Operation Pain-LESS
Dr Steve Gilbert - pain medicine and anaesthetic specialist - I want to help you make Pain-Less!
Pain killers - analgesics
Pain relief used to be based only on morphine type drugs. The problems with this are that
-
they make you more sleepy and can affect your breathing after surgery
-
they can make you feel sick
-
they slow your bowels down and you get constipated
-
the more morphine you get - the higher the chance of persistent post op pain
​
What to do about this?
-
Using short acting morphine type drugs (not sustained release preparations like oxycodone/naloxone) means you only take the pain relief when you need it - so you get less chance of side effects.
-
If you have a patient controlled analgesic pump, where you get a small amount of morphine in your drip when you press a button, then most people can keep themselves comfortable and use less morphine.
-
Some anaesthetists and surgeons write up long acting pain killers after surgery - there's no evidence that these make pain relief better and there are some risks.
-
Local and regional anaesthetics can be carried on after surgery.
-
Multimodal analgesia; this means using paracetamol, anti-inflammatories and sometimes medicines for nerve pain as well as morphine type drugs.
​
​
While we believe that the advice on this website is accurate and based on expert medical opinion you should always consult your healthcare professional on any matter related to your health and well being. He or she knows your circumstances best and therefore the appropriate action to take on your behalf.