If you cannot take oral preparations, intramuscular injections can be given or you may even control your own analgesia using a method called patient controlled analgesia (PCA). For this you are given a device that has a button for you to press whenever you need analgesia, and the device then delivers a set amount of analgesic into your drip. Your anaesthetist will have programmed the device to ensure that you receive the correct amount of drug, the time intervals during which the machine will respond to your button press (to prevent overdose), and a number of other features.
Other methods of pain control include the use of local anaesthetics administered at the end of the operation, nerve blocks and epidural analgesia. In this day and age there is no need for a patient to suffer distressing pain after an operation.
Read more:
Advantages of postoperative pain relief