Were You Suspended In The Air on the Operating Table?

Ok, I posted earlier asking for suggestions for this back pain I've had ever since surgery.

A sweet lady replied about her back pain and she said that she believes that on the operating table they suspend you from your arm pits (WOW, that's embarrassing).

Anyway, that would explain my sore arms when I was in the hospital and it would explain my sore back now.

Is this something that I failed to learn about? Even after learning about this, I just was trying to Google it to get some information (as I'm really afraid to watch a gastric bypass video as I might see something I cannot ever erase from my mind). I really can't find anything yet that tells us that. I had assumed that I was laying on a table.

I was in the operating room for 5 hours so that probably explains why my lower back has been killing me and makes it difficult for me to do much.

If this is how they do it, WHY on earth would they not do something that would protect your back???

Thanks for any insight. If this back thing is temporary, so be it, but I had this surgery to IMPROVE my health and my life, not to be miserable from back pain.

Wynter

I watched an RNY online and the patient was on an operating table.  I never heard of such a thing.  That would make the patient very unstable and the surgeon more likely to slip.  Your back ache is probably from the prolonged time on the table.  At the hospital I was at, they have specialized beds for bariatric patients-larger with air mattresses, so you don't get tailbone or back pain from laying in bed so much.  I had never been so comfortable in a hospital bed before. 

I so would think that would be a safety hazard, I mean after all we're big and stuff too?!

I had back pain up til the past 2 days and from what I saw, it was air pockets THEN being bedridden/chair ridden, etc.

You are in no way suspended during surgery. However, an OR table is as flat and hard as stone.   It can make you back hurt.  Imagine if you were lying on a piece of wood with no padding for 5  hours, same kind of thing.  :)    Try some heat and see if that helps or call your surgeon and see if he would prescribe a muscle relaxer to help with the spasm ( if you are having spasm)  If they gave you pain meds, try that and see if it helps.   Hope it gets better soon!!!

Thank you Kat. I have an appointment (1st post op appointment tomorrow) and I will be seeing what I can get for this back pain. It's making me miserable. I can't even stand over the kitchen counter for a minute or two without it hurting. If I lean over the counter and put my arms on the counter it relieves the pain but who wants to do that? When I am doing my walking around in my house, I am kind of bent over and cannot stand straight between my pain in the rib cage area (gas?) and my lower back.

My back is not having spasms I don't think, it just aches very badly in my lower back.

I will certainly ask about those muscle relaxers tomorrow. It's hard to make yourself walk as much as you should when you are in pain the whole time.

Also, sleeping in a recliner is not my preferred position to sleep in. I am a side sleeper but am not yet sure if I can lay flat out or will be able to get up out of bed or the couch. Plus I had to sleep with my bed up 30 degrees per the nurses in the hospital. So it's now been almost 9 days of sleeping sitting up.

I am a worry wart and always assume the worst. I don't want this pain to go on for a long time, I want to get out and exercise once I am cleared for it, etc.

Thanks!
Wynter

I got my surgery notes and it says they put me in reverse  Trendelenburg position and other positions to put the trocars and to do the surgery.  I was also very sore with this surgery.  I was on operating table for 2 hours and my back hurt a lot


Tamara

Did the back pain go away? How long did it take? No wonder my back hurts so much, I was on there for 5 hours.

Thanks.
Wynter

yeah, it did leave.  I walked a lot after surgery and moved around a lot too so that helped too.


Tamara

Once you are out, they will position you in what ever way they need to.  And your arms are straight out from your sides.  I had a patient who was in a prolonged "T" position and had nerve damage in one arm from it. 

Try heat and cold, gentle stretching, and talk to them tomorrow.  Let us know what they say.

the symptoms you speak of (bending over to relieve the pain) ,,it's sounds like pinched nerves in the lower back caused by inflamation,,i have it alot but mine is due to facet joint arthritis,but bending over takes the pressure off the nerves and eases the pain,you might try ice,,or heat whichever you prefer,,and muscle relaxers may help