Q. How painful is open heart surgery?
Doctor Answer is medically reviewed by SecondMedic medical review team.
Open heart surgery can be very painful, but the level of pain varies significantly from person to person and depends largely on the type of procedure being performed. With that said, most open heart surgeries involve general anesthesia and a significant amount of tissue manipulation in the chest cavity, which can make it uncomfortable or even downright painful for some patients.
Generally speaking, open heart procedures are usually accompanied by several days' worth of moderate to severe pain for those who experience it. Some common sources include incisional pain at the site where the sternum was cut open (median sternotomy), drainage of fluid from around the lungs (thoracentesis) or regular discomfort due to changes in lung function during recovery as well as movement restrictions resulting from post-operative sternal precautions.
For many patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), they will often report feeling intense tightening and squeezing in their chest caused by certain maneuvers utilized during surgery such as separation of nerves intertwined with blood vessels near their spine or sawing through cartilage near them ribcage. Pain medications typically help manage these post-operative aches and pains more effectively than before; however, this isn't always enough for some people—especially when accompanied by other feelings linked to an unfamiliar environment in hospitalization or general fatigue brought on by its healing process.
It's important to have realistic expectations about your recovery before any type of open heart procedure so you can properly plan ahead for potential challenges down the road—including how much post-surgical pain may be involved based on individual factors like age or pre-existing medical conditions among others. Your surgeons and nurses should be able to provide more specific information about what you might expect following your own particular operation(s).
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