10TV: Avoiding Addiction Post-Surgery

For many women, their first exposure to certain pain killers – opioids – comes after delivering a baby via C-section as a way to treat post-surgical pain and discomfort. There are times, however, that women can become addicted to opioids during their recovery. In fact, a new study says that opioids post C-section can put 21,000 women at risk of addiction.

Many doctors are looking for alternative ways to help ease the pain. One of those ways is the ON-Q Pain Management System, manufactured by Avanos and utilized at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital by Dr. Anita Somani, an OB/GYN with Comprehensive Women’s Care.

“It becomes more critical for us as physicians to think how we can avoid getting patients addicted,” Dr. Somani told 10TV medical reporter Tracy Townsend.

The ON-Q pump – or pain ball, as it’s referred to by some – is one of those solutions used by Dr. Somani. It does not contain narc

otics. Instead, it delivers a local anesthetic that provides targeted pain relief, both at the surgical site and closer to the nerves.

Katrina Bowman is a clinical nurse manager at Riverside and used the ON-Q pump after delivering her baby daughter, Kinley.