u/Ok-Veterinarian838

I have very curly hair and just figured out a good hair routine about a year ago. My hair HATES a diffuser, so what I did pre surgery was flip my hair upside down in front of a space heater and dry it. Even putting in hair products to make sure it’s evenly combed through, I’d flip my head upside down and to each side combing through product. Now I obviously cannot maneuver my neck that way and probably will never be able to again. My mom has pin straight hair and has tried her very best to help me with doing my hair, but I hate to say it she’s god awful at it and continues to ruin my hair. I need help from my curly hair baddies please!!!! I have no clue how I’m going to be able to make my hair look nice again.

Exactly one month ago I was fused from T1-L1 and tethered from L1-L3 or L4 I forget. I had pretty bad pain and discomfort up until about 4 days ago. I’m taking oxy once a day, Tylenol twice a day, and a muscle relaxer as needed but usually around 2 times a day. I realized my pain meds are part of the reason I am in less pain, but I feel like I don’t even need them as frequently anymore (I am still slowly tapering off oxy to avoid withdrawal symptoms). I’ve been feeling basically zero pain for days. My mom encourages me to continue taking medication even though I don’t feel pain so I can “get ahead of the pain” just in case. I’m getting suspicious. It seems pretty early to be experiencing zero discomfort. While I’m grateful, I was curious if people experienced this and then plateaued after a few months or if pain came back after you start working your muscles out again in physical therapy. Let me know! I understand this may seem like a silly post but idk going from extreme pain and discomfort daily to nothing is freaky.

I was given Motrin in the hospital for 11 days and sent home with another week supply of Motrin post spinal fusion. Im on week 3 and have been consistently taking it along with Tylenol and other medications given to me. Im now reading online it’s dangerous to take it after surgery?? I’m so confused why the hospital would give this to me. Am I fucked?

I am two weeks post op so I know it’s very soon, but I’m curious if anyone else had a similar issue to me. I feel barely any pain in my back. I am still taking Oxy, so I know that’s what’s helping it most right now, but I feel intense discomfort/pain in my shoulders every single day. It feels like there is a weight on them at all times. Sometimes it’s so bad that it feels like there is a giant knife going through my left shoulder if I move a certain way or forget to breathe out when lifting my arms.

I stretch my shoulders daily and do all my OT and PT exercises and also use heat pads on them all day. I am curious if anyone else experienced this post op and if it went away with time? Let me know.

Oxy has been causing me intense bloating and belly discomfort, but it is unfortunately the only thing that helps me with pain management. I was on it less than a week and told I didn’t need to taper off of it because it had not been long and I had already brought down the dose from 7.5mg to 5mg every 4 hours. My stomach pains were so bad yesterday that I decided I didn’t want to take it anymore. I did an 8 hour stretch of not taking it and the withdrawal symptoms were insane. I was sweating and then immediately freezing seconds later, I became extremely suicidal and hopeless and begged my parents to kill me. The pain was so intense and I felt every screw and rod in my spine. I caved and ended up taking 7.5mg of oxy because I couldn’t find a single position where I wasn’t in unbearable pain. It immediately got rid of the intense sensation and suicidal ideation.

I brought it up to my doctor today and they are trying to get me to taper off of it slowly, but I am freaking the fuck out that I will still experience these symptoms even with tapering. The suicidal ideation was so intense if I hadn’t taken a dose last night I would’ve ended my life. I know that sounds intense, but it’s true.

Please let me know how you were able to manage pain post oxy and what helped you get off the medication!

I am currently 11 days post op and slowly trying to ween off of oxy. In the hospital I was taking 7.5 mg every 4 hours with a 2.5 breakthrough dose if needed. Oxy is the only thing that has helped manage the pain, but it causes extreme bloating and as a result the gas pain causes a sharp pain in my left shoulder. Once I poop, burp, or fart it all out, the shoulder pain goes away, but it is so intense. I just want to be able to get off oxy completely so my stomach stops feeling hard as a rock everytime I eat.
Did anyone experience something similar and if so, how long did it take for your bloating to subside? It’s so frustrating.