Yet another article on what "anesthesia" (to include sedation) does to people. I wanted regional anesthetic along with pain medication. This is the BEST way to do surgery on an extremity in particular. Why in the world are we being subjected to brain destruction for no reason?
How a general anaesthetic could harm your memory for life: Research finds that three quarters of older patients develop memory loss after surgery | Mail Online
One week ago I had oral surgery. My father had warned me to avoid Versed because he said he had memory problems for 2 to 3 months after a procedure, being unable to get new things into long term memory. He said that my step mother (a doctor) had the same side effect. I had had that very problem to a terrible extent while in college as a side effect of an MAO inhibitor, and failed a semester.
ReplyDeleteSo I went to the surgeon and requested that I not be given Versed or related drugs (such as diazapam).
I was very happy that he substituted Propofol for Versed and diazapam and also used a local anaesthetic as well as fentanyl.
My experience of surgery was that at first I was confused that he went right to work without waiting for the drugs to take hold, and I was waiting for a moment when my mouth was free so that I could ask him how long it would take for me to go under...
What seemed, subjectively, like 30 seconds before I managed to grunt that I had a question was probably, in real life about 20 minutes. I think I lost consciousness while waiting and regained it without the impression of diminution. Subjectively it seemed as if I had been almost perfectly awake (if floating from the fentanyl) and calmly watching and waiting for my chance to speak.
When I grunted and waved my arm (the surgeon was already drilling by then), he called out for more fentanyl.
So the surgery felt as if it took 3 minutes instead of the actual 30. I walked out of there comfortable, mouth and tongue numb from novacane, unsteady from fentanyl and missing 30 minutes from Propofol. Since I spent the surgery consciously waiting my chance to ask when I was going to be under, I doubt that I was following any commands... my consciousness seemed to be paused. But who knows I will ask the surgeon when I meet with him today.
In any case I have no memory effects from the Propofol and I'm very happy with the overall experience.
Thank you very much Nightstudies. I have wondered what Propofol was like. I got it AFTER the Versed, at the time when they were "putting me out". Since Propofol was injected at the same time as some other drugs I can't objectively evaluate it. I hope my readers take comfort in your experience.
ReplyDeleteI'm too scared after my experience with Versed to allow Propofol, which was also used for g/a induction.
The surgeon didn't remember my question or didn't want to talk about that.
ReplyDeleteSo I am left with no idea how long I waited to ask the question.
In any case the surgery was destined to be good because:
1) I had a local, so no matter WHAT I wasn't going to feel much, there wasn't really much pain signal getting to my brain
2) I had the opiate to sop up any pain that got past the local.
3) I didn't (and never have had) a paradoxical reaction to that or any other drug, and other than pain from surgery, it's the paradoxical reactions that are the basis of a lot of the horror stories.
It is scary that some doctors in some procedures expect a hypnotic/amnesiac drug to be sufficient on its own, and presume that not remembering pain is as good as not having experienced it.
But all things considered, NOT going into deep anesthesia is probably healthier for your brain and body than staying at the first stage. And with both local and general pain killers added, the time I don't remember wasn't inherently traumatic - so I think the combination I got was probably the healthiest alternative.
So maybe it's not that conscious sedation is a bad thing, but that if they're going to do anything painful, they should have pain stopping strategies OTHER than JUST conscious sedation.
Also I'm glad I WASN'T totally awake and aware of time for the moments when the surgeon had to struggle and use his strength to pull wisdom teeth out of my skull. I once had a tooth pulled without being put under once, and having to go through a few of those at once would be stressful.
Nightstudies you have a wonderful way with words... "pull wisdom teeth out of my skull" is incredibly descriptive. I love it, maybe not the actual experience, but the way you put it! Good one.
ReplyDelete