anesthesia questions

[Guest guest]

I just researched online, and found Carla's interesting interview with Dr.

Indman re: anesthesia during myo. I am getting nervous about general

anesthesia, since i have never been under. i've heard being awake can be

better, depending on the skill of the anesthesiologist. I suppose there are

risks to being awake too. The thing i fear most is that my breathing will be

inhibited, or would stop, etc...

And can't there be complications with sedatives ? Of course i will ask my

anesthesiologist my questions before surgery....i am just trying to gather info.

here first.

Questions :

1. Has anyone here been awake during a myo ? If so, what did they use for

anesthesia?

2. What was the recovery like, compared to general anesthesia, and what was

the pain like afterwards?

3. What was it like for you during the surgery ?

(also, did time pass slowly or quickly ?) (could you speak or ask questions ?)

4. What was your doc's attitude towards your request to be awake?

5. Did you hear, or feel them cutting into you, even though you were numb ?

6. Did you have headphones with music playing to distract you ?

7. Did you watch the surgery either on a TV screen, or directly from bed ?

8. Did you have a sheet placed over your face, so you could not see what was

going on ?

9. Did you at any time wish you had been knocked out instead of awake during the

surgery?

Thanks,

[Guest guest]

Hi Suzane,

In just want to tell you, I had general anesthesiaI on my first myo. I do ask My

Dr to being awake but she just refuse.

[Guest guest]

Ugh. Having watched surgeries ( I work in a hospital) I wouldn't not

want to be awake. Just my personal opinon. I am very nervous to about

the whole thing as well.

I have a question to add to this. This is really my biggest fear...it

was in the press years ago. Is it possible to put under and still

feel what is going on? Has anyone heard of this.

-- In uterinefibroids , <sbstraus@s...> wrote:

I am getting nervous about general anesthesia, since i have never been under.

i've heard being awake can be better, depending on the skill of the

anesthesiologist.

[Guest guest]

nah...have a little rest...let the experts have a go.

getting put under was the best part.

gg

deduncan94010 wrote:

>Ugh. Having watched surgeries ( I work in a hospital) I wouldn't not

>want to be awake. Just my personal opinon. I am very nervous to about

>the whole thing as well.

>I have a question to add to this. This is really my biggest fear...it

>was in the press years ago. Is it possible to put under and still

>feel what is going on? Has anyone heard of this.

>

>-- In uterinefibroids , <sbstraus@s...> wrote:

>I am getting nervous about general anesthesia, since i have never been under.

i've heard being awake can be better, depending on the skill of the

>anesthesiologist.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I've had two different surgeries (thyroid and resection) and would

choose general anesthesia anytime. When I had my resection in

May, they wanted to do a local but I was kicing, apparently, and

they had to do a general. It should have just been a general from

the beginning. I have asthma too and never had a problem. The

anesthesiologists are very careful to take into account all of your

conditions, medications, etc.

I agree that the anesthesia was the best part of the surgery. It

feels like you are out for only a minute, yet hours have gone by

and the surgery is over. I spent so much time and energy

worrying about being put under, which was all so unnecessary. I

was lying in the OR watching everything get set up; the

anesthesiologist (who I talked to earlier that day about my info)

was with me and put in the IV and gave me a sedative, and that's

all I remember until I woke up in recovery.

I had absolutely no awareness of anything, which was how I

wanted it.

I've read that it can sometimes take a while for the effects of

anesthsia to leave your body completely and you may experience

some extra tiredness for a few weeks afterward, if you're that

sensitive.

It's good that you are asking these questions and natural that

you are concerned, but I wouldn't spend too much energy

obsessing over this. I recommend the general. I do urge caution

about receiving too much pain medication, though. I was given

too much percocet by an overzealous nurse and had to have an

anti-emetic to control my nausea and felt very spaced-out for

awhile. It was silly as I was not in that much pain. I never saw

that nurse again, thankfully!

Hope this helps.

Jan

[Guest guest]

I'm curious--what occurred during the surgeries you've observed that makes

you reluctant to have general anesthesia?

I'd be interested in knowing the statistics about complications caused by

general vs. regional anesthesia. All I know is anecdotal evidence that

general anesthesia has been used safely by several people I know--including

me, in 7 surgeries (including my myomectomy). On the other hand, when my

father was in a rehab center last summer, his roommate was paralyzed as the

result of improperly administered spinal anesthesia.

Here are some Web sites that might be helpful:

The Capitol Anesthiology Association, which discusses the risks of anesthesia:

http://www.capanes.com/services_cr.html

The American Society of Anesthesiologists' " Anesthesia and You " :

http://www.medem.com/search/article_display.cfm?path=n: & mstr=/ZZZNV74ZBIC.html & s\

oc=ASA & srch_typ=NAV_SERCH

Memorial Hospital's " Your Guide to Having Surgery and Anesthesia " :

http://www.memorialhospital.org/AnesthesiaGuide.htm

The anesthesiologist for my myomectomy did say that she was going to give

me pain medication while I was under. My experience was similar to

Jan's--the anesthesiologist gave me a sedative that put me to sleep before

I even got to the operating room. I fell asleep so quickly that I wasn't

even aware I was going to sleep. I would have been much more stressed out

if I had to be awake during the procedure, and that probably would have

affected my blood pressure.

Recovery from the anesthesia and surgery went well for me. I think that's

because I got up and walked as soon as possible after surgery to stimulate

my body and clear things out. I was up and walking about 4 hours after I

got to my hospital room, and I walked again 8 hours later and again a few

hours after that. I also used as little pain medication as I could stand,

to avoid slowing down my body unnecessarily and avoid nausea. I recovered

so quickly that I went home about 24 hours after I was admitted to the

hospital.

Cheryl

At 02:49 PM 1/18/2004 +0000, deduncan94010@... wrote:

>Ugh. Having watched surgeries ( I work in a hospital) I wouldn't not

>want to be awake. Just my personal opinon. I am very nervous to about

>the whole thing as well.

>I have a question to add to this. This is really my biggest fear...it

>was in the press years ago. Is it possible to put under and still

>feel what is going on? Has anyone heard of this.