I was wondering what pain killers are given with the surgery and how you former LIS-ers prevented constipation while taking them. Can they give you pain killers that aren't constipating?
How many days did you need the prescription pain killers before taking otc meds and what was the most effective otc that you used?
Also did you start your stool softeners the day you had surgery?
What did you eat to keep things soft? Did you start your high fiber diets the following day? I don't take fiber supplements, just colace.
I'm so nervous and I'm trying to prepare. Thank you all.

Hey there dawn, I took Vicodin following surgery and it was no match for the mighty Miralax haha. I took Vicodin off and on for quite some time after surgery (a month or two) but I was a bit of a special case due to slow healing. I probably could have gotten by with just OTC painkillers after 1-2 weeks, but since opiates don't cause me very many problems (nausea is the main bothersome side effect), I figured why bother taking anything else. A lot of people do take ibuprofen after LIS so if you want something OTC that's probably your best bet IMO.
I kept my stool softener regimen from before surgery, no special changes there. And I kept up the same high fiber diet from before surgery too.
The only thing I noticed after surgery is that despite the lack of changes in my routine, my pooping did become more sporadic in the following days. But I think that's just due to the system recovering from the anesthesia and what not. I would tend to have small, unsatisfactory poops and have trouble getting everything out. But that resolved over the week or so following LIS.
Personally, I would establish a routine and stick with it. I'd be wary of making any radical changes to your daily "formula" just because of LIS. If you do want to make changes, try them on for size before surgery because after LIS is definitely not the time you want to experiment too much IMO.

I was sent home with Metronidazole and Ibuprofen, no other pain killer was prescribed I had to give in to the pain after a few days and bought some extra strong pain killers, believe me, I really needed them!

Thanks NG and Steve.
I was worried that I may need to increase the dose on the stool softeners because of the meds, but I will just keep the same routine.
NG, I used miralax a few days ago and it did make the most painless BM so even though I take colace regularly, I think I will use the miralax while recovering. Do you think that would be alright since it didn't cause me any trouble? I know you can't say for sure but just your opinion.
The colace is less effective in my opinion. I have to take 3-4 a day where as the miralx was just one cap full.

Yup I think that'd be fine dawn. But then again I'm a huge Miralax fan so my opinion is probably biased :) Why not just switch over to Miralax for regular use as well though? Just curious since it seems to work well for you.
Either way I think the only caution I'd give is to try Miralax at least one or two more times before surgery, just to double check how your system responds to it. That way you don't run the risk of stools that are too loose and watery while you're recovering. At one point several days after surgery, I actually found myself trying to get my stools more well formed by eating junk food, because it was easier to "get everything out" with bigger stools and the little soft stools I kept passing were irritating things.
I also took Colace for a while when my fissure first started and Miralax was infinitely more effective for me. I currently take a little less than one capful but sometimes vary the amount up or down depending on what I ate that day.

I did the same thing NG, I tried to get bigger stools so that I could get rid of more, rather than loads of little stools which hurt like hell, oddly!

I had vicodin, then percocet, then percocet plus toradol (like super strong ibuprofen that has to be administered by iv for first dose). I only mention the toradol b/c I think an anti-inflammatory helped a whole lot. I also had Valium for spasms.
NG's advice is spot on. Don't forgo pain management for fear of constipation! Just remember, as mentioned above, right after surgery the bowel may be sluggish from anesthesia. Stick with your regimen and lots of water.
I hope all goes well and that you have minimal pain and that your recovery is swift!

I stayed with my routine of Metamucil (2x/day) and Miralax (2x/day), but the surgeon also told me to take Milk of Magnesia (2x/day and then 1x/day), for a few days after the surgery. That regimen kept me regular, and I had BMs starting the first day after surgery.
I was given Tylenol 3's (with codeine), and told to take them as necessary. I really wanted to avoid constipation, so I took very few of these, and after two days I did not take any more of them. I took regular Tylenol and Advil for about a week, as needed.
Perhaps I suffered more than I had to, by going off the codeine so quickly after the surgery, but I was very afraid of being constipated. The pain during BMs was so bad after the surgery that I could not have imagined how bad it would have been had I been constipated.
It's a difficult and personal decision - how many painkillers to take and when to stop them. And it will be different for everyone. I think you take as many as you feel you need in order to ease the really bad pain, but once you can live without them, then switch to non-opiates which are far less constipating.

Thank you Phil. You all have gave me some really useful information. I'm trying to plan ahead and have everything I may need.
I had my appointment moved up to this wednesday to talk to my crs. I'm so nervous.
I can't believe you only took your pain killers for such a short time, especially having more than just LIS. I have heard having a hemroidectomy(not sure how to spell) is the worst. My uncle who is passed away now ,had one years ago and I can only imagine what he went through without the information that we all have now. I know he said it was awful.

nextlifetime wrote:I had vicodin, then percocet, then percocet plus toradol (like super strong ibuprofen that has to be administered by iv for first dose). I only mention the toradol b/c I think an anti-inflammatory helped a whole lot. I also had Valium for spasms.
NG's advice is spot on. Don't forgo pain management for fear of constipation! Just remember, as mentioned above, right after surgery the bowel may be sluggish from anesthesia. Stick with your regimen and lots of water.
I hope all goes well and that you have minimal pain and that your recovery is swift!

Thank you so much. I hope so too. I'm just so worried because I don't take fiber supplements and everyone else seems to. I don't know if this will cause me any trouble, but I have not had anything good come from taking them with this fissure. They mad my BM way too big and I am just hoping the stool softeners and diet will be enough?!