To wonder why I still feel terrible, 3 weeks after a general anesthetic

[SpoilsburyToastGirl]

To be fair, it was a 12 hour operation (had some lymph nodes removed and microsurgery) and I was and am still on painkillers but I feel terrible still. I'm so exhausted that I feel jet lagged even first thing in the morning after a good night's sleep.

I've been back at work a few days because I'm self employed and can't afford to take any more time off. On my day off I went back to bed after the school run, slept until 2.45, did the pick up and went back to bed at the same time as my children at 7.30. It made no difference whatsoever. I expected to feel a tiny bit better, day by day, but that doesn't seem to be happening

I'm starting to get really worried, AIBU to think this isn't normal?

I would have thought its normal but you can phone your hospital to check.

I think if there's something wrong you start to feel much worse. I had surgery only for an hour on 13th and have an infection according to hospital, in my case I started feeling a lot worse after about a week ish - very sick, bad stomach, collapsed, can't stay awake, few hallucinations, very dizzy, struggle to get out of bed, very confused at times, diagnosed at A&E on Tuesday.

Feel for you especially being self-employed. Hope things start to improve soon but take it easy and look after yourself. Do contact doctors though with any worries, I just phone.

Yes that's how it is in the UK! In my part of the UK anyway.

Using a 10000 Lux lamp for an hour in the morning worked for me (to reset sleep cycle)

Sorry to derail your thread OP!

Your bony jas been through a major shock both physically and mentally (have no medical training only been on the receiving end) but we often put pressure on ourselves to “just get over it”. Presumably with something that needed a 12 hour operation you had quite a period of worry and stress on the build up too. Your mind is probably using up a lot of energy processing everything that’s happened as well as your body recovering from the trauma of the surgery. Please be kind to yourself, don’t push yourself into business as normal, cleaning, diy anything not 100% essential can wait - start eating with paper plates if it cuts workload! Your bony is telling you it needs to rest. Take every opportunity

Your body is still healing, and pain meds cause fatigue. If it were me and I was worried I would go see my doctor. It could be that your pain meds are too strong and you may need to go to a lower dose, or a differant med. Good luck.

I don’t think it’ll be the GA. A 12 hour op sounds horrendous and you need time to recover from it. Do you have any help?

Interesting what Hic wrote, I still don't feel right 19 months after my hysterectomy! My head feels fuzzy a lot & I go a little dizzy sometimes.
Strange thing is I bounced back pretty quick at first.

I'm 8 weeks post op from a prolapse repair which was an awful lot shorter than your op and I've been signed off up till now. I know you are self-employed but going back too early is not going to help you in the long run, better to have a bit more time off and recover properly than let it drag on for months which is more likely if you don't rest. Can you get any help with the house/children?
Also it's nitrous oxide (gas and air) that deactivates B12 rather than a general anaesthetic

@HicDraconis Such an interesting post! I came here to say that it took me 6 months to feel properly better after my gallbladder removal - I always thought I just reacted badly to GA but from what you say that's quite normal. Which is very reassuring!

Hic - slightly random but on my notes after my op it says "LWMH after 24hrs"
What does that mean? I've been wondering!

@ollivander84 it mens to inject you with a blood thinner to prevent blood clots, i think. I also had one of those too!

@HicDraconis really interesting post! How long would you say it will take to recover from a general anaesthetic c-section?

Op, I hope you feel better soon. You've been through a major operation which will take time unfortunately. I'd echo what a pp said though about getting your iron levels checked just in case.

user - oops.... I never got that!

3 weeks really is nothing.

I had cholecystectomy and 2 years later hysterectomy and I took the full 3 months on full pay after each before even thinking of returning to work.

More recently I had a hip replacement with heavy sedation and spinal and it took me ages to to recover, even without a GA.

The science has been explained above. I just know that I was like a wet rag for months, so please be kind to yourself and allow yourself time to recover.

I was told an operation can take 6-12 months to fully recover from.
Your operation was a long one so it’s not surprising that after 3 weeks you still feel rubbish.
But I would probably mention your tiredness to your gp or your consultant. Did you loose a lot of blood during the operation ? Perhaps your a bit aneamic ?

I love this place... thank you so much to everyone who took the time to respond. It seems like I’ve VASTLY underestimated how bad I’d feel.

I didn’t lose a lot of blood during the operation although I did have some lymph nodes transplanted from one area of my body to another (which included a partial dissection of my calf muscle) and 6 separate wounds from microsurgery on my legs. Basically it was very complex which is why it was such a long op.

I will check out the possibility of a B12 deficiency and try my best to rest more and be kinder to myself. It’s particularly hard because my job is very busy (self employed as I mentioned) so to some extent the show must go on, no matter how crappy I feel! My children are also not at an age where they fully understand that mummy’s not well and I hate to let them down by being a useless, floppy version of myself who is grumpy because I’m tired and sometimes in pain.

I’ll definitely check with the clinic that this is normal though and try and not expect miracles for at least another couple of months.

@ollivander84 it means Low Molecular Weight Heparin - which as a pp said is a blood thinner to reduce the risk of clots developing in your leg veins. It’s an injection usually under the skin of your tummy.

@imhookedoncrochet oooohhhhh .... Caesar in our hospital is 1-2h. Probably same as a gallbladder, you’ll be up and around the next day, but potentially take a year to get over it. Plus the sleepless nights with a newborn to really wreck your sleep cycles!

Anaesthetics take 6 weeks to be flushed out of the system. I had two last year, very close to each other, and it took even longer.

hic I am a GP.
Anaesthetists are very very clever doctors .
Patients always ask me whether the surgeon is good - don’t worry about him/ her I say - it’s the person at the other end who is most important.

Op who is it that expects you to get right back to it ?

You are being hard on yourself. I’m wondering if other close to you dont know what you have been through.

Do your chidren go to their fathers house sometimes ? Do you or he have family who could help out?