Don't Do It. The Pain is Not Worth the Results! - Minnesota, MN

It has been 2 weeks since my coolsculpting procedure and there hasn't been the slightest decrease in pain. I went to my primary care physician and he recommended increasing the dose of neurontin to 300mg twice a day (It used to be just once a day). He also prescribed vicodin and asked me to alternate between vicodin and ibuprofen for a week. He said that the best solution is to constantly ice the painful area so that the nerves can heal from the damage. He said that none of the medication (or icing the area) will eliminate the pain, but might just reduce it enough to be tolerable.

I have some stubborn fat on outer and inner thighs. After childbirth, I grew a small pouch on my abdomen, which is unnoticeable most of the time, except when I wear low jeans at which point, my muffin tops and love handles seem to flow out. When I read the description about coolsculpting being non-invasive, with minimal downtime, I thought it was worth trying out.

I never met the doctor, but I did meet up with a couple of very nice technicians, who are knowledgeable as well. They verified that my outer thighs would not benefit from the procedure, so I have the procedure done on my abdomen first, and then each of my inner thighs. CoolSculpting is painful, from the moment the big applicator was used to suck in my abdomen until now. And the pain gets worse and worse after each day. What I find most interesting is that noone talks about the pain ahead of time. Even when I asked everyone, they talked about "some people" and "minimal discomfort". But when I went in a week later to get something for the unbearable pain, they seemed to accept it as normal. The nurses got me a prescription from the doctor for Neurontin, but it is useless.

It is a week and a half now, and I am waiting for some sort of silver lining. At this point, I wouldn't even care if my abdomen gained a couple of inches as long as the pain goes away. Speaking of gaining a couple of inches, I already have. I am bloated and severe swelling on the abdomen and even below (where the applicator rested during the procedure). There is a line that marks this, and it burns terribly when I don't put ice on it. I have also had to take a few days off from work because of the intense pain. It is impossible to button my pants without wishing I could die instead. I have been wearing my maternity clothes and walking around with ice packs packed on my abdomen. This gives me slight mobility without pain, and also allows me to sleep at night. For the past week, I wake up in the middle of the night due to the shooting pain in my lower abdomen, which means that it is time to replace my ice pack. I find the whole experience very embarrassing.