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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by EERRIICC on January 2, 2005, at 14:12:09
I am very scared of general anesthetic. I am afraid that I will stay conscious under its effects but not be able to communicate this to the doctors as they operate. This sounds rather paranoid but it actually happened to me while I was having ECT done, and it was terrifing. I know that they give small doses of anesthetic for ECT and that is probably why this happened. Can anyone help me to get over my fear of this happening again when a normal dose of anesthetic is given for an actual operation (I am considering volunteering for a trail of Deep Brain Stimulation for refractory depression)?. I am worried that a medication or supplement that I have taken in the past (specifically memantine, buprenorphine, or the supplement phenibut) will somehow act to alter the anesthetic's effects. Is it possible for drugs that have effectively cleared out of my system to still have negative effects on anesthetic when it is given? Thanks in advance for any help that anyone provides.
Eric
Posted by Dan Perkins on January 2, 2005, at 15:07:25
In reply to Anesthetic_HELP!, posted by EERRIICC on January 2, 2005, at 14:12:09
I have to admit that I don't know much about this topic, but I have heard of people being awake under anesthisia and feeling all the pain of the procedure but not being able to communicate with the doctors. I hadn't heard that this was related to any particular medications- especially ones that you are not currently taking, but again I'm not well versed in this topic.
It would seem to me that waking up under anesthesia would most likely be the result of a miscalculation by the anesthesiologist. There is a chance that you are particularly susceptible to waking up, so you should really discuss this with the anesthesiologist before your procedure and let him know what you went through.
And I can't imagine that this would be the case here, but doctors often ignore or discount patient experiences, and I could just picture an anesthesiologist saying that people never wake up under anesthesia, but I know that this has happened to many people, so make sure he gives you an adequate response to your inquiries.
Posted by Camille Dumont on January 3, 2005, at 2:49:47
In reply to Anesthetic_HELP!, posted by EERRIICC on January 2, 2005, at 14:12:09
When I was having 3 wisdom tooth and one abcessed molar removed, I was under total anasthesia but somehow in the middle of it I "woke up" as in opened my eyes and watched the dentist do his thing ... I could feel him breaking the teeth appart, pulling at them and then sewing the holes.
But somehow, I didn't mind at all ... I actually found it interesting. There was no pain whatsoever ... I just looked at the guy working thinking "wow, I didn't they had to break them appart to pull them out" or "geez, I didn't know it took so long to sew the holes shut" and what not. I think I was wayyyy too drugged up to feel a thing.
I don't know if this will help you or freak you out more but aside from the freak anasthesia mistake which I remember reading somewhere, I would think that the chance of you waking up and actually feeling something would be very very small.
This is the end of the thread.
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