Shirley Evans

Posted , 5 users are following.

Had Tympanoplasty on Friday. Came home Saturday dinner time. All Friday night was wide awake with excrutiating pain. No pain medication touched the pain (liquid morphine given) and then 30mg of Codeine administered due to severity of pain. Helped slightly but Saturday morning more excrutiating pain. 30mg of Codeine and more morphine. Whilst still in the hospital more pain and vomiting. I'm a diabetic type 2 with insulin treatment. It's Monday evening and I'm trying to control pain with 2 x 500mg Paracetamol every 4 hours. It does take the edge off the pain, That's it. I've never ever experienced pain this severe, inside ear, face, teeth, surrounding ear and my neck. How much more can I stand this pain?

0 likes, 14 replies

14 Replies

  • Posted

    The recovery time is about 2-4 Weeks, but I have never heard that reaction before from a Tympanoplasty before, unless it was further complications. Personally I have had it done both Ears with a Mastoidectomy on the latest one just before Christmas and had next to no pain at all. I recommend the Co-Codamol 30mg/500mg, and take 2 up to 4 Times a Day, after a week cut down to 6 a Day, then 4 and so on. By the time you have done that, the pain should have gone. You will need to get a script for these, but it's easy to get your surgery to sort you one out. Don't wait for the pain to come at the moment, just take meds at intervals for a few days first. Beware, any Opiate is going to bung you up if you take it frequently. Please see the Doc again, this does not sound right. Al

  • Posted

    Good morning shirley,

    Are you in England, if so did the NHS do the surgery or was it privately done ??

    I had to Google what the procedure meant.  Sounds awful what you've been

    through.

    How many perforations have you had in the eardrum ?  I experienced approx.

    7 over the years mainly in my left eardrum....your must have been bad to

    actually tear and need surgery.

    I imagine you suffer Eustcachian Tube Dysfunction for for this to happen.

    If the pain continues to be bad, get back on to the hospital and ask for

    advise.  Did they give you instructions not to get water into the ear and

    don't go lifting anything heavy.

    ETD can turn into something very serious, such as it did with me several

    years ago, by contracting bacterial meningitis.  The mucus sat in my tubes

    too long crossed the blood/brain barrier and bingo, it got me.  I was in

    hospital for 2 weeks serious ill.  Sadly, due to the time I was left with the

    hospital not knowing how ill I was I lost the sight in my left eye and hearing

    is really down in right ear.

    ETD should always be taken seriously by doctors.  They seem to send

    patients away saying it will clear.  When our tubes are really stuck together

    (called Glue Ear in children) it can literally take forever to clear.  I'm still

    suffering this condition after so many years.

    Happily, I'm now on a mediaction that seems to be keeping it under

    control.

    I do hope your ear soon heals and the pain goes.  On the website

    they are saying it can take as long as 12 weeks.

    Kind regards

    Anne

  • Posted

    i had the same pain after i had a tumor removed from behind my eardrum i got lots of antibiotics and strong pain killers nothing touched the pain i just sad with tears running down my face for days i wanted ti die. eventualy it got better. so maybe its an infection
    • Posted

      Had the procedure in Cardiff (Heath Hospital), NHS, as soon as I came out of the general anaesthetic the pain was present, my face, my head, my teeth and the cavity of my ear. The aftercare was abysmal, no food offered after being in the hospital for 16 hours and I'm a type 2 diabetic. The medication given was 5 doses of oramorph, which didn't have any effect on the pain at all. Even telling the Nurse this was a useless medication she insisted in me taking it. Eventually a Dr was found who prescribed 30mg of Codeine, this also had no effect, just gave me a bout of projectile vomiting. I couldn't wait to go home 28 hours in the hospital was enough. I was given co-codamol and anti-sickness meds on discharge. For 4 days and nights I was completely incapacitated with the most severe pain until speaking to my own GP on a triage appointment. Thankfully he prescribed an anti-inflammatory and thankfully 75% of pain was relieved. Still having some pain and the packing is still wet but not with any bad odour. The 7 stitches been removed from behind my ear, just waiting for the packing to be removed next Monday in the ENT Clinic of the Heath Hospital 5th March 2018, will have a better idea of outcome of this procedure. If the graft has failed, there's no way I'll go through this again. All I can say is the NHS in the UK is being failed miserably by this Conservative Government.

    • Posted

      Morning Shirley,

      So sorry you're still going through so much.  I must agree with your sentiments

      regarding our wonderful NHS that certainly seems to be going down the toilet.

      My daughter had a hysterectomy on Tuesday this week.  She came home yestedday

      afternoon....too soon in my humble opinion.  But like you, she said no food was

      offered and the nursing staff (who I'll add are all foreign) weren't helpful at all.

      I know her procedure was done laparoscopically, so making a quicker recovery,

      however, seems too quick to be discharged.  She was happy, as the noise

      during the night and lights left on she was unable to sleep.....so will recover

      much better being at home and in her own bed.

      I hate to knock our NHS as many years ago it was brilliant.  Our little island

      is sinking with the amount of people now on it.  Just wondering if many of the

      foreign nurses (and I'm not saying all)  may think us in the West are

      spoilt, as in their own countries they just have to get on with it not having

      the medicine and medical help that we have....if that goes down the tubes,

      we'll end up like a Third World country too.  Nursing should be a compassion

      vocation....many are just not !!

      Hope you soon feel better

      Anne

  • Posted

    Hi Shirley, Totally agree about the NHS, I don't know about much about Wales, but in Portsmouth I turned up 3 Times for the Op, even got as close as being dressed and on a bed waiting for Surgery, then told they were to busy. Only got it on the fourth try. Bearing in mind that it's about 1 hrs drive away, I have turned up to appointments and found myself having to explain each time what it was I was there for. Every time I saw a Surgeon, he kept getting my Ears mixed up "The right side? No? Left?" And It wasn't like I was seeing a different Dr Each time. So it would be a 5 min appointment (always at least 1hr Delay) for me to tell them It's my Left Ear and they would say "Good, now what course of action would you like to take?" me: I've had a Pre op, and booked in for the operation."  "Ah yes, see you soon." Basically what I am saying is that all of these visits cost to the NHS Could have been cut back their costs for my by at least 60%, and I have heard much much worse situations others have been in. Always an Hour's Delay, get in a bit earlier Doc! The only good thing is it sounds like I was very lucky with the Op (Pain Wise), and had a slight change of Taste (Lucky I changed from Chef). What are your Sugar Levels like at the moment? Did they tell you about the importance of keeping lower levels? AL

     

    • Posted

      Nice to see there are a few Brits on this Forum.  If people say which country they're are in, I can

      then recommend what I'm using that's helping my ETD almost 100% for almost a week at a time,

      before having to use it again.

      Anne

    • Posted

      Sugar levels were very changeable due to being very anxious about the whole episode. The one night stay was quite enough. Not eating hardly at all as the pain was excrutiating I didn't want food. The Nurse even told me not to bother taking my insulin, something my Diabetic Dr would have been horrified with. The packing , when removed, will let me know if the graft has taken, frankly the pain issue is making me feel that It's failed.

    • Posted

      Did you have a general anaesthetic and the incision behind your ear which when stitched was around 7 sutures? Was the removal of packing inside the cavity of your ear painful? The cotton wool plug in my ear seems to be wet every time I change it, was yours?
  • Posted

    hi i had my operation in doncaster and they were briliant with me. my stitches were disolverble didnt need them taking out i had more than seven stitches thoe my scar went from top of my ear to bottom so all way round the edge as they douldnt just go through the ear to get at the tumor so my ear puuled out way and then went through scull there. all my care was good. but thenpain was bad but asoon as the antibiotics started to work it got better. 
    • Posted

      the packi g dosnt hurt when its pulled out its a releif, mine was making my ear itch so was glad to get it out at first the cotton wool in the front was wet at first but then it stoped being wet. i wore a head band round it to keep it in place. i got alot of bruising but it faed and i also had a bit of a problem with swolowing but that got better. i still get pain somtimes and a feeling its blocked but it gets better its only when i get a cold.  i get an apointment every six months now to make sure it isnt coming back as they sometimes do within five years.

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