Hi just wondering if anyone else has experienced back pain after radical hysterectomy. I had an epidural for pain relief anf it seems to be from where the epidural was put in and below my back is pretty sore. obviously starting to concern me however im definitely guilty of not taking it easy. It seems to be worse first thing in the morning aswell like it seizes up over night. any ideas how long that should last? Ive beem up and about probably doing too much for a good couple of weeks and at one point ended up in agony and sort of hunched over again it seemed to be when the abdominal pain settled that i noticed the back pain.
I didn't have a radical hysterectomy just a total with ovaries tubes etc. I had agonising back pain about 6 weeks post op. So much so that it was worse than the surgery itself! My back muscle completely spasmed and affected my sciatic nerve too. I think a lot of it had to do with how you carry yourself when u are protecting the abdo area. Plus spending a lot of time resting weakens back muscles so more likely to suffer strains etc. my back is still sore now but gets better the more I am up and about, it's really painful in the morning but think that is more to do with needing a new mattress! Lol
I didn't have a radical hysterectomy just a total with ovaries tubes etc. I had agonising back pain about 6 weeks post op. So much so that it was worse than the surgery itself! My back muscle completely spasmed and affected my sciatic nerve too. I think a lot of it had to do with how you carry yourself when u are protecting the abdo area. Plus spending a lot of time resting weakens back muscles so more likely to suffer strains etc. my back is still sore now but gets better the more I am up and about, it's really painful in the morning but think that is more to do with needing a new mattress! Lol
I can't remember how far you are past your rad hyst just now but you really shouldn't over-do it, you could set yourself back quite a long way. The abdomen and lower back really do work hand in hand. After I had a slipped disc removed I had to really work my abdominal muscles to help take some of the strain off my back, and with your abdominal wall muscle cut through you must allow that time to heal properly before straining it, so your back is working hard to protect it. If you have stairs in your house just do a few up and downs several times a day. By that I mean facing upwards, taking two steps up and then two steps back down again backwards, still facing upwards. Hope that makes sense, it helps to build up the abdominal musles without putting too much strain on them. I know we all want to get back on our feet and up-to-speed as quickly as possible but this really is incredibly invasive surgery and the body needs time to recover.
I'm almost a year post RH and still get back pain. I also had an epidural. Mri's have shown I have a lesion on my spine but that has probably been there since birth. My GP has referred me for physio to try and alleviate the pain. My symptoms are very similar to yours. I was told that the position they put you in for the op doesn't help! You are basically tilted with all your weight on your lower back. Then of course they have cut through your stomach muscles so your back has to compensate for the lack of muscle tone. There is always a fear, for me at least, that lower back ache means reocurrence but it seems to be a very common thing following a hyster. There is a great site called hyster sisters which have lots of info about post hysterectomy (though not all cc related)
This may be irrelevant; I was chatting with a geezer the other day who had recently had an epidural for a hernia op. He said the epidural was the most painful thing he had ever experienced (wuss)
