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General Anaesthetic.... Got it on Satuday and 'only a tad' worried.. any good advice?

M

mogzieee

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Feb 8, 2008
668
1
London, UK
I'm a bit worried because I'm having an operation on my knee involving general anaesthetic on Saturday...:confused:

I'm just wondering if anyone else here can give any advise to stop me from worrying... I'd love to hear from people who have had an operation before... know what general anaesthetic is like... in the same position as me... etc.

Any support would be much appreciated. Thank you...

And to be nice, no negative replies please.... :)
 
The worst part is when you come out of it. Your throat will be sore from the breathing tube, and you might be nauseous as well.

The worst part for me was the bewilderment. It was like an hour of my life had been erased. Don't remember getting knocked out, and then I was in the recovery room. The sore throat thing sucked, too.

It's generally well-tolerated by most people. Worst-case scenario you'll have nausea and maybe puke.

Not horrible by any means.
 
General anesthetic is nothing. They give it to you via IV and then have you count backwards from 10, usually around 7 you are out. I had knee surgery when I was 15 and I had no problems with the sleepy stuff.

Nothing to be concerned about.

Peace:cool:
 
jonbravo77 said:
General anesthetic is nothing. They give it to you via IV and then have you count backwards from 10, usually around 7 you are out. I had knee surgery when I was 15 and I had no problems with the sleepy stuff.
Nothing to be concerned about.
Peace:cool:
Click to expand...

I had it through IV too, and there were zero problems. I also had no problems coming out of it, like the first response said. But Im sure that varies person to person. Let me just say it will be the best sleep you have probably had in awhile :cool:
 
mogzieee said:
What's the IV way like? Is that by gas or injection or what??
Click to expand...

Usually it's by injection, they will put a mask over your mouth for oxygen and then put a breathing tube down your throat.

When I had my surgery I didn't even know they put a tube down my throat. But I too have heard some ppl have a few issues with the sleeping part, they seem to wake up a bit disoriented from not knowing what happened to that time of their life.

But it really isn't that big of an issue. just takes some time to get out of the grogginess.

Peace:cool:
 
I've had both of my knees operated on, so if you happen to be having ACL reconstruction, I'm practically an expert. (;

About the anesthetic...I had a bit of trouble coming out of it, but nothing serious. I was just EXTREMELY tired trying to wake up. Be sure to take lots of deep breaths and to concentrate on your breathing. If/when they give you something to eat/drink, consume it slowly. After my second surgery, I was downing orange juice and it was coming back up as quick as I put it down.

Lots of deep breaths.
Eat/drink slowly.
 
tobefirst said:
I've had both of my knees operated on, so if you happen to be having ACL reconstruction, I'm practically an expert. (;

About the anesthetic...I had a bit of trouble coming out of it. I was just EXTREMELY tired trying to wake up. Be sure to take lots of deep breaths and to concentrate on your breathing. If/when they give you something to eat/drink, consume it slowly. After my second surgery, I was downing orange juice and it was coming up as quick as I put it down.

Lots of deep breaths.
Eat/drink slowly.
Click to expand...

Thanks, the injury itself is half to do with the ACL. I damaged it when I went skiing in February - an MRI scan a few weeks later showed that there was a partial tear in the ACL and part of the meniscus cartilage had split. Now, 7 weeks from the accident, i've had lots of physiotherapy appointments in hope it will cure over time -- sure it has got better than it was, but the doctors are still concerned that I can't straighten the leg fully, so they want to do some keyhole surgery to find out what really is going on in there, and if they can do anything about it.

One pressumes that if something wrong is found in the ACL they won't do anything about it right now - i'm only 16 years old... they'd probably save it for when i'm at least 18 / 20 when i've stopped growing. And if thats the case I think I may just get back to you! lol
 
mogzieee said:
Thanks, the injury itself is half to do with the ACL. I damaged it when I went skiing in February - an MRI scan a few weeks later showed that there was a partial tear in the ACL and part of the meniscus cartilage had split. Now, 7 weeks from the accident, i've had lots of physiotherapy appointments in hope it will cure over time -- sure it has got better than it was, but the doctors are still concerned that I can't straighten the leg fully, so they want to do some keyhole surgery to find out what really is going on in there, and if they can do anything about it.

One pressumes that if something wrong is found in the ACL they won't do anything about it right now - i'm only 16 years old... they'd probably save it for when i'm at least 18 / 20 when i've stopped growing. And if thats the case I think I may just get back to you! lol
Click to expand...

My first surgery was just supposed to be arthroscopic exploratory surgery to find out what was wrong. (I had had a month or so of PT without improvement.) Instead of waking up with an ACE bandage around the knee, however, I woke up with the full leg brace. That part wasn't that fun, however, my surgeon totally understood my wishes (which were to fix whatever the problem was as quickly and completely as possible), and made the right call, in my opinion, to just go ahead and repair the damage.

I had my first one done when I was 24, so it was a little bit different for me, though.
 
All people handle it differently I'm sure. I get pretty belligerent under anesthesia. Ooooh do I feel sorry for what I put my parents through after my knee surgery! After we got back to my apartment, I was already walking about without crutches, effectively pissing my father off to no end.

All I really remember about the surgery itself was being wheeled into the OR and them giving me an IV. I told the woman it was really cold going into my arm and she said "Yeah this is the good stuff," and then I was out!

I'm only going to tell you the following because I wish I had known prior to my surgery: I woke up in horrendous pain. I guess I just kinda thought the anesthesia would make me wake up pain free but it doesn't work like that.

I didn't have a sore throat, but they did use adhesive on my face (I'm allergic) to tape down my breathing tube so that caused a rash. I didn't wake up nauseated either but the person in the bed beside me was yelling about how she was going to vomit on the floor -- they put something in her IV that shut her up immediately. I now wish I had done the same ha. I did end up getting really nauseated about 10 hours later and vomited a bit, but I can't be sure if it was the anesthesia or the oxycodone.

But really, don't worry about it. These ortho surgeons do this stuff day in and day out. Your parents/guardian will probably be more stressed because they have to wait it out -- you'll be asleep!

Tobefirst: It's nuts that you woke up with more equipment than expected. When I woke up, they told me they had cleaned up my knee joint AND had done a lateral release (which was not discussed prior to surgery!). I asked them like 4 times what they did because I kept forgetting if I had asked the nurse or not.
 
letsgorangers said:
Tobefirst: It's nuts that you woke up with more equipment than expected. When I woke up, they told me they had cleaned up my knee joint AND had done a lateral release (which was not discussed prior to surgery!). I asked them like 4 times what they did because I kept forgetting if I had asked the nurse or not.
Click to expand...

It was kind of nuts at the time, expecting a small bandage, and waking up with a full-length foam/velcro/metal brace...I'm glad he did it though- I wanted to get back out on the soccer field as soon as possible. I had already waited 3 months because they couldn't figure out what was wrong. The doc said he could tell easily when I was under that it was the ACL. I guess I had been compensating unknowingly.
 
jonbravo77 said:
Usually it's by injection, they will put a mask over your mouth for oxygen and then put a breathing tube down your throat.

When I had my surgery I didn't even know they put a tube down my throat. But I too have heard some ppl have a few issues with the sleeping part, they seem to wake up a bit disoriented from not knowing what happened to that time of their life.

But it really isn't that big of an issue. just takes some time to get out of the grogginess.

Peace:cool:
Click to expand...


Usually,in general anesthesia, an inhalation anesthetic (gas) is used in addition to intravenous narcotics. There is a (rather slow) movement toward IV narcotics-only in some ambulatory surgery centers, but that's not usual.
 
You'll be fine. Most of the agents they will use are tried and true, and work with few surprises. All the reports of anesthesia gone awry tend to ignore the literally tens of thousands of operations PER DAY that go flawlessly. Anesthetists are well-trained folks, you are in good hands.

Biggest "issues" will be the sore throat, probable nausea, and disorientation that will pass within 24 hours. Some hospitals do a better job than others at managing post-anesthesia issues like these, so just be clear with the nursing staff (but not abusive) that you are having issues and there are generally steps to be taken to make the situation better.

Yeah, eat and drink slowly. Don't move around too fast, you'll get vertigo and hurl, maybe.

Good luck! Don't worry about it too much. Your doctor should be happy to explain anything you need to know about.
 
tobefirst said:
It was kind of nuts at the time, expecting a small bandage, and waking up with a full-length foam/velcro/metal brace...I'm glad he did it though- I wanted to get back out on the soccer field as soon as possible. I had already waited 3 months because they couldn't figure out what was wrong. The doc said he could tell easily when I was under that it was the ACL. I guess I had been compensating unknowingly.
Click to expand...

how long did you have the brace for?
 
I had a GA a few weeks ago.

It was the first time I had had a GA through an IV and was quite different to having it by gas. Basically it's no sweat, they give you some gas to make you woozy, then inject you with a creamy coloured liquid. It's strange because unlike the gas, which you can sort of hold off going to sleep, you feel fine and suddenly go to sleep without knowing it. I was actively trying to fight going to sleep but just went. Don't really worry about waking up, you will be really dozy for a bit and won't really know what is going on. A nurse will have woken you up, and will be beside you as you regain consciousness.

If you don't like needles you can ask for gas. It's laughing gas, you feel fun and your head starts to spin. Unlike the IV GA you can sort of concentrate/hold the effects off but eventually you fall asleep/give in to it. Waking up is the same.

While you are asleep they will intubate you (tube down your throat to help you breathe, and probably put more points of IV entry into you.)

Basically, don't worry about it. They are highly trained and do this multiple times everyday. Modern anaesthetics are very safe and they are prepared and trained for every eventuality should it arise.
 
I had general twice when I broke my arm. It had to be set, and when one side shifts during the break, it's not petty. The first time, they set it and had the cast on before I came up (it wasn't long, about 30 minutes I suppose.). Of course, whoever made my cast (I'm guessing a med student or intern) set my wrist to almost 100% flexion. So cast #2 came along, but in the process, my bones became unset again. So cast #3 and anesthesia #2 came along. Luckily, the stuff they gave me through an IV worked pretty quick, and I didn't need a breathing tube or anything.

And codeine prescriptions to a 10 year old FTW.
 
Don't worry man.

They'll stick in the needle, just a prick and what feels like a few seconds later you'll be waking up a little confused.

Trust me you'll be fine.
 
GA is nothing. I'd love to have more of it.
They put an IV in, injected one drug that made me feel really, really good and I started laughing.

The doc had me put some nasal spray because I was getting a breathing tube and a GI tube in my nose.

The last thing I remember was him asking me what was so funny as he injected another drug.

Once you are asleep, you get a another drug that will paralyze your body.

And, luckily, you will be unconscious when the catheter goes in. :eek:

I was so pumped full of morphine that I remember no negative side effects.
 
I went under last Friday for wisdom teeth removal. They put me on nitrous oxide first, then the doc came in and stuck the needle in. He said "that wasn't that bad, was it?" I remember saying "No, not......hey, how did I get in the recovery room?". Surprisingly enough, I had a ridiculously awesome recovery. They gave me a bottle of 20 really nice pain pills, but I never had to take any. None! So that was pretty cool.
 
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