Post trauma after general anaesthetic/surgery?

[jujumum78]

DS 2.5 had a GA last friday for a short procedure on his eye. It all went well and the hospital staff were great but he found the whole process quite upsetting. Hours later he was bouncing around at home like nothing had happened so we felt quite positive. However, I started to notice that his behaviour since, the last 3 days, is more aggressive e.g physical rather than sulky tantrums and he gets upset a LOT faster. Tonight he won't sleep in his own bed and is tearful if left alone. Has the surgery traumatised him?

Poor little mite. That must've been a worry for you. I've not had any experience of this in terms of my own child but having had a GA where it felt I was out for a week rather than an hour I would guess it's more a case of his routine being disrupted than trauma from the surgery itself. Just a thought...

My mum has a lot of surgeries and always get very affected by the GA. For up to 10 days post op she can feel tired, weepy, irritable, angry, snappy, forgetful, depressed. All of which are unusual for her.

Poor little man, if you are not too affected by snow, can you have a good run around outside to get lots of fresh air flooding through him?

Thanks I didn't realise a GA could take so long to get out the system. I'll see how he goes over the next week and fingers crossed he's more himself soon. :-)

I don't think the surgery has traumatised him.

It sounds more like the GA working through his body. It can make them a bit all over the shop for a while - hyperactive, sad, etc for a bit. Its a side affect. My DD has GA last year and Great Ormond Street surgeons said as a general rule give it 1 month for every hour they were under GA to work through the body.

I noticed my DD had meltdowns over strange things for a few weeks afterwards.

I wouldn't worry too much but just him a lot of slack for a month, which I'm sure you are doing anyway.