Can an appendectomy cause this?

Question

I had my appendix taken out late Tues. night and came home late Wed. afternoon. I was prescribed 5mg percocet for pain and I have had it MANY times in the past for my back, but now when I take it I start to vomit and get ill. Could this be because of the surgery? This also happened when I stopped taking it and tried a tylenol (7 hours after my last percocet). I wasn't anywhere near my tylenol (acetemetaphine) level, but yet it now makes me sick. Do you think a doc would switch meds for me or is this bad to ask being I was able to take percocet before my surgery?

I am also having a harder time breathing when I take the percocets now, which I never had problems with before.

Answer 1

I see you posted this quite a while ago so my answer may no longer be apropro but I will post it in case you need the info in the future.

You might have developed a sensitivity to the percocet. If it was just the vomiting, it could be possible that it was an after affect of the anesthesia (it takes a good while to get it all out of your system) but the fact that you also had trouble breathing tells me you better not take it any more.

As for the tylenol, you were probably still having some residual nausea issues due to the anesthesia. If you were throwing up the tylenol, you would probably throw up anything else oral that the doctor gave you. However, you could have requested some pain suppositories or have had someone buy you some tylenol suppositories. At least you would have gotten some pain relief!

The nausea and vomiting usually goes away within 24 hours after surgery and any time it doesn't, you should call your doctor. You wouldn't want to get dehydrated.

By now, I hope you are feeling much better and are well on your way to recovery.