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Pre Med - child became hysterical and would not take meds

4 replies

LizT123 · 22/06/2011 19:56

Hello. This is my first post on mumsnet. Does anyone have any experience of dealing with a special needs child who will not take a pre-med and gets totally hysterical? Our son (12) who has learning difficulties and has speech/lang problems was meant to have an op for an undescended testicle today and I warned the hospital he freaked out at having the magic cream put on his hands, let alone anything involving needles (past experience of trying to get blood samples) so they agreed to give him pre-med calming medicine. He was meant to be early on the operating list but they forgot to give him his premeds and so dropped him down the list - by the time it came to his meds we had been in the hospital for over 4 hours and waiting for the premeds for 2.5 hours. He refused the medication, became first tearful then hysterical and even with us trying to hold his hands out of the way it was not possible to get the premeds into him as he refused to open his mouth and was kicking out and fighting. It was awful for him and we just couldn't calm him down. We had to give up on the operation today and he's meant to be being relisted. I just don't know how anyone is going to get him sufficiently calm to face the operation- which he really needs to have. The nurse suggested seeing a counsellor but I don't know if this will help because of his learning and speech problems - he has a mental age of about 5. Has anyone had a similar experience and can offer some advice please?

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Al1son · 22/06/2011 20:51

I feel for you as DD1 (AS) had her tonsillectomy postponed because we asked for her to given a pre-med and they gave her Calpol!

We returned a few weeks later and they gave her a proper sedative.

I would contact the consultant's secretary and ask them to give him a tranquilliser to take at home before you leave if you think he'll take it for you.

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countydurhamlass · 22/06/2011 20:56

ask the hospital for some medicine syringes for him to "play" with and get him used to the idea of using them. (syringes are easier than a spoon!) spend some time filling them with drinks and squirting in mouth for fun so he gets used to them. also ask if you can visit the hospital a couple of times where he will have to go through the ordeal again and get him familiar with his surroundings. my ds is 7 and has mild learning difficulties. he loves going the hospital (go once a month due to medical condition) and will let the doctors do anything but take blood - he has a major freakout with the cream being put on and then when they have to take the clear plaster off and then when they get the needle ready. the more you can prepare him beforehand the better and the best way of doing that is get him familiar with what is going to happen. our hospital had my son come in before his last op (cleft palate) and had all the equipment for him to play with, eg masks, gloves, and they even had photos from beginning to end of what would happen. it made it so much more easier

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StarChartEsq · 22/06/2011 21:07

DS will not tolerate the cream either, so we just don't use it.


He doesn't 'like' the scratch of the needle but if it is just that and we haven't dramatised the whole thing with cream and waits etc. he usually manages okay.

Trying to get the hospital to agree to NOT cream is a whole other story however.

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LizT123 · 22/06/2011 21:31

Thank you all for your help - I will ring the consultant's secretary and see if a home tranquilliser is possible (might need one myself as well!) and someone to go through it all with him to try to take the fear away. He was very bothered about the idea of going to sleep but I can't get to the bottom of why he is so scared of going to sleep for the operation to try to reassure him. Maybe it is because he doesn't know exactly what will happen or what to expect as we'd tried to slightly gloss over the details of what was going to happen during the operation itself so he didn't get too bothered beforehand, but perhaps that was the wrong approach. Thanks again.

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