Your role in pain control

After surgery, work with your health care team to make your recovery as prompt and pain-free as possible. You'll need to communicate with your doctors and nurses to help them assess and adjust the pain management plan.

• Be honest about the pain you feel after surgery. Let your doctors and nurses know how much it hurts, where it hurts, and what activities or positions make it better or worse. Your health care team will want to know the intensity of pain on a 0 to 10 scale, where 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst pain you can imagine. The more specific you can be, the better your doctors can help you.
• Don't ignore side effects. Tell your care team if you experience sleepiness, constipation, nausea or other side effects of the medications. A different pain medication or dose can sometimes reduce uncomfortable side effects, and these side effects can often be treated and relieved.