Terrified of being 'put under' / general anaesthetic

[frumped]

Hello everyone.

I have been thinking long and hard recently about having a gastric band. I am 24 years old, and just hitting the 20 stone mark. I have been large for as long as I can remember.. never been able to shop in most chain stores / high street shops.. never been confident, I'm really depressed and suffer terribly with my health anxiety, so being on the large side is a constant anxiety battle for me.

I want the chance to change my life. I've tried every diet you can think of. I have occasionally lost around a stone at most but pile it all back on (and more sometimes).

I have seen that I can have a gastric band privately at a local hospital to me. It is keyhole surgery but you are put under / have general anaesthetic whilst the procedure is done.

The ONLY part of this that scares me is the thought of being out under / not waking up again.
I know it's silly of me, but I've never had anything like this before.

Can anybody put my mind at ease? 😟

Thank you in advance 🤞🏼

It’s not as bad as you imagine (the anaesthetic part) . I’ve had three and two spinals - the spinal ones because I was terrified of a general anaesthetic too but they aren’t that awful . Most recent was Nov 2019, I did panic when they took me into theatre and I remember telling them I didn’t want to die (!) but you’re asleep before you know it . They give the medication into cannula, oxygen mask on, about three seconds of feeling weird/very drunk and then you’re awake again and it’s all done .

I found it much more difficult to wake up than anything else - felt very floppy/woozy for hours - but that could have been because they gave me fentanyl when I was coming round . The two older women opposite were up and walking within 2 hours .

Theatre staff are always lovely and are very, very used to people panicking - I used to work on a ward and we had patients every week who were terrified . They’re very, very good at easing anxieties . They can give you a pre med (diazepam or something like that) to keep you calm too .

I get it re weight too, I’m same weight and just a few years older than you and also fed up with it ! My aunt had a gastric band a few years ago and she said hers was life changing (she’s lost a shedload of weight), I often wish I had the confidence to do the same .

@notsurewhattodohere thanks so much for your lovely message - it's really helped to put my mind at ease a little more. I think it's the unknown that scares me, I just worry about feeling the procedure of something like that. It's irrational really, I know the chances of that are slim but it just scares me!
It sounds like your Aunt has had a really positive and successful experience! I really want to do this to better my health and happiness ❤️

Your weight is killing you. Far better to accept you can’t lose it without medical intervention and have a gastric band that requires a general anaesthetic.

Your quality of life will be vastly improved if you are able to shed at least half of your body weight.

Some people (myself) are fine after a general anaesthetic, some take a little longer to get it out of their system and feel tired but it’s very rare for something to go wrong purely down to the anaesthetic.

The wife of a FB friend has documented her journey on FB after having a gastric band and the results are remarkable. She looks lovely now, like a completely different person.

She now feels confident and buys lovely clothes, they travel (Covid exceptions) which she was unable to do when she was obese and she just looks happy in every photo!

It will be the best thing you can do for yourself.

My DP has the same fear. I am however scared of everything else from going in to hospital itself. The GA is the best thing about the whole procedure. You go into hospital and at some point get taken down to theatre room. There they out the cannula into your hand and put an oxygen mask to your mouth. The GA then goes in three cannula and then you wake up when it's all done. I'm generally sleepy for 3 days after the GA but don't feel unwell or anything. I would say go for it.

I've had loads, you really do just drift off to sleep, wake up and have a cup of tea
It's a a gentle process and you are kept a very close eye on
Please don't let it stop you doing something that will give you something you really want

I quite liked the experience of being under GA when I had all my wisdom teeth pulled. I woke up all rested and chatty. It was definitely the nicest part of that ordeal.

I had to have a GA for a gynae procedure and I was absolutely petrified.
But it was fine. A cannula in your hand, an oxygen mask over your nose/mouth and you drift off to sleep.
It’s amazing when you wake up, it’s like the time stopped for you.

I also really liked my GA! It's like falling into the deepest sleep - really nice. I felt woozy for ages afterwards - quite drunk, I don't think I was making much sense! The nurses are all really kind and look after you.

Oh, and I had tea and toast as soon as I got back on the ward, and I was in the car on my way home within two hours of that.

I’m not a fan of the ‘put to sleep’ phrase because it’s nothing like that.

One minute you’re awake conscious and have sensation then the concoction enters your blood stream and a few seconds later you close your eyes.. open them again and it’s over. It feels like a few seconds has passed but it’s not, the whole hour or whatever it takes has passed.

There are good anaesthesiology videos on YouTube. I’d have a watch of those, there is a blond American woman who I love watching and a young dark hair American man (don’t know their usernames off the top of my head sorry). They both talk about how they remove pain and sedate you and then monitor you throughout the whole procedure.

One of them actually used the phrase: ‘anaesthesiologists are the absolute masters of resuscitation’ because that’s essentially what they do they have sooooo many machines monitoring everything and keeping you within a tiny window of safety for the whole procedure.

I've had three, each time it was just like closing my eyes and then opening them again- I didn't even feel like any time has passed or that I hadn't been awake. I had sedation for a dental operation once and that was the same, I was talking to the nurse and then I was opening my eyes in another room.
I was having a cup of tea within minutes!

I've had surgery and worked in theatres. It's a very common fear, but honestly, every single person is there to ensure you are safe. You will be told what to expect, it will be a calm, caring and supportive environment. You will be monitored during the procedure to ensure your safety, and the anaesthetist is likely to be a consultant with years of experience.

In terms of the anaesthetic, it's like falling asleep quickly, in a nice drifty way. The next thing you'll know, you'll be in recovery, again being looked after, until you're properly awake, then back to your room. The only odd thing I've found is when you wake up, there's no sense of times passing like there is when you've slept.

You'll have an opportunity to speak to the anaesthetist before your surgery, so do talk it through with them. They will help allay your fears. Modern anaesthesia is incredibly safe.

I was terrified, but honestly it was completely fine.

The anaesthetist and team were great at putting me at ease and I barely noticed it going in.

Woke up feeling very well rested.

I was shattered for several days afterwards but other than that I was fine.

[quote frumped]@notsurewhattodohere thanks so much for your lovely message - it's really helped to put my mind at ease a little more. I think it's the unknown that scares me, I just worry about feeling the procedure of something like that. It's irrational really, I know the chances of that are slim but it just scares me!
It sounds like your Aunt has had a really positive and successful experience! I really want to do this to better my health and happiness ❤️[/quote]
❤️ I’m dithering over asking for the same thing - I’m 21 stone and I hate it, I hate being so fat that I need elasticated jeans and to search for shops that sell size 26 t shirts . Can’t stand it . A gastric band could make a huge difference to your life

The only thing I would say is that they asked me a lot of questions about physical fitness and stuff the last time, and they wanted to put a cpap mask on me after as thought I probably had sleep aponea . I can’t remember if they did or not - I don’t think they did in the end - but I wasn’t expecting any of that and it was a bit of a shock (I think I’d been kidding myself about how overweight I actually was) .

They normally ask you to lose a bit of weight before a gastric band anyway (my aunt had to lose a couple of stone/go on a very low calorie diet) but they might still want additional safety precautions as weight obviously has a bit of an impact with anaesthetics .

wishing you the very best of luck if you decide to go for it x

I was also terrified of having GA for a routine procedure that was put off due to covid then I ended up having emergency surgery last summer and GA was the least of my worries! It was completely fine. I then needed further surgery later in the year and I wasn't at all scared because I'd been through it all and it had been OK. Like others have said, it really feels like you've only been asleep for a few seconds. I was quite drowsy for a week or so afterwards as it worked it's way out of my system but then I was fine.

I had to have a GA for an emergency csection, I was sh!tting myself with fear (also have issues with thin blood which also convinced me I wouldn’t make it off the table).

I felt like I’d blinked and then woke up .

The anaesthetist was so lovely and kept me really calm when I was panicking.

Something that really helped me with my phobia of it was when it was explained to me by a doctor that general anaesthetic isn’t like, for example, taking a tablet to make you sleep. Instead GA is constantly pumped into you and once it isn’t, you wake up. So it’s not something that’s in your system and uncontrollable (for example if you take 7.5mg of Zopiclone- the strong prescription sleeping tablet- it’s in your system once you swallow it and you can’t stop your body metabolising it and sedating you) but something that’s flowing into your bloodstream constantly to keep you asleep and once they turn it off you wake up. I hope I’ve explained that in a way that’s understandable, I’m not a doctor! 😂

As for how you’ll feel, honestly the worst bit for me has been feeling sick when you wake up sometimes. Otherwise it’s not as bad as I worried it would be before I had one and you’ll be absolutely fine. Good luck with the op and the weight loss.

Op I haven't rtrt but please explain your fears honestly & openly to the anaesthetist before your op (you will have a chance to speak to them separately) . It's their job to put you at ease and explain everything.

Being blunt (but I mean this v kindly!) the anaesthetic is not the riskiest bit of this op (although there is always an element of risk in any op of course). I am not an hcp so you must obviiously make your mind up and seek medical advice. But gastric band surgery requires very careful research and thought.

One of my best friends is a consultant anaesthetist. She is one of the smartest, kindest, most competent people I know and is exceptionally good at her job (she's put me under for an op!).

Modern anaesthesia is extremely safe and anaesthetists are highly trained and skilled medical professionals - you'll be fine.

As a PP said, right now, the chances of your weight killing you / making you chronically unwell are considerably higher than suffering any ill effects from a GA.

The GA will be absolutely fine. However, I urge you to reconsider your choice of weight loss procedure. The gastric band is antiquated and fraught with complications, and no longer even funded by the NHS as there are better procedures available; the vertical sleeve gastrectomy has amazing results, and I personally have had a roux-en-y gastric bypass and have lost 127lbs since January.

Do some more research.

Thanks everyone so much!
I have been really considering my options here but am so conscious that my weight is going to seriously affect my life and health. i want to live.
I think this is my best option.

Anaesthetic is incredibly safe and as I say to patients under our care in theatre, being nervous is normal. It's easy for us to say it's OK as it's our normal but it's not your normal. I've had 2 ga's but know I wasin safe hands (helped I was anaesthetised by colleagues I'd worked with for years and trusted). You will be fine. I don't like the loss of control which I think is the worse bit from me but you have a team of at least 7 (6 with absolute minimum staffing but I'm talking middle of the night emergency). You will have a senior consultant anaesthetist in private practice too.

One thing I would advise though, look at a sleeve not a band. Bands are going out if fashion now (we don't do bariatrics but 3 of our consultants do in private or elsewhere in nhs) and sleeves are the done thing now. I've seen a lot of bands with problems ending up being removed by the NHS too.

Good luck if you decide to go for it. If you are in the south east I can recommend my colleague.

During the operation the anaesthetist is with you and focusing entirely on your depth of sleep, constantly monitoring and adjusting to ensure it's maintained at the right, effective and safe level. As others have said, it's not a one off dose and then you are out until it wears off. Once it's stopped, you come round.

Gas are very safe and it's extremely rare for any problems, and then even rarer for them to not be able to manage those problems.

The anaesthetist will talk to you first, let them know you are anxious about it.

Anaesthetists start off with the 5 year medical degree then do the 2 years foundation doctors training, after all that they do many years training in anaesthetic specialism.