Intolerable pain after CoolSculpting

I only have myself to blame. Once again. I'm 23 and slim by all accounts, just that I have a small bulge on my lower abdomen due to my laziness. I do Pilates and Yoga, but I guess I could have focused more on abdominal crunches or whatnot.

Anyway, I went ahead and burned S$1500 of hard-earned cash on Zeltiq Coolsculpting done on my lower abdomen. Too late to lament.

Process of Coolsculpting. Image grabbed from: http://www.aristocratps.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/CoolSculpting_ZELTIQ_Illustration_Chart-380x881.jpg

As I'm writing this, I'm experiencing severe bouts of shooting pain that's extremely debilitating. In the words of a Realself user whom I will quote verbatim, I'm experiencing "severe shooting pain like small kni(ves) piercing, more needles, worsening burning, constant pain as if someone brutally punched in my abdomen." Except that it's not really the punching kind of bruising pain for me, but sharp stabs of stinging pain, as though a bee the size of a baseball were stinging me repeatedly. It comes, stays for about a minute or so, then leaves. I'm 5 days post-procedure, but the pain is not abating at all. For the first three days, I experienced no pain at all. My period even came one day post-procedure and my menstrual cramps were abnormally much better than how they usually are. My tummy felt like it was frozen. It was numb, a little swollen and tingling, but otherwise perfectly fine. I went about doing everything normally, from the physically demanding to the not-so-demanding. But yesterday my tummy started to 'thaw', or at least, felt like it started to thaw. I suppose when it thaws, or defrosts, I'd be able to feel the sharp sensations of pain. First it felt like the pins-and-needles kind of itchy pain but oh, good days don't last long. I woke up last night several times cause it hurt so badly! And sleeping on my side helped, but only marginally. Frankly speaking, I'm in so much pain I don't know if this was worth it. And this is coming from a person who has an extremely high threshold of pain. I can confidently say so cause I have spinal problems and have done really painful chiropractic/Chinese tuina treatment on my back, extracted my teeth (and wisdom teeth) without taking painkillers, and have also done braces. Anybody who has done braces would be able to attest to the pain you have to go through when four teeth are extracted at the same time. I think I did take a mild painkiller for my wisdom teeth removal cause my teeth were the impacted, fully perpendicular, problematic kind which required a complicated removal surgery. The teeth extraction had me rolling in pain for about two days.

But this....................isn't even supposed to be surgery, right? The doctor kept emphasising that it was non-surgical! And the nurses (oh curse them!) told me that I MAY experience pain on the third day, but it would be like a muscle ache. And since I didn't experience any pain during the procedure, I probably wouldn't experience any significant pain three days post-procedure.

BULLSHIT!!! I'm being continuously stabbed inside my stomach, it feels like a bloody war is going on inside my abdomen! OH CURSE IT!

I NEED PAINKILLERS!

At first I thought it was my tight underwear that worsened the pain. But even when I'm not wearing tight underwear, the pain is still very much there. Lightly stroking the area doesn't help at all too. It just feels quite itchy when I lightly stroke it, but that itch would transmogrify into a stinging pain again. Which is what is happening right now at this moment.  

I really wanted to make a photo collage of the Before pictures, but I am in too much pain to do that now.

I shall copy and paste what I read on the Internet about the intense pain. Thankfully there's an online community that discusses it. I am so in need of any kind of support, since I cannot tell anybody I know about this. It's just far too embarrassing.

(From: http://www.realself.com/question/coolsculpting-patient-report-pain-and-report-severe-pain)

Very few coolsculpting patients experience extreme pain

There are multiple factors that determine each individual’s experience with CoolSculpting. Each patient has a different comfort threshold, though only a very small percentage of CoolSculpting patients experience extreme pain. Another factor may be where the patient is treated. For some individuals, certain areas may be more sensitive than others. It’s important for patients to research CoolSculpting providers to find a CoolSculpting Certified Practice to ensure that providers are adequately trained and experienced in the use of CoolSculpting technology. Once you’ve done this, your provider can determine if you’re a suitable candidate.

D. Scott Karempelis, MD

Atlanta Dermatologic Surgeon 

To the doctor who wrote this: Please have the procedure done yourself, then you'd understand what hundreds of RealSelf members are talking about.

And out of the hundreds of posts, I quite like this one for its vivid descriptiveness:

Hawk30 (9 posts) 29 Nov 2011

Today is my 8th day after zeltic on my lower abdomen and both flanks. Despite reading a lot on net, I am shocked at how painful and miserable post treatment days can be. Treatment itself is not much different from what most people have described here. Days 1 to 4 were ok as there was numbness, firmness and somewhat swelling. Day 5: I started feeling pins, needles, burning, and shooting pain, couldnt sleep at night due to frequent awakenings. Day 6: severe shooting pain like small knife has pierced, more needles, worsening burning, constant pain as if someone brutally punched in my abdomen. COuld not sleep at all at night. Day 7: Above symptoms got more worse. Decided to take next day off from work. Called doctor who downplayed all my complaints reassuring 'this will be over' and 'you are the only one i have had so far who is having this much pain' Day 8: shooting pain much less frequent, burning comes and goes and constant pain like post-punch. Bottom line is, the doctors performing this procedure are 'choosing' not to believe patients because : a) they have been brain washed by zeltic reps b) financial obligations and fear of early unpopularity c) they had procedure on themselves and didn't have significant symptoms. The third scenario is worse as such doctor will not empathize with the patient. I recommend that before you go for this procedure, talk to doctor about possibility of these symptoms and make sure they are willing to try and help- ie. different pain medications, nerve blocker like neurontin, lidocaine patch etc. My doctor does not believe that I am having pain enough to prescribe a narcotic or anything and kept telling me that this is only temporary. Well , so is the pain after abdominal surgery! but that doesn't mean one has to tolerate this and count days until it is over.

To let you have a clearer idea of what kind of pain is plaguing me, I feel like throwing up. And the bile has literally risen up my throat several times yesterday and today. It's the roll-your-eyes, please-kill-me-now kind of pain that takes your breath away. I really hope it'll go away soon and not be the way Hawk30 described it. It is only Day 5 today but I don't think I can take another day of this. Tomorrow I'll call the doc for pain medication if the pain refuses to go away.

Suddenly I have new-found respect for people who undergo surgery just to look beautiful.

Update: I just found a way to alleviate the pain! At the recommendation of one of the RealSelf users, I tried putting something cold (an aluminium can from the fridge) on the treated area. Now I'm temporarily anaesthesised. Thank God. Sweet relief! Let's see how long this will last. 4 minutes have passed thus far.

Postscript: Yes, it lasted for only 4 minutes. I couldn't stand it and went to the clinic where I did my procedure five days ago. It was my first appointment with the attending doctor, (a young) Dr Chua, but he made me feel totally at ease. Similar to Hawk30's situation, the Doc didn't think that it was serious enough to warrant nerve blockers or topical anaesthesia. I tried to describe how stinging the pain was, and how debilitating it could get, but he said that it shouldn't be too bad. Cause he's only had one patient complain about post-procedural pain. Oh, really?! He then went on to say that that patient's had it much worse, cause even the feel of fabric against her skin would trigger pain. But yes, this is happening to me too! I don't even need to touch it, I told him. It would come spontaneously. So he prescribed me a painkiller, Ponstan, generally prescribed for menstrual cramps. Now I'm telling you, I am extremely sensitive to all forms of drugs. So I was surprised to find that two hours after taking the pill, I was still writhing in pain. He also prescribed me a Hyaluronic Acid-based cream, Restylane. He said that if I massage it on, I'll moisturise the area. How this would help, I have no idea. I have massaged it on twice so far, and as expected, it didn't work at all. He's such a dear though; he didn't charge me for the medication! :D He also talked to me as though I were his peer. I love it when doctors use clinical terms to describe my condition; I was a premed student after all, and clinical terms EXCITE me. Don't treat me like a dumbass and speak to me in layman terms. The more esoteric your jargon is, the more excited I'll get! :D

He probably thought I was making a mountain out of a molehill. But, oh, I do not cry wolf! My pain is unfortunately very real and not imagined.

I'm in my sixth day and I find myself counting the days...Dr Chua says that this hyperesthesia (increased sensitivity to touch) may last till the 10th day...oh, Dear Lord, please... take this pain away.

Right now the stabbing pain has just transmuted into a stinging, itchy pain. The area around my navel is excruciatingly itchy. I've had to wear a dress to work today, and I realised that the Doc was right--don't let fabric touch that area. I'm wearing shorts now and it feels much worse.    

So, my interim solution is this:

1) Soothe my extra-sensitised nerves by applying a cold pack (an aluminium can straight out from the fridge works really well) to the treated area

2) stay away from tight clothing, and wear dresses as much as possible

I stroke the tortured tummy ever so often, but it does nothing but aggravate my condition.

3) Alternate between cursing and praying. Haha, now you know why my prayers don't work.  Not

Second Update: It is the 28th of March today, which is also the 13th day since I did the procedure. The pain has largely subsided, but the sensitivity is still there. Not so sensitive that I'd cringe at the whisper of a touch, but sensitive enough to cause me mild discomfort when wearing tight jeans. That said, I was finally able to wear jeans today. For the past two weeks I've had to wear dresses cause fabric coming into contact with my skin was painful as hell. To the people out there who are considering Coolsculpt, I'd advise you to think twice. Of course the aftereffects would vary from person to person, but nobody, not even the most qualified of doctors, can guess at what your recovery would be like. Either way, be prepared for up to 6 or 7 nights of poor-quality sleep. The pain would literally wake you from your already-fitful sleep several times a night.

By the way, the doctors have told me that I'd only see results after 28 days. I also did research prior to the procedure. So I'm giving it time before evaluating the results, and would definitely post the Before and After pictures in two weeks' time.