back pain

sherry-
its been a month from your surgery. Has the back pain been there since the beginning. I would think that the "table" pain.. meaning they way they manipulate you in the operating room should be gone by now. If the pain is worse since then, I would definitely be speaking to your surgeon. There is always risk of an abscess and that is not something you would want to ignore.

Thanks for the responses. I don't think it is from the position or abscesses. I have this pain every time I have an ileostomy. Since it is permanent this time, I was hoping for a suggestion on how to deal with it. In the past I have purchased a memory foam mattress and a hot tub. Neither really worked, but I knew reversal was in the future. I don't want to suffer forever.

Itsnotsherry,
I use 3-4 pillows to give my hips, back and shoulders the right support that they need to allow me to sleep...I use a long and dense body pillow that I 'hug' up against my body and throw my top leg over to ease the pressure on my sacrum/coxyx and that helps a lot for the lower back pain. I have a second that I keep low down on the bed that I keep between my feet (when on my side)to maintain the position of non-pressure on the lower back and put under my feet when I turn onto my back and of course a very comfy pillow under my head (I have found the the ones with grains or beads works best for me but use what you can)...the important thing is to make sure that there is no extra pressure on your lower back...if that is where it hurts...upper back between the scapula could be something other than just back pain (like galbladder).
You can also try going to a chiro who can realigne you properly...I have found that my spine is usually very out of wack post op plus the forced/stressed position that we sleep in at first can stress the muscles that end up staying kinked...
That's all I've got if it isn't an abscess or a pulled muscle.
Sharon

Thank you Sharon. Your answer is very helpful!

itsnotSherry,
I just got back from the chiro after a month of such intense back pain (lower back, right sub-iliac)...that I wake up crying...I have been taking 2 naproxine a day and now have added 1000mg of tylenol 2xs day to just get it under control. The pillows help a lot but if I move, even slightly I wake up in horrible pain so I gave in and called my chiro for an emergency apt...turns out that all of the lower back muscles are kinked again and she worked on loosening them up quite a bit...she put my legs in a 4 position (while laying on your back, on the floor or bed, you cross your leg across your body on the side that hurts like for a yoga positon and then bring the other leg, knee bent strait up and pull it close to your body...it ends up making your legs look like a number 4.) This stretches out the muscles down there that are pulling at us and that seem to suffer most from our surgeries...amazingly enough it works (I didn't believe it)...so you can try and see...and let me know if this helps you.
Sharon