Major surgery...

[Bubblemonkey]

For those of you who have had major surgery with a long general anaesthetic — how long did it take to feel normal again? I’m starting to think almost a year out & my body should have adjusted 😴😴

It would depend on the surgery. If it was a craniectomy or you had an ileostomy fitted I can imagine it would take a year to recover and accept.
Modern anaesthetic drugs are out of your system very quickly. I had a six hour surgery and was back at work and driving a week later. That was only breast cancer surgery though so didn’t affect any major systems s as digestion or thinking.
A hip replacement takes about six to eight weeks to get back to normal assuming all goes well and exercise programme is followed.

No one answer, I’m afraid.

I had my bladder, as in the thing you urinate from, removed & a stoma formed.

No advice, but wishing you a speedy recovery

Lung function takes over a year to recover to what it was before after anesthesitic.

I know this as I had lung surgery and six monthly tests and this is what the spirometrist told me.

I can never spell that word.

I had a 6 hour surgery for hysterectomy and adhesion removal, while everything was okay a few months later, it took me over a year to feel back to myself. I couldnt put my finger on what it was, but didnt feel like me.

@Bubblemonkey those are both major operations. When you say you don’t feel “normal” what are your main symptoms?

Lung function takes over a year to recover to what it was before after anesthesitic

@mintybonbons suspect this was due to your lung surgery rather than the anaesthetic as this certainly isn't universal.

@Bubblemonkey recovery depends not just on the type of surgery but also how fit or not you were going into it (so if you were septic with multiorgan failure it would take many months longer than the same operation done in a fit patient on a planned basis), how many other health problems you had that could have been impacted and if you needed other treatments after.

The surgery you had is often (but not always) done for bladder cancer, so if you needed other treatments that might have made a difference to the length of your recovery.

If you didn't need other treatments, and it was a planned operation (which again it would most commonly be), and you don't have other significant health problems, I'd agree with you that after a year most would be back to normal. If you're concerned I'd ask for an appointment with your surgeon to discuss this.

I'm a surgeon, with a very small amount of experience in urology, admittedly many years ago...

Anaesthetic drugs are out of the body in hours. The stress response to an operation (as in physiological stress rather than purely psychological stress) varies depending on the magnitude of surgery/ underlying condition/ other medical problems a person has. The hormonal/biochemical responses to the whole package of surgery (including anaesthesia) is what can knock you about afterwards. Any post-op complications will likely add to this response. Depending on what the surgery was you may never feel ‘normal’ again - if you’ve had large amounts of giblets removed/re-plumbed that’s probably more likely than if you’ve just had a very long but unstimulating operation on a ‘peripheral’ bit of body.

People seem to fix on the idea that it’s just the anaesthetic that has an effect (/makes you feel crap!) but it’s really much more complicated than that.

Lung function will take longer to recover after lung surgery. We’d do very few general anaesthetics if it universally took over a year to recover from!

Hope that makes some sense (from an anaesthetist).

I’m still knackered all the time, sorta feel like I don’t have time to catch up with myself, ever, @Sunshinelollipops1. I can sleep 7-10hrs & still be knackered.

@CharlotteUnaNatalieThompson I had it for painful bladder syndrome, so no chemotherapy or anything else. Was barely functional pre op though so could have an impact?🤷🏼‍♀️ I dunno.

Is there a chance that your bladder symptoms were masking something else? Have you had your thyroid checked?

What mean is that this maybe a pre-existing problem that was hidden by the more acute bladder symptoms.

What I mean

I think it takes a very long time. People will say they feel fine and will appear to have returned to their state pre surgery but I think many will just be saying that as they feel some sort of pressure to have recovered quickly. That why you never really hear about the fact that you tire easily, your skin doesn't quite feel right, there's layers of bruising that take a hell of a long time to go etc. So yes 6-8 weeks most people can go out into the world and appear as though nothing has happened but reality is most people are feeling the effects for a lot longer.

Have you thought that your symptoms are unrelated to your surgery or previous problems?

What does your doctor say?

Try acupuncture. It does things western medicine can’t. I had it after I was knocked out. Felt better.

Years ago, when I was 17 (so otherwise healthy and quick healing body) I had an ileostomy and pouch formed. It took well over a year for all the swelling to go down and pain subside and some of the feeling has never come back. So you seem normal to me. Best wishes.