I work in the Operating Theatre AMA

[StealingYourWiFi]

I work across anaesthetic, scrub and recovery. Currently in the private sector.

Ask away

Oh I forgot to say about nonsense things people say! Often people wake up thinking they're late for work so will try and climb out of bed. That's the most common one! I've been asked out on dates before by patients (male and female) coming round from anaesthetic! Which is always amusing

And it's my absolute pleasure, I love my job, wouldn't dream (at the moment!) of doing anything else!

@ginghamstarfish did you have a spinal & sedation? What was the operation?
Did you speak to anyone at the hospital afterwards about what you experienced?

Recovery Nurse here. Love my job. Been doing it nearly 20yrs

@RocketPockets That makes sense now. I had no glasses at the time so I wanted to keep them in. The first thing I said when I came round after talc pleurodesis was 'my eyes, my eyes' as the lenses had moved and I couldn't see!

I woke up speaking my other language (I grew up bilingual) after a four-hour GA and it took hours for that go away. It really freaked me out as I couldn't remember English (luckily, the surgeon also spoke the same language). Is this common?

Often people wake up thinking they're late for work so will try and climb out of bed. That's the most common one! I've been asked out on dates before by patients (male and female) coming round from anaesthetic!

That's so funny. There was a lovely lady on my ward who had all her ribs replaced with a titanium set worth £10,000 (irrelevant but interesting) and when she came round the surgeon was trying to tell her what a success it was, she insisted he was lying and demanded when would he tell her the truth. He reassured her everything was fine and he would come back later to see her....

I felt totally safe in the care of the team and surgeon. The anaesthetist said I was incredibly calm but after fifteen days on ward that bit was a doddle. Happy healthy three years on.

Have you ever experienced the anaesthetic not work?

Having my C section in two weeks and I am petrified this bit will go wrong and i’ll be able to feel everything!

I mean, the spinal block is it? I don’t know the terminology haha

Hi op, thanks for the thread.

When I gave birth to my daughter via cesarean, they also had to remove my appendix at the same time as an emergency, as it was totally inflamed and on the point of bursting. This was totally unforeseen.

Have you seen this before? The team that did mine never had.

I had my tonsils out and had a big lump come up on the back of my head. Do they tip you upside down ?

Often people wake up thinking they're late for work so will try and climb out of bed.

Oh, yes, every single person tells you how groggy and sleepy you'll be after a GA. I've tried to climb out of bed every single time.

@dronesdroppingzopiclone I've heard of this from stories from anaesthetists etc. but never experienced it from a patient myself!

@PinkBlueStripes really good to hear you're doing well, we try to make the anaesthetic room as calm as we can as patients are understandably quite anxious when they come to us!

@ListenLinda in my 9 years in theatres I've only seen a spinal block not work once. We check to see if it's working before any surgery starts, they tend to use a cold spray (pain and temperature are felt a similar way by nerves) so if you can't feel the cold of the spray you won't be able to feel pain. If anything you may be able to feel pushing and pulling but not pain, I've been told having a c section with a spinal feels like having the washing up done in your belly. That's from others though no personal experience of that!

@managedmis I've never heard of that! I don't currently work in obstetrics though.

@Accountant222 I can't speak for ENT as I have no experience in that speciality. They may have put your head in a head ring rather than on a pillow for better access for the surgeon and these can be quite hard sometimes, there are a few different types. It could be down to that but like I say not ENT experience so that's just a guess!

When I tell people now, Rockets, and when I look back on it now, they find it funny and I do, too, but at the time it stressed me out so much I had to have some more drugs.

I could hear the recovery nurse speaking to me and my first thought was, in my other language, which is French, 'She sounds strange' so I spoke back to her, and she kept repeating herself in English and I apparently kept answering her in French that I couldn't make out what she was saying and then it dawned on me. In my head I knew she was speaking English but couldn't for the life of me access mine or understand her. The surgeon came and spoke to me in French because he was but I started to panic that I'd lost my English and where was my English, why hadn't you warned me that I could lose my English, and was I going to be like this forever? and kind of losing it and raising my voice and then choking on my spit because my throat was dry and sobbing that my brain had been damaged, all in French, of course.

Anyhow, they made me sleep for a while and when I started waking again my English was back but it really freaked me out because I knew I could speak English but I couldn't get to it.

RocketPockets, thanks

Sorry did not see your response, OP! I had normal sedation I think - needle in my hand, counted backwards then out. I did mention it to my consultant but she brushed it off as nothing

It was knee replacement

How long is it from the end of your operation until they wake you up?

@ginghamstarfish did you have a spinal block?
Generally for a knee replacement patients have a spinal block and sedation which isn't a full GA you kind of fall asleep naturally but many patients do remember parts of surgery which is completely normal as you are just sedated rather than under a full anaesthetic. So completely normal to feel vibrations etc from surgery but no pain. I often feel this isn't explained well enough or patients don't fully understand.

@FabulouslyFab the anaesthetist will often start to lower the anaesthetic when the surgeon starts to close the wounds (not always the case though). It massively varies between patients and anaesthetists how long it takes/when the patients anaesthetic gets lowered/switched off. Type of surgery/anaesthetic/patient tolerance etc. all play a role in this.

Do some people have weird reactions to anesthesia?

Morphine makes me stressed out and hyper.
Cannabis makes me very sad.
And I woke up from a GA feeling really lonely, abandoned and worried.

Is it a coincidence or do I have weird reactions?

Oh and I burst into uncontrollable tears on gas and air.

I'm always super itchy when I come round. I've always mentioned it's the morphine that does it.

My last surgery they still administered morphine and I wanted to pull my face off. Could there have been an alternative?

Also last two surgeries I have come round and been shaking uncontrollably. I remember them asking if I was cold and saying no. Then there being a bit of a kuffuffle and assume I'm knocked out again? Why would this be?

Laryngospasm - I have this, petrifying. Does it complicate surgery?

@FunkyBarnYardBroom I remember being really cold when I came round. It's not nice. Too much morphine does not agree with me either - horrible when you come round and go on the painkiller merrygoround. I was grateful to have the morphine button though - those things are great.

@Booboostwo Bless you.

It feels like a bit of a relief to me, its also disconcerting not knowing what people around you are doing. Last time there was a big TV screen playing the news which was a good distraction. I think there were three clocks on the wall, one for NY, London and somewhere else. I may have imagined this though. I vaguely thought I was on some sort of air plane.