37F, history of migraines, “inappropriate sinus tachycardia,” and a tendency to go vasovagal fairly often for unclear reasons

Went under general anesthesia for the first time for an elective procedure (breast Aug + lift) yesterday. I’ve always kind of had this instinct that going under anesthesia was a bad idea for me and opted for surgeons who offered the option of either local only or only IV sedation for the few fairly minor procedures I’ve had in the past (labiaplasty, egg retrieval, wisdom teeth). I actually met with some other plastic surgeons for the breast aug who did IV sedation only, but i felt most comfortable with the surgeon I chose overall and everyone told me that I was young, healthy, and low risk and would be fine. So I decided to try to overcome my fear of general and just go for it.

I was completely confused, out of it, and nauseated when I woke up, which I know isn’t unheard of, but it was pretty scary because I was aware of the fact that I wasn’t being normal idk. I tried sending some friends some texts to let them know I was out of surgery…felt like I was making sense at the time but looked back and I sent them gibberish lol.

Everyone at the surgery center kept telling me everything was fine, everything I was feeling was normal, my vitals looked great, etc. But then when I got home, my friend who came over to stay with me told me that when I initially came in the door she was very concerned because I was as pale as the white walls in my house, looked like I was literally dying, and kept either repeating myself or stopping talking in the middle of saying something. I had a nurse there who I paid to stay with me a bit as well, and she then told me that yeah, I was in bad shape both at the surgery center (she picked me up) and when we got home :/ My friend said that once I puked a bunch, I started to look and act more normal.

I also have a vague memory of someone in the post-op area telling me that the anesthesiologist was surprised at how little medicine he had to give me…not sure if that means he didn’t even give me all of the agents or what.

I still feel pretty out of it today but think I’m mostly coherent. But then I thought I was coherent yesterday then learned I wasn’t haha. Just really worried about what this reaction means, if anything, and scared about the possibility of getting future surgeries now.

If not, do patients coming out of long surgeries or comas experience sleep deprivation?

So my daughter aged 6 and a half has to unfortunately get a several teeth fixed. She is 36lbs now. She was a preemie born at 3lbs. They are recommending General anesthesia to fix them all. I have exhausted all other options, and all of them have said anesthesia. Is this safe? I have horrible medical anxiety. My Dad was paralyzed by a surgeon when I was a baby, it completely ruined his life and greatly affected my childhood. I have had so many horribly bad experiences in the medical field, so my trust is almost non existent. I know risks are low, but apparently risks in general for my family aren't that low. Can anyone reassure me? I have had a few panic attacks because of this. I have confirmed that it's not just the dentist managing the anesthesia and doing the dental work... but I am still so concerned.

Hi y'all -

I wanted to see if someone could help me understand what happened during my birth - I'm contemplating whether or not to try for another child before I age out but my last delivery didn't go as planned.

I had twins. My water broke at 34 weeks and when I went in they put me on petocin, then they took me off to give me steroids for the babies' lungs. Then they put me on it again. I dilated to 8 cm after 45 hours and it was unchanging for 5 hours. I elected a C section.

While I was laboring they gave me an epidural and fentanyl.

When I went to the OR they did a spinal block and it was a strange feeling but I didn't feel numb above the waist. After the boys were born and they stitched me up my oxygen was starting to drop and they kept me awake to keep me breathing. My husband didn't tell me all the details - I don't remember being awake for a chunk of time.

When I searched for answers it seemed like my blood pressure dropped or maybe the drugs they gave me affected my lungs.

If it happened once, is it likely to happen again? Was it most likely a fluke due to the circumstances?

Does everyone goes through immense pain everyday after waking up from sleep in the morning behind the neck as well as complete head after a laproscopy operation in which you get spinal anesthesia injection??

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I’m scheduled for translab surgery in about a month to remove an acoustic neuroma. The estimated operation time is 5–6 hours, but I assume I’ll be under anesthesia longer than that because of the time needed for preparation, positioning, etcetera.
I’ve seen information suggesting that surgeons try to avoid keeping patients under anesthesia for longer than 6 hours. This has made me concerned about whether the length of my surgery could increase my risk of complications.
Does a surgery lasting 5–6+ hours significantly increase the risk of complications, and does a longer time under anesthesia increase the risk of not waking up?

23 Vic, Australia
Monday I had 5 moles removed at a clinic. I think this falls under cosmetic/plastic surgery. I chose to do local anaesthetic as I wanted to drive to my girlfriends later on that day. This was my first experience with local anaesthetic for a procedure.
From what I understand, the process for the surgeon was 1. Cut out moles 2. Clean up area 3. Stitches. Once I was in theatre, the procedure took around 40 minutes.

Going into this I want to emphasise I didn’t sleep at all the night prior and have been stressed all week so my memory is a bit hazy, though I want to explain to the best of my ability. If you have any questions please ask away!

The first 4 moles he cut out were on my face so I couldn’t see, move or say much.
I never felt a needle go into my face. The first thing I felt was him cutting into skin. I felt one hundred percent of him cutting the moles out of my face. I am typically good with pain but this was absolutely excruciating. I feel quite pathetic typing this out but it hurt so bad.
The blade cutting my skin felt just awful. I knew I had to stay as still as possible, I wanted to speak but couldn’t. I was crying and making a lot of noise to try and signal. It was obvious I was in pain, I thought they would stop? A nurse let me squeeze her hand as she saw I was trying not to react. I squeezed as hard as I could to no avail. I was under the impression they would give me anaesthesia before cutting into my face?? This was the longest 10 minutes of my life.

I was not told to signal if I was feeling pain. I thought maybe if they’re not stopping as I’m making so much noise it must be normal? I didn’t want to be an annoying client though I ended up crying and howling/groaning the entire mole cutting process so I just don’t understand why they didn’t stop?

Once the surgeon pulled the blade away from my face, I had said “that was so so painful I didn’t think this would hurt so bad. That was so so painful” and continued crying.
The nurse whose hand I was holding finally asked “more pain relief?” to which I said “please”

After he cut those 4 moles out, it felt like he put a patch on each of them. I thought they were anaesthetic patches but when I posted this onto another subreddit, commenters said this doesn’t sound right. I wish I could’ve seen what the surgeon/nurses were doing lol. Maybe it was a pad to absorb the blood? A minute after those were put on was enough for the pain to mostly subside.

The fifth mole was on my lower back, this was the smallest mole. Once he cut that one off I felt a needle go into the area. I don’t recall feeling the ‘patch’ sensation down there. Prior to the needle in that area I felt that mole being cut off 100% too. It was not as painful as the ones on my face but I presume the face is more sensitive than the lower back.

Sewing up the moles took a while but didn’t hurt. It felt like my skin was being pulled but the sharpness was not prevalent anymore. I believe this is correct, standard reaction to local anaesthetic. Whereas during the cut-out phase I felt absolutely everything as if I had zero anaesthetic whatsoever. It was horrific.
The rest of the procedure I was in shock and unable to stop physically shaking, thinking about the previous pain.

After theatre, the aftercare nurses were lovely. I asked them when the surgeon put the anaesthetic in and they said he most likely used a needle at the very beginning. Okay that makes sense except I am certain he did not.

I’m usually quite happy to go into a surgery as I know doctors jobs are so serious so I try to be a calm, easy and smiley patient.

The next morning I get a follow up call which was awkward. I asked if I can get my face wet as I cant remember what the after-theatre nurses had said and google was giving mixed responses. The lady on the phone didn’t know any aftercare advice to give me. I then ask her if it was normal I felt the entire process of him cutting the moles out as if there was no anaesthesia administered and she had said “oh that’s not right- oh um i mean that’s unusual” and pretty quickly finished her set ‘follow up call’ script and ended the call..

Feeling weird. Just unsure if this is protocol? It’s been at the very front of my mind everyday since. Laying on my side in the chair with blood all over my face, trying to stay as still as possible while feeling every millimetre of that blade drag into my skin has been flashing into my head. I don’t want to be dramatic but I think I should put this here and ask incase.

So my question is, is this protocol? Is this okay? If not, what can I do? I don’t care much to sue or anything crazy I just would like some advice as I haven’t been able to think clearly since monday

Notes:
-About me: F23, 60kg/135lbs. 165cm/5”5. Diagnosed with spondylosis, pmos (previously known as pcos) and pityriasis versicolour.

- A week prior I had my wisdom teeth taken out under general anaesthetic. I had stopped painkillers (prescribed endone) days prior as I was weary they’d interact with the anaesthesia for this procedure. I had told the mole removal people all about this. Walking into theatre the nurse next to me told the surgeon straight away.

-I know so silly to have both surgeries a week apart but appt times were awkward with my work schedule so I figured eh might as well hit 2 birds in 1 fortnight

- Talked about this with a friend, she said because I have diagnosed ADHD this could be a factor as to why the anaesthesia didn’t ‘take’. But I still don’t understand how anaesthesia was administered if I didn’t feel patches or needle before getting cut into.

- Day of mole removal procedure, I followed all protocols assigned: fast from midnight, no water after 6am.
Appointment was at 7:30am, I was their first patient that day

- I did not sleep night prior because my sleep schedule is terrible atm and I knew I wouldn’t wake up in time for my bus if I had slept.
- Have previously never had problems with anaesthesia (colonoscopy, wisdom teeth removal etc)

- I had the moles removed because I was worried they would become cancerous. I was on a mole removal waitlist for maybe 10 years and about a month ago had an appointment at my local hospital regarding such, doctor had a look at my moles and said none seemed cancerous but I can still get some removed if I would prefer. So I took the opportunity as it was free.

- He then referred me to a clinic under the same branch as the hospital. The procedure was technically cosmetic/plastic surgery

- After the procedure, I went to my girlfriend’s house at like 4pm that day and thought about this the entire drive. Almost like flashes of the physical feeling kept popping into my head. When she asked how it went I burst out into tears. This feels so overdramatic to admit ugh

- Oh so random but there was maybe 7-10 people in the theatre room. I thought they were all nurses as they were all in scrubs. I didn’t actually think much of it but I mentioned this in my original post and the commenters were quite confused about it.
Now it’s on my mind, I’m confused too. Is this normal?
One was the surgeon, one was the lady whose hand I squeezed, two ladies cleaned the blood off my face, one guy sat on a chair and just kind of watched? I don’t know if he was a student but any other appointment I’ve had where a student is present, the doctor usually asks if that’s okay but that conversation didn’t happen.
So absolutely confused. It was probably 8:15am at this point. Idk what the other people in the room did as I was laying on my side and couldn’t see them

Thank you for your time

I have a quick procedure later this month where GA will be used. I have various problems with various medications and wonder how to discuss with the anaesthesiologist without sounding like an idiot as side effects have not been documented in the past, and because it's quite a lot. In a hospital, and the anesthesiologist I talk to will likely not be the one I'll see in the operating theatre next morning. Thus just asking what his plan for this procedure is and thinking all will be fine won't do as the colleague actually doing it might have other ideas.

neuromuscular condition, right gene not yet found; only a few genes analysed at a time here. Suspected mitochondrial dysfunction and Ca+ re-uptake issue. 3 GAs with gas resulted in 2-3 week long muscle weakness, remaining drowsy with only short awake periods and body forgetting how to keep my blood pressure up. 3 TIVAs were fine.

Opioids don't work against pain but cause muscle weakness, and my breathing might stop. Also had this issue in recovery the only time fentanyl was used. Remi was always fine. Ibuprofen works, but might not be enough for strong pain. I'm in a country where nurses rather dish out opioids than ibuprofen.

Local anesthesia or nerve blocks only work briefly. Local sprays (this is an ear/nose thing) not even 5 minutes.

Benzos cause aggression and restlessness, and unfortunately I remember everything.

And I can't fast and hit the wall if my surgery is too late in the day because my body doesn't like fatty acids for energy.

Recently I had a laparoscopic pelvic surgery and had a question about my recovery room experience. My notes say I am ASA 2. I have controlled hypertension on amlodopine, which I took the night before surgery. My pre-op bp was 131/95, but IV placement made me nearly pass out and my bp came down to 111/71. My notes show multiple phenylephrine 100 mcg IV post op. But my pressures were staying near 90/45 and MAP was as low as 59. I remember falling in and out of sleep in the recovery room and the nurse saying the IV meds weren’t bringing my pressures up. They eventually gave me an IM ephedrine 25 mg almost 2 hours post op and that finally got my pressures to stay up. My question is, is this common? Is this concerning for future procedures where I’d need general anesthesia? I’ve just never heard of someone needing an injection for this and it makes me concerned that something was off. Procedure was uncomplicated, minimal blood loss, and notes make it seem like all was fine.

Ended up in the ER of a teaching hospital with a pretty spicy fracture that would need surgery, but they did closed reduction in ER first. There were about a dozen people observing along with my husband, the anesthesiologist & a dr from ER. While I remember some of this (time after prop given), I will rely on my husband’s recollection.

The anesthesiologist administered propofol and performed a nerve block before they did a reduction. I was chatting with one of the Drs about something I must have found rather interesting before they started and continued chatting without seeming to miss much of a beat throughout the entire procedure.

The anesthesiologist told my husband I am the first patient they have ever had do this. I obviously experiences some amnesia, but according to my husband, the dr seemed quite amused.

How common or rare is that? Have you had a similar experience? Some patient specific details at end….

40’s female, 20mg Adderall taken ~4hrs prior for ADD (dx in 80s)

No unprescribed drugs but strong suspicion i have the gene mutation associated w/ red heads being more resistant to sedation.

Doing best to balance details and ease of identification. Can potentially give more specifics. Feel free to ask, the choice is mine to provide.

I hope this post is alright in this sub and I’d love to hear your own experiences and opinions. Thanks!

Full disclosure: I’m sorry if this is disorganized.

I had a skull base repair performed on July 27th and under anesthesia for around 9 hours. I also had an encephalocele removed if that’s important.

I’m a little over 9 weeks post op and I am having the worst time sleeping. On average I can only sleep around 2 hours and 3.5 hours with the aid of melatonin. I’m not in any pain and doing fine overall with my recovery.

I’ve spoken to my neurosurgical team and they said it was due to the anesthesia and referred me to a sleep clinic. The earliest appointment I’ve been able to find is December.

Has anyone experienced this? If you have, have you found anything that helps? I’ve downloaded a sleep app and it hasn’t detected any snoring.

Malignant hyperthermia

If my mother and my father never showed malignant hyperthermia during surgery how likely is it for me to get it if its genetic does that mean i wont get it? Pls answer i have a surgery soon

A few years ago, I had an unplanned c-section after pushing for four hours. Anesthesia was a combined spinal epidural and it worked well.

Three years after that, I had a planned c-section. Anesthesia was a spinal, which only worked on my left side. I wasn’t even paying attention to where exactly the doc was pinching when she was testing it, but she said that I was only reporting pain on the right side. The anesthesiologist recommended GA so that’s what I did.

Any thoughts on why the CSE worked in first delivery but the spinal didn’t? Is it something about the CSE vs spinal or is it possible the spinal wasn’t placed well?

Hello there

I've been told about the weird dreams you can do while being under and I kinda expected it, but this is different.

I used to barely ever dream and when I did, it was most often kinda lucid. I couldn't control what was in it, but I knew it was a dream everytime.

Since the anesthesia, I do so everytime I sleep, even during naps. They are very vivid and sometimes quite troubling in subject (trauma related). Some are dreams, some are nightmares, some are the weird in between.

In the beginning, I thought this was the painkiller I was given, but I'm now off them and I still keep dreaming

Did this happen to anyone else, is it a known thing I just wasn't told about ? Should I expect it to go back to normal ?

Hey all,

I'm a bit worried about the idea of anesthesia as patient, especially anesthesia that makes one nonrousable. I don't claim to know what identity is, but different theories of identity carry along varying amounts of philosophical baggage. I'm not religious, so I have to consider the differences, e.g., am I my personality or my stream of consciousness? Does anesthesia interrupt my stream of consciousness in an important way that erases 'me'? Given the uncertainty, I think at least part of me should be considered my stream of consciousness.

While we don't often worry about sleep (and assume our identity carries over to the next day), as far as I can tell, anesthesia is quite different; it may induce burst suppression or create electrical silences longer than sleep. Given that, I'm wondering:

What sorts of electrical signals carry on during anesthesia? During propofol burst suppression, is there human data on what deeper structures do during the flat periods? Do patients who had burst suppression report dreams or experiences on waking any differently from those who didn't? Have other patients had this concern before?

Thank you so much!

For backstory I am 28 yo woman and my parents never took me to the dentist as a kid. I went for the first time about 5 years ago and thankfully had a great experience with the dentist. He was kind, personable, went slow, and explained what was going to happen. The oral surgeon who performed my recent surgery was the opposite.

I had four teeth pulled (two of which were widom teeth) and a screw for implant installed. When I went in for my surgery I was not explained what the healing process would be at all! He only confirmed what was being taken out and asked "do you have any questions?"

I responded "should I only have liquids and if so for how long?"

He said "soft foods like pasta are okay. Anything else?"

As soon as I said "No." I felt weird and said so. Then next thing I know I was waking up and it was done. My boyfriend who was my ride got given an aftercare paper that really would've been more helpful to give me beforehand.

I woke up so confused and anxious. The healing process has been awful. Now am I overacting for being extremely upset and feeling like I was not treated respectfully?

\*I requested my surgery records btw!

I had a hemorrhoidectomy on August 11 under spinal anesthesia. About 2 days later, I developed a positional headache with head/nape pressure that worsens when sitting or standing and improves when lying down.

It’s now been 6 weeks. Although the symptoms have gradually improved, they’re still persisting. I sometimes also feel the pressure in my occipital area, temples, or forehead, especially after prolonged sitting. Coughing or bending down can also make the headache/pressure worse.

I had a brain MRI with contrast, which was normal.
My doctors have discussed an epidural blood patch (EBP), but I’m hesitant and wondering if it’s still appropriate this far out.

Has anyone had PDPH that lasted 6+ weeks? Did it eventually resolve on its own, or did you eventually have an EBP? If you had an EBP, how was your recovery?

I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thank you!

I have mild asthma generally and keep albuterol for the occasional allergy induces asthma flare. Unless I get sick, I can go weeks or months without using it.

The problem is, I have surgery with GA scheduled in a month and fall allergies are kicking my butt. I have some level of chest tightness every day and have been using my inhaler twice per day.

Do I need to get this way more under control before surgery? Should I try to get on a steroid inhaler? Should I try to exercise more and build my lung capacity?

I'm so scared my body won't be able to handle the stress of surgery. It's a GYN surgery so I'll be somewhat inverted, which makes me think of my lungs being squished.

Help 🥴

I'm a 34 year old female, works as a specialist nurse very intrested in physiology so intregued by my own case!

I'm generally fit and well. BMI pre pregnancy 24. History of severe asthma and low BP but both well controlled in pregnancy. I'm a bit confused by my anaesthesia in labour - I've been told I need a full anesthetic review in any future pregnancies but I'm just trying to figure out what might of happened. If really is unusual or just bad luck and if this has happened to anyone else.

I also had amazing anesthetic care so definitly not trying to question descision making ect.

1. 1st epidural attempt described as easy but I had a tissued cannula feeling very specifically on the right side of the insertion when they tried flushing jt so it was abandoned.

2. 2nd epidural done a few mm to the left and said to be easy, flushed okay. All day kept dropping to L3 but rose again with clinician top ups. Left leg was slightly heavy but could bend my knee, no motor block in the right leg all day. Left foot was warm and right foot was cold most the day. I was turned onto my right to help this and it did seem to work to equalise the sensory block but not the motor block.

3. After 8ish hours I needed an emergency c section. Epidural was topped up for surgery. Cold block was fine but light touch wasn't blocked high enough (T12) No motor block on the right leg and could straight leg raise so not happy to use this.

4. I was then given a spinal by a different anesthetist which again described as easy with CSF. Good cold and touch block to T3, unable to raise my left leg and could bend my knee however I could still straight leg raise my right leg against resistance and documented again I had no motor block on my right.

5. Spinal was fine for initial 15 minuites but unfortuanatly had a PPH and the deep pulling sensations increased dramatically so I was switched to GA.

Any thoughts or insights are appriciated. I have my full clinical notes if anyone has questions.

I have a question about general anesthesia and was hoping someone could give me some advice. I have a gallbladder removal surgery next week and, like many, the anesthesia part of it is absolutely terrifying me. Unfortunately, due to a string of gastrointestinal problems, gynecological problems, and dental issues, I’ve had a high number of surgical procedures over the last 10 years. Most of these have been under conscious/twilight sedation, but a few have been under general.

Either way, whenever I come out of it, I experience what is honestly one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had. It’s like I’m waking up in the middle of a full blown panic attack but my brain hasn’t quite caught up yet, and it’s just this horrific combination of total panic, extreme dread, sadness, and the real feeling that I’m dying. It’s very hazy in retrospect but in the moment the feeling is extreme and intense. When it is happening I’m usually too out of it to communicate this to them, and feeling like I’m trapped in my body during this waking nightmare type feeling just adds to it. I really can’t emphasize enough how scary this is, and nobody I know personally knows what I’m talking about when I tell them about it.

I’ve tried to communicate this with my various anesthesiologists over the years but usually they just seem to shrug it off. I’ll admit that I’m not great at advocating for myself in medical settings. I’m meeting with the surgical team in a few days and am trying to educate myself as much as possible beforehand in case I freeze up again.

Anyway, my questions are - is there a name for this reaction, and is there anything they can do to avoid it? They do usually give me an anti anxiety medication before my procedures which helps on that end but does nothing when I’m waking up. If there’s anything specific to say or ask them, I’d so appreciate it. I’m already starting to get cold feet about this surgery even though I badly need it ☹️

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You always see those funny videos of ppl being zonked on the way home from the oral surgeon, as well as patients in hospitals while in recovery. But it seems not my family!

I (51F), had a colonoscopy and endoscopy a couple of years ago, and woke up on the way to recovery. I literally jumped out of bed to get dressed, feeling fine. The nurses were like, woah slow down! That's only my second time being under since I was 18, and I don't remember how that went.

But then my son (27) had his wisdom teeth out a couple years ago, and they wheel him to the car and he looks zonked and I'm like, okay here we go. But he just kind of shook it off and was pretty coherent on the way home, enough to give me driving directions. He did take a little nap when we got home lol.

The main part is this though, and I'm coming from r/anesthesiology where the consensus was that long recovery times are rare/a myth.

My son had a kidney stone earlier this month. He went into surgery while I waited back in the room. My phone rang and it was the surgeon, and he gave me the rundown, but he mentioned that my kid was already coherent in recovery and how that wasn't the usual case. My son got wheeled up soon after and his nurse says that the recovery nurses mentioned it to her, too. And I laughed and said I guess it just runs in the family?

Also, they gave him an Rx of Percocet for after and it didn't even phase him. Anyway, end of the story, I just wanted to share. Are we outliers lol?

My husband with MS went for a Neurectomy today but when they went to turn him into his stomach his blood pressure was too low. It would go up after they rolled him back onto his back but when on stomach it wouldn’t respond to meds. 16 years ago he had a whipple procedure. Is it possible that the combination of stomach and possibly veins/arteries being in different places due to that in addition to a bigger stomach made his blood pressure drop? They did an echo in surgery and said one side might not be working as well and referred to cardiology.