Chronic Nerve Pain After Appendectomy

i had my ruptured, infected appendix removed a little over 2 weeks ago. about 14 days after surgery, i began to experience dull pain at the site of the appendectomy, that would spike in intensity when i would sit/stand, roll over in bed, etc. i thought it was still healing, but i developed fever 2 days later and was readmitted to hospital with infection. i now have a drain in place with a drain bag strapped to my leg that i have to keep on for 10 days. not pleasant, and it makes going to school/work difficult.
don't take chances with your body, i ignored the pain for 2 days and who knows how much worse the infection got because of it. better safe than sorry...no doctor is going to be angry at a you for following up on pain felt after surgery.
take care, and good luck.

I also had a ruptured, infected appendix and had it removed on Sept.7 and was in the hospital until the 11th. I have been off from work since, but I still have pain in my stomach. I went back to the doctor once and was told to take another week off from work. I have another check up on the 26th. If I walk to much I feel a pulling sensation around my belly button and at one of the incisions and I still can't sleep on either of my sides.
I haven't had a fever, but wondering if it could be an infection starting?

Any help would be appreciated.

Della martin

It's been about 9 weeks since I had my appendectomy which was perfomed on August 25, 2008. In this past week, i've been getting pain in my lower right abdomen. It's a little disturbing considering it's been almost two months since my surgery. Does anyone know if this is normal or if i should have this checked.

It's been 6weeks and I'm not comfortable with how my stomach muscles feel. they're the most important after heart and would like any info anyone has about appendectomies and the (abdomen)stomach muscles healing. I guess a bulging stomach can hamper the healing, maybe, causing incisional hernias? I doubt i have that but am considering fasting to prevent a minute condition, if not already having something of that sort. Mine feel like they're being pulled in from the inside, kinda like a cramp, and make me feel like holding it alot. I've heard massaging the insicions/bumps help heal. ok, any feedback great, tks

I had ruptured appendix out on 4th october.
The wound opened up due to infection on 16th.
I am now having it packed twice a week until it heals.

I have had lower abdominal pain in the centre (not on right) for 24 hours now, feels like I need to go for a number2 desperately. I have taken some constipation remedy but that has made it worse!
I am not sure if this is appendix related or just need a good dump!
Should i see my Doctor?

I had my appendix out on Boxing Day, and about 10days after my operation I felt back to my old self and could suddenly walk around without any difficulty, and could sit up on my own and even sleep on one of my sides.

Now, just over 2 weeks after my operation I'm starting to get a weird feeling on my right side where the appendix was.

I googled pain after appendix surgery, and found on a bbc site that pain after surgery on the side of your appendix could be the muscle tissues just healing around where the appendix used to be.

The surgeon also told me not to work for 2weeks, and drive my manual car for 2weeks, but I'm back driving and working now, and my job involves me sitting down all day at the computer, so I thought the pain might just be from this, but I'm not sure.

If I still have the pain tomorrow, I'm going to the doctor. I dont want to risk anything.

Hi people,

Sorry to here my fellow appendicitis peeps are feeling pain. Well yes I had surgery Last friday so it's about 10 days and I still feel pain, I weaned off the percoset(pain killer tg!!!) that made me constipated, and I had to take stool softeners to go!!! Now I am somewhat back to normal. But very sensitive to what I eat beacause most times I eat I get the runsss. I do have pain come and go and chest discomfort I am going to get my bandage removed tomorrow so I will keep yall posted. I did feel the I have many broken ribs feeling but now it is starting to subside!! I know how freaking painful it is... You are strong but if you have to I took Motrin, now 10 days later I am feeling better. I do have ugly blue red bruises so I called the nurse she said they are normal so I hope I am not bleeding internally... Hope all yall fell better soon!!! Ow crackers and soup seem to be tolerable for me, please nothing greasy, or junk. It's a new me and you now!!! Take care!! Many blessings to you all!!! 0=) Ro

HI all,

Had my appendix taken out 7 years ago and was in sooo much pain afterwards, back and forth to the ER for many years with chronic pain and was told I was fine....yeah right....had a laporscopy 3 years ago for a routine operation and to the dr. surprise the cause of my pain was "surgical clips" left inside me!!! We have already served the hospital and dr.s court papers so to all of you out there in constant pain after what was supposed to be a normal lap appendectomy, get a second, third and forth oppinion as it might be something other than "nerve pain"

good luck all

You may want to going to a physical therapist and have them perform myofascial release in that area as long as you have been cleared by your physician to do so. You can also go see a licensed massage therapist who is skilled in this technigue. Adhesions can form from scar tissue after surgery causing pain. Surgery to remove these adhesions can usually cause more scar tissue. There is a myofascial release guru in Sedona, Arizona named John Barnes if you want more information on this technique. Myofascial release helps to stretch and break up these adhesions and help mold the scar tissue to lay correctly which in turn can ease pain. The technique itself may be a painful process but in the long run it could be helpful.

i had my appendix removed July 4th,
and still to this day i still feel pain on my right side where my appendix was, sometimes it's worse than others.
Talk to your doctor, duuuh.

I just had mine removed yesterday and the pain is worse than when it was still there. Was given oxycontin 5mg and have eaten 40mg in the past 4 hrs and it dont even touch the pain. Is this normal? The dilaudid took all pain away and didnt give me the woozy feeling like when its too much, I am thinking about going back in to the ER to get that instead.

I had my appendix removed on Nov 25, 2009, by laparoscopy and my surgeon also did an umbilical hernia repair at the same time.

My appendicitis was what they called "clinical textbook", meaning that I had all the expected symptoms: pain started at 6am upon waking directly under my belly button as a dull ache that gradually moved to the lower right side of my abdomen; within 6 hours my pain was a 7 out of 10; the thought of jumping up and down made me cringe in pain; my white blood cell count was 17,000; and when the doc pushed on McBurney's point, and then released I screamed.

At urgent care, they sent me for x-rays, which were really not necessary because I ended up having a CT scan in the ER later, and xrays don't always show the appendix anyway. They also ordered a CBC which is what showed the white blood cell count.

I did not have a fever at any point in time throughout the experience, but I did have the chills all day.

Urgent care packaged me up in a gown and wheelchair and called my husband to drive me to the ER since they had put an IV in me.

At the ER, I was given a barium enema (really the most horrible thing) and a CT scan to confirm the diagnosis. I also took a pregnancy test to prove I wasn't expecting. This was quite a fight actually... as DH got a vasectomy 3 yrs ago and I'm still on the pill, plus we haven't been intimate in the past month! But the surgeon wouldn't operate without a test, so I peed on the stick.

Once the diagnosis was in, we discussed the surgery. Open or laparoscopic appendectomy (LA)? We learned the major differences would be in time, and thus price, and my recovery should be shorter with LA. With small children at home and a full-time job waiting, we went with LA. The surgeon also let me know I had a hernia under my belly button, which I didn't know about but had all my life, that he could also fix at the same time. We agreed to that.

We had to wait a few hours for an OR to be available. During the wait, the remaining fluid from the enema drained into my bed, so I had to get up and change my gown, which intensified the chills I was experiencing.

To relax me, I was given a dose of morphine for my pain and chills, which made me groggy. I vaguely recall saying goodbye to DH and my mother and then going into surgery. I recall being moved to a narrow table covered in towels and the nurses putting a mask on my face and telling me to breathe deeply. I remember about 3 breaths and then waking up with violent chills that were almost convulsive. The nurses were telling me they were giving me something to control the chills, but I was really out of it and don't remember much else. I finally came out of my fog about 5 hours later in my room Thanksgiving morning.

I spent the first day trying not to move. My pain averaged a 7 or 8 but was well-controlled by the anti-inflammatory given in my IV. I could have had morphine, but I only needed it once at night to sleep. I stayed in the hospital 3 days. The first day, they only let me have sips of water while they waited for the gas that was used to distend my abdomen to begin passing. On the second day, I graduated to drinking liquids and eating jello and pudding. By the evening of the second day, they let me have norco pain pills by mouth to make sure I could tolerate them without nausea.

By the third day, I was able to eat whatever I wanted and was released in the early afternoon to go home. I had a norco prescription that I took once a day for the next two days and at night to sleep. I stayed home for two weeks and spent most of my time reclining for comfort, but gradually I started taking care of the kids and a little housework. I rested as much as possible.

Three weeks post-surgery, I had to drive to the bank, so I had to shovel a little snow to get out of my driveway. This made me tired and sore, so I rested the next couple days. I took another norco, but it made me extremely nauseated and gave me a headache that lasted 6 hours.

Then I noticed that I was feeling a lot more pain, both when I moved and when I was resting and still. My steri-strips came off with a little help in the shower 3 weeks, 2 days post-op, and there was new pink skin underneath. But the area around the appendix site was tender and worsening.

At 3 weeks, 3 days post-op, my pain in my side had ratcheted up to a 7 and I suspected an infection. I didn't have a fever and the site wasn't red, but the pain was intense when I sat down and it radiated even when I was lying down.

So I went to urgent care to have them check me out. The doc had me lie down and pushed all around my incisions. The pushing was a little uncomfortable, but when she had me do a little crunch up while she pushed on the right-side incision, I started crying. The pain shot through a 10 instantly. She had me do it one more time and then said something was wrong.

She said it's definitely not an infection, but there is pain in the muscle or just under it. She didn't want to order a bunch of tests to try and figure it out, so she called the surgeon to tell him what was going on. My actual surgeon was off-duty, but she spoke to another surgeon who saw me in the hospital and whom I know personally because he operated on my child a couple years ago.

He said based on the exam, he is 100% certain that I am experiencing nerve pain. Although my examining doc said she has never seen this before, the surgeon said he actually sees it fairly often. The expected window for healing he gave me is 6 weeks to 6 months. The treatment is to take anti-inflammatories and give it time.

The examining doc offered to write a prescription for naproxen, but I prefer to take ibuprofen. I have had chronic nerve pain several times in the past 4 years due to having 2 bad discs in my back which caused constant sciatica for 18 months, and taking Aleve (naproxen) did not relieve the pain as well as ibuprofen.

Since I was 3 weeks 3 days post-op, the examining doc said I was safe to start taking ibuprofen again, so I went straight over to the grocery store and ate some lunch and then took 4 2oomg pills. After about 15 minutes, my pain was down to about 2 when walking around. Once I got in the car, it shot back up to about 5 but then settled down to 2 again.

Now I am laying down and writing, so the pain is gone. I will be taking ibuprofen every 6 hours and seeing if I need 800mg or if the pain is controlled with less. The key I know from experience is to get to where I take 200mg every 6 hours so that the pain never gets a chance to get on a roll.

It's also possible to alternate ibuprofen and acetominophen so that they overlap, preventing a "wearing off" effect. That worked great to control my pain after child birth and I will consider it if the ibuprofen wears off before I can take the next dose.

I hope my story helps someone else looking for answers about this.

Hi, I had my apppendix removed last night, I presented with severe right kidney and rib pain. I called the surgical nurse this morning because the pain in my kidney and ribs has worsened significantly. She told me that because they fill your abdomon with air you will have chest pain, right shoulder pain, and as the air is absorbed it must go somewhere so the burping and farting are quite normal according to the surgury center. The yellow can be a common side effects of medication.

HI everyone my name is melissa,

I am 24 years old and i had my appendix removed six months ago from the large 6cm incision instead of the small keyhole procedure,
It took three weeks for me to heal enough that i could sit and stand without help, though the pain never went away completely.
I have dull pain at the site of the surgery, it's constant and noticable.When i cough,have a bowel movement,sneeze etc. anything that strains those musscles i feel intense pain.I can no longer sleep on my side because of the uncomfortable pressure i feel in my abdomen.Also Once a month my stomache will swell as if i am 7 month's pregnant and will last for a week sometime's more.My bladder seem's smaller to me now because i am waking every 2 hours to use the bathroom where as before i could go all night and not even need to use the bathroom in the morning untill i had coffee.
The doc's say all is well and there are no complication's.The more i reasearch this topic the more i find that so many other's are going thru the same thing as i am with this surgery.Six month's and i still can't even graze the scar without a painful nerve shock, well that's the best way i now to explain what it feel's like.
Other symptoms since surgery:
Back pain
Chest pain
Rapid heart beat
numbness at incision site
pinching sensation at incision sit when sitting

I don't think doctor's are willing to admit that this so called "simple procedure' is more complicated than originally believed.
It has changed my entire lifestyle in a negative way and i am left with no answer's, only question's.

I had a lab appende 8 days ago. I was in the hospital for 8 days too bcos I couldn't hold down my food. I was just wo Ken up by a sharp stabbing pain on my right side and as natural I worried, began googling and stuff... After a while it sub sized a bit but not a lot. That's when I turned to my old bud marijuana. It removed me from the pain instantly. Like, it's still there because it's only natural, but I don't really feel it, it's mind bogling. Hope this is useful to somebody. God bless.