What is general anaesthetic like nowadays?

[mattyfez]

I had GA for a burst appendix about 6 months ago - I already had a canula in for antibiotics, etc, but the actual GA I got in theatre was mad - like I was switched off and back on again like a light switch. One second it was 'count to ten', and the next second I was wide awake being wheeled back to the ward.
They really know what they are doing with it these days.

Edit, I had no floaty feelings of fading, or nausia, from my perspective it was almost like the blink of an eye.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

This is exactly the same experience that I had a few years back for wisdom teeth extraction. The cold arm sensation was quite strange, but felt fine after.

I didn't know that dental uses GA now. I had some teeth chipped in a 1990 road accident and they got removed at the dentist's in 1993. That was under a local anaesthetic. Again that was nearly 30 years ago.

I look forward to a GA. I absolutely love the floaty, away with the fairies feeling you get for a few seconds before going under.

I guess that's like a near-death experience. When you're under GA, you no longer 'manifest'. So it's like being paralytically drunk in that you're not self-aware. That's as opposed to being just asleep at bedtime when you do have dreams and you sometimes remember them.

Got given something for nausea, then injection with the GA, still woke up nauseous as **** and feeling like I'm dying, then they gave me morphine and I felt good

Even if the anti-nausea didn't work for you, I'll see if I can ask for it, so thanks for the heads up.

From my own knowledge (I have a lot of surgeries): General anaesthetics have evolved quite a lot since 20 years ago. They do still use propofol (milk of amnesia lol), but there are a lot of advances in the inhalant agents and other associated drugs. Basically going to sleep is generally easier, less hard on you, and easier to recover from.

That's great knowing too, thanks! I do have a pre-op appointment, so that's where I'll hopefully be able to ask some medical stuff.

Pre-op btw is 6th July, and the op itself is the 14th. So all going well, I'll be able to add my own input to this thread too.

 

[mattyfez]

I had GA for a burst appendix about 6 months ago - I already had a canula in for antibiotics, etc, but the actual GA I got in theatre was mad - like I was switched off and back on again like a light switch. One second it was 'count to ten', and the next second I was wide awake being wheeled back to the ward.
They really know what they are doing with it these days.

Edit, I had no floaty feelings of fading, or nausia, from my perspective it was almost like the blink of an eye.

Edit 2: due to the pain of my condition I was already dosed up on codine and morphine, so I'm not sure if the experience would be different if you go into theatre 'totally sober'.

 

[Hades]

I had GA for a burst appendix about 6 months ago - I already had a canula in for antibiotics, etc, but the actual GA I got in theatre was mad - like I was switched off and back on again like a light switch. One second it was 'count to ten', and the next second I was wide awake being wheeled back to the ward.
They really know what they are doing with it these days.

Edit, I had no floaty feelings of fading, or nausia, from my perspective it was almost like the blink of an eye.

I had similar recently. It was also like a lightswitch. I remember back in 1981 when I had my appendix removed and it was very different with a pre-med, GA that took quite a while to work and then a long recovery period when I came round. It's much better nowadays.

 

[pinkpound]

I had corneal graft 10 years ago under GA no pre-meds just quick jab and woke up in recovery they gave me a anti nausea jab too as I always vomit after a GA tho not this time with the jab .
Just a note after the op every week they would tweak the new lens by removing a few of the 23 stitches in my eye you are a wake for this and just a local anaesthetic which is unnerving watching that little blade come at you

My graft didn't take at 1st so after few days a bubble was injected underneath to push the layers together to bond and I was awake for that too rather painful experience for 3 days after till the bubble was absorbed .

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[alexakasloth]

I didn't know that dental uses GA now. I had some teeth chipped in a 1990 road accident and they got removed at the dentist's in 1993. That was under a local anaesthetic. Again that was nearly 30 years ago.

I think wisdom teeth surgery is done at a hospital, all of them were impacted and there was an extra one hiding up there as well so that may be why. It was at the Portsmouth QA Hospital. In and out quite quickly all things considered!

 

[Tephnos]

I had corneal graft 10 years ago under GA no pre-meds just quick jab and woke up in recovery they gave me a anti nausea jab too as I always vomit after a GA tho not this time with the jab .
Just a note after the op every week they would tweak the new lens by removing a few of the 23 stitches in my eye you are a wake for this and just a local anaesthetic which is unnerving watching that little blade come at you

My graft didn't take at 1st so after few days a bubble was injected underneath to push the layers together to bond and I was awake for that too rather painful experience for 3 days after till the bubble was absorbed .

imgur.com

Discover the magic of the internet at Imgur, a community powered entertainment destination. Lift your spirits with funny jokes, trending memes, entertaining gifs, inspiring stories, viral videos, and so much more from users.

imgur.com

Guessing you then had a cataract after, huh? Air bubbles IIC pretty much guarantee catarac formation.

 

[chroniclard]

Had a minor op under general a few weeks ago, one minute they are chatting to me, next minute I wake up back on the ward. Dont recall being especially groggy afterwards, though I was a tad spaced for a short period.

 

[Puzzled]

Didn't think much of mine, slept through the whole thing.

Spoiler

 

[Freefaller]

The only GA surgery I had 20+ years ago went fine but I woke up feeling nauseous and had to throw up. Didn't eat for a few days. Other surgeries were done under local and that was weird but far less eventful.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

Cheers fellas. Seems like they've done away with the pre-med then. Injection then... out.

For those with minor procedures (like 30 minutes), was the injection needle gone when you woke up? I'm hoping that my hands will be free so that I can pop my hearing aids back. This is so that I can hear what's going on around me as I will be blindfolded with an eye shield.

I'm actually assigned to a ward but hoping it will still only be day surgery. At the same time, I'm very grateful that I'm having the op on the NHS as I know there is a backlog in many NHS areas due to the pandemic.

Pretty much yeah no pre-med just needle in arm asked to count to 10 didn't make it past 7...

woke up lord knows how many hours later (you have no sensation of time passing unlike sleep so you don't know if its been 10 minutes or 10 days) and felt absolutely terrible and this cold sensation inside like liquid ice spent hours sleeping it off in recovery until they kicked me out. A former nurse told me I had a bad reaction to it never felt so nauseous in all my life they gave me something to eat and drink coffee and toast I think but I threw it up later

The strangest thing was the guy with the clippers who was preparing to shave my thigh and stomach. Although I'd be worried if they did that for eye surgery!

Didn't see that only noticed later I'd been shaved down below(!) 'twas a hernia op...

 

[pinkpound]

Guessing you then had a cataract after, huh? Air bubbles IIC pretty much guarantee catarac formation.

No still all clear when i had my check up last October they had a new high tech scanner in . Scans for all types of possible defects and gave 90% chance no cataract in next 10 years it even gives you a full eye test and prescription for glasses , the images of your eye and the inside were stunning consultant gave me a full tour as new equipment had to giggle he rang tyech support to ask about some on features while i was there

 

[Angilion]

Never had it but is it really like, you close your eyes and wake up the next second having the op in between. Crazy.

IME it wasn't even like that. It was as though I had instantaneously teleported through space and time. There was no sensation of closing my eyes or of waking up. Not like going to sleep and waking up. It was just an apparently instantaneous movement in space and time. It's sort of like editing a chunk out of the middle of a film, throwing it away and splicing the beginning and end together. The middle just isn't there any more and the film just jumps from the beginning to the end.

I've heard of people who did the "count backwards from 10" thing...and continued doing it when they regained consciousness in the recovery room. I believe that. Subjectively, nothing happens in between. You'd just be continuing the count. 10,9,8,7,6...and then you realise you're somewhere else and the op happened between 8 and 7.

Mind you, I was off my head. Really good drugs. I remember someone, presumably a nurse, coming over to me in the recovery room and asking if I was OK. I smiled beatifically because what she said was the best thing that had ever existed. Just like the bed and the lighting and the wall and everything else in the universe.

The food I had a bit later was superb. It was probably actually just reasonable, but I hadn't eaten for some time (the op was delayed a couple of hours and I'd been restricted to nothing more than some water for a while, as is usual before a general). As the saying goes, hunger is the best sauce.

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

Cold arm, the challenge of counting from 10 to zero

Then wake up hours later, feeling like you've been gargling hedgehogs whilst everything smells of the strongest bleach ever

Just me? lol

 

[Scougar]

Not sure about UK. But the last two operations I have had (difficult cyst removal in a bad spot, and then a septoplasy for deviated septum), have been:

1) Saline drip
2) some pre-med
3) I think a mask with oxygen maybe gas.

Both times I do not recall passing out. The first I was in cold operating room (keep germs down), and talking for a while to staff as they prepared, then just woke up with it done. The second the last thing I remember was being wheeled to the operating room but I do not recall getting there, and then woke up and was let go about 30 mins later.

ALWAYS have someone drive you home and preferably to stay with you for 24hours.

The worst part for me has always been the needle for the drip/medline.

(I haven't had a countdown since I was a kid lol. That was for a broken arm. When I had some teeth pulled under GA as a kid, I woke up and started fighting the nurses as I was in a confused state. I have not had that experience since).

...

Slightly related... After having some blood drawn one time for tests at the docs, I passed out twice on the way out. Once whilst just in the corridor, then as I went to leave again after being seen, in front of the counter when about to pay. I hadn't eaten at all upto then. Both times, I have zero recollection of passing out. You haven't lived till you come around and have a Doctor standing over you as you wonder what the hell is going on and they are saying "Stay with us Mr.X, stay with us!".

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

Small bump / thread necro as I've been offline for nearly 2 months:

The cataract + stent operation was on 14th July, and it took 2h 50m on the 1 eye. It's a complicated eye though and there were further complications that required 2 more operations in August due to me temporarily losing the rest of my eyesight. Some of my sight has come back now and I can use the computer for short periods of time.

And so, I can now feed back on my own recent experience of having a general anaesthetic in 2022.

Nausea: None at all! I told the anaesthetist team that I had previous / historic sickness, so I was given 4 anti-sickness pills with a bit of water around 45 minutes before the operation. This did the trick for me

The pre-med: As other posters said here, pre-med isn't done any more. Not in medicine or pill form at least. Instead, I was made to breathe in a gas through my nose that smelt like strong alcohol. This was for about 30 seconds, and it made me feel sleepy.

Being knocked out: A cannula was fitted, which was no sweat at all - just a sharp ***** for about 1 second when it was being fitted. While I was inhaling the pre-med gas (as above), the anaesthetist team announced that the sleep injection is about to start and asked me to count from 1. In 1992, I didn't like the feeling of the sleep injection going up my arm and the brief headache it caused as the fluid was entering my head. This time round in 2022, I only felt the fluid in my hand, as I counted 1-2-3, then I was out. It's probably faster-acting now.

Being asleep: Again like others said here, it's like hitting the pause button for 3 hours. No dreams. You don't manifest. Just oblivion.

Coming around: I woke up in a recovery room, but I didn't see this because I had an eye patch. I was self-aware now and was given a sandwich, biscuits, orange juice and water. This is again an absolute FIRST for me because I have never been able to hold down food after an operation on the same day. It was an amazing feeling just being able to eat!

Covid restrictions: I couldn't have anyone on the ward with me before the operation, but my parents were allowed to join me in the recovery room before going back home.

Hearing aids: My left eye was the eye being operated on, so I was allowed to keep my opposite (right) aid in. This meant that I was able to listen out for the anaesthetist team and it also meant that I was able to hear when I came around.

Overall experience: Really positive, despite all the doom-mongering that you hear about the NHS on the news. Granted the staff are stretched but they're always trying their best. Lovely nurses on the ward, anaesthetist team had a great sense of humour, and I was able to meet with the surgeon before each operation. I'm now in the after-care stages with plenty of out-patient appointments and that's been great too.

 

[darael]

I think I last had a general about 10 years ago to get a wisdom tooth out. Because I was in a hospital ~30 miles away from home, all I wanted to do was get home in case they tried to keep me in overnight. I recall asking for something to eat almost as soon as I'd woken, just to prove I was alright and ready to go home.

 

[Tephnos]

Small bump / thread necro as I've been offline for nearly 2 months:

The cataract + stent operation was on 14th July, and it took 2h 50m on the 1 eye. It's a complicated eye though and there were further complications that required 2 more operations in August due to me temporarily losing the rest of my eyesight. Some of my sight has come back now and I can use the computer for short periods of time.

And so, I can now feed back on my own recent experience of having a general anaesthetic in 2022.

Nausea: None at all! I told the anaesthetist team that I had previous / historic sickness, so I was given 4 anti-sickness pills with a bit of water around 45 minutes before the operation. This did the trick for me

The pre-med: As other posters said here, pre-med isn't done any more. Not in medicine or pill form at least. Instead, I was made to breathe in a gas through my nose that smelt like strong alcohol. This was for about 30 seconds, and it made me feel sleepy.

Being knocked out: A cannula was fitted, which was no sweat at all - just a sharp ***** for about 1 second when it was being fitted. While I was inhaling the pre-med gas (as above), the anaesthetist team announced that the sleep injection is about to start and asked me to count from 1. In 1992, I didn't like the feeling of the sleep injection going up my arm and the brief headache it caused as the fluid was entering my head. This time round in 2022, I only felt the fluid in my hand, as I counted 1-2-3, then I was out. It's probably faster-acting now.

Being asleep: Again like others said here, it's like hitting the pause button for 3 hours. No dreams. You don't manifest. Just oblivion.

Coming around: I woke up in a recovery room, but I didn't see this because I had an eye patch. I was self-aware now and was given a sandwich, biscuits, orange juice and water. This is again an absolute FIRST for me because I have never been able to hold down food after an operation on the same day. It was an amazing feeling just being able to eat!

Covid restrictions: I couldn't have anyone on the ward with me before the operation, but my parents were allowed to join me in the recovery room before going back home.

Hearing aids: My left eye was the eye being operated on, so I was allowed to keep my opposite (right) aid in. This meant that I was able to listen out for the anaesthetist team and it also meant that I was able to hear when I came around.

Overall experience: Really positive, despite all the doom-mongering that you hear about the NHS on the news. Granted the staff are stretched but they're always trying their best. Lovely nurses on the ward, anaesthetist team had a great sense of humour, and I was able to meet with the surgeon before each operation. I'm now in the after-care stages with plenty of out-patient appointments and that's been great too.

Eye issues in your one good eye and hearing aids at your age?

Tough lot in life mate, hope it goes well for you.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

I didn't know that dental uses GA now. I had some teeth chipped in a 1990 road accident and they got removed at the dentist's in 1993. That was under a local anaesthetic. Again that was nearly 30 years ago.

I thought it was no longer allowed after someone died under it? All I was offered was a sedative and in the event just a local

 

[el_dazza]

My last surgery with GA - gallbladder removal. I had the GA injected via hand cannula. I complained

You complained? I don't believe that for a second..

Glad to hear the operation went well OP

Had my first experience with GA this year. Had severe pains in my abdomen for days, despite being told by 111 that it was a 'water infection', I went to A+E and was undergoing surgery 9 hours later to have my appendix removed. All I remember is the cold feeling in my arm and the surgeon saying 'you'll feel like you're a bit drunk shortly' and replying 'christ, that really does work quick! How long before..' and that was it. Out for the count. Woke up a couple of hours later with 2 nurses staring at me with clipboards in their hands and wondering wtf was going on. Felt great after though. The whole experience was excellent!