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Had Lapascopy. Having Burning Pain And Feeling Numbness After Iud Removal. What Is Causing This?

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Posted on Tue, 9 Oct 2012
Question: i had a lapascopy and lapartomy by a gen surgeon. after an iud removal from omentum i now have burning pain and feel numb on my left side how serious can this be dr tried giving me an injection that i could not even feel the needle inserted in my abdomen it was suppose to be for pain but did nothhing so he said he was going to send me for a ct scan and that an instrument was in that area an possibly caused me to have some issues now. What would the ct excatly show and why am i having this numbing and burning pain?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Nirja Chawla (5 hours later)
Hello,
Thank you for writing in.

Pain after any surgery is common. Getting a XXXXXXX or cut with the kitchen knife gives rise to pain. Here we are talking about a major surgery - the laparoscopy also requires one to 2.5 cms incisions to insert the hand instruments. Laparotomy requires a minimum of 7 cms, mostly 10 cms incisions. This is one aspect - the cut on the abdomen.

The other aspect is cutting not just the skin and tissues beneath it to enter the abdominal cavity but the nerves, which get cut too. Since the nerves get cut the area above and around such incisions or cuts may feel a loss of sensation or numbness.

The quality of the pain - dragging or burning or pinching depends upon the way the nerves regenerate or grow back. Let me explain this by an example to help you understand: If the nerve endings which pick up touch sensations on your finger are injured and then grow back and happen to join, by 'mistake', those nerve cells which are connected to the area of the brain which perceives heat /burning or temperature change, then stimulation of that nerve in your finger will be felt as burning even if what you have done is give a touch or tactile sensation, not heat.

Similar events can happen anywhere in the body where a surgery or cut has been made -> nerves naturally are cut in the process -> nerves regenerate and grow back -> tie up with nerve cells associated with another sensation.
In brief, the numbness and 'burning pain' may be because of nerves cut and their growth, which may happen at different rates in different parts of even the same region.

One should explore other causes of pain after surgery; the most important is infection per se or following some collections of fluid or blood below the skin or in abdomen, which can irritate the peritoneal covering of the organs inside and cause pain.

My assessment of the reason why your doctor put a needle IN abdomen was probably to rule out and drain any such collection, which is usually done under ultrasound guidance. However, many doctors do not do this.
Injections for pain relief are given in the muscles of upper arm or thigh muscles or in a vein. Pain relief Skin Patches are also available.

A CT Scan will help to find out if there is any collection inside the abdomen or its walls, which may/may not be infected. Sometimes, some instruments used to retract the abdominal wall may cause considerable bruising of the tissues there and post op problems later.

However, if there is no collection on CT scan then the pain and numbness is likely to subside. May I then suggest - take adequate rest, no household work, no lifting of weights more than say 10 lbs or 5 kgms, take a nourishing high protein diet and give adequate time for the body to recover. Sometimes, cold compresses in that area along with pain killers/anti-inflammatory medicines help a lot. You could try this.

Wishing you all the best.
Note: Revert back with your gynae reports to get a clear medical analysis by our expert Gynecologic Oncologist. Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E
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Answered by
Dr.
Dr. Nirja Chawla

OBGYN, Maternal and Fetal Medicine

Practicing since :1979

Answered : 78 Questions

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Had Lapascopy. Having Burning Pain And Feeling Numbness After Iud Removal. What Is Causing This?

Hello,
Thank you for writing in.

Pain after any surgery is common. Getting a XXXXXXX or cut with the kitchen knife gives rise to pain. Here we are talking about a major surgery - the laparoscopy also requires one to 2.5 cms incisions to insert the hand instruments. Laparotomy requires a minimum of 7 cms, mostly 10 cms incisions. This is one aspect - the cut on the abdomen.

The other aspect is cutting not just the skin and tissues beneath it to enter the abdominal cavity but the nerves, which get cut too. Since the nerves get cut the area above and around such incisions or cuts may feel a loss of sensation or numbness.

The quality of the pain - dragging or burning or pinching depends upon the way the nerves regenerate or grow back. Let me explain this by an example to help you understand: If the nerve endings which pick up touch sensations on your finger are injured and then grow back and happen to join, by 'mistake', those nerve cells which are connected to the area of the brain which perceives heat /burning or temperature change, then stimulation of that nerve in your finger will be felt as burning even if what you have done is give a touch or tactile sensation, not heat.

Similar events can happen anywhere in the body where a surgery or cut has been made -> nerves naturally are cut in the process -> nerves regenerate and grow back -> tie up with nerve cells associated with another sensation.
In brief, the numbness and 'burning pain' may be because of nerves cut and their growth, which may happen at different rates in different parts of even the same region.

One should explore other causes of pain after surgery; the most important is infection per se or following some collections of fluid or blood below the skin or in abdomen, which can irritate the peritoneal covering of the organs inside and cause pain.

My assessment of the reason why your doctor put a needle IN abdomen was probably to rule out and drain any such collection, which is usually done under ultrasound guidance. However, many doctors do not do this.
Injections for pain relief are given in the muscles of upper arm or thigh muscles or in a vein. Pain relief Skin Patches are also available.

A CT Scan will help to find out if there is any collection inside the abdomen or its walls, which may/may not be infected. Sometimes, some instruments used to retract the abdominal wall may cause considerable bruising of the tissues there and post op problems later.

However, if there is no collection on CT scan then the pain and numbness is likely to subside. May I then suggest - take adequate rest, no household work, no lifting of weights more than say 10 lbs or 5 kgms, take a nourishing high protein diet and give adequate time for the body to recover. Sometimes, cold compresses in that area along with pain killers/anti-inflammatory medicines help a lot. You could try this.

Wishing you all the best.