’re alive. A lot of your pain will go away, you will probably have scar pain which is normal.
Hang in there, you’ll continually get better.
Congratulations on your liver transplant! I’m also going to say a balance of walking around and rest helped me reduce pain and recover post transplant.