got to have g.a and I am terrified!

[mrsmillsfanclub]

I have to have a 15 min operation to look inside the womb. The last time I was knocked out was when I was 5 at the dentists to remove some baby teeth. 30yrs on and I can still remember the horrific smell of rubber and gas as they put the mask on my face. Are g.a like this now? I am so frightened I feel like cancelling. Also I remember feeling very very sick afterwards.

Hi

I had one last weekend and it was fine! No horrid smell, I promise. I spoke to the anaesthetist first, they explain it all to you beforehand. Then she put the canula in my hand, chatted away to me and put the mask on my face. I was expecting to count backwards but I didn't! Just fell asleep and woke up two hours later :)

It was fine I promise.

Only had one for knee surgery. Waiting was the worst bit.
Had a pre-med - jab in the leg. Not sure what's in it but I felt pretty relaxed,
all warm and fuzzy.
Then jab of the hand count from 1005, I think i made it to 1002.

No need to worry.

Anaesthetics have come on a long way since those days.

I've had 3 GAs as an adult and TBH I actually quite like the sensation.

You feel a small scratch on your hand and before you know it your eyes feel heavy and you're away. I always try to 'fight' it in a light-hearted way (trying to keep my eyes open for as long as possible).

Next thing you know you wake up and possibly then drift in and out of sleep for a while.

You'll be fine. I had the same proceedure as you on Tuesday.

I'm terrified of GAs, so much so that years ago when I was sterilised I convinced them to do it under a spinal. This time they wouldn't. Didn't help that I have a needle phobia either.

There was no gas mask on my face at all.

I went into theatre and was crying like an arse. They'd put Magic Cream on my hands for me and I was sobbing as they put the cannula in. Never actually felt it go in so the cream worked. They put a small cannula in first and the anaethetist said he's put a bit of sedation in that first before putting the bigger cannula in my other had.

Next thing I know I was in recovery. I didn't feel sick afterwards either.

I think the sickness thing has largely been overcome in that these days anaesthetics are 'cleaner/more pure' IYSWIM.

I was very sick after a GA as a child but have been fine with the 3 I've had as an adult

I have had three in the last 10 years. They didnt put a mask on my face but there is no bigger baby than me. I could tell the nurses and staff were shocked (and they must see everyhting) at what a drama queen i am. My biggest fear is ga it always has been since i was put to sleep when i had a tooth out as a child. But beleive me they have come along way since then.

I've had more GAs than I can remember. For me, the worst thing is going along corridors on the trolly. I don't like laying on my back and the lights in the ceiling make me disoriented.

I didntmind the ga -felt lovely and drunk when came round, like I was at a party.

Oh and I am having another ga tomorrow so I feel your fear

Oh crumbs! I really understand your fear. I had to have an op recently and my biggest fear was the GA. But, in all honesty it was fine! The worst bit was waiting in the theatres suite. After that I was walked to theatre by the loveliest nurse, the anaesthetist was brill.

They just basically held a normal conversation with me, the last thing I remember is the lovely nurse telling me about her grandson. Next I knew I was back on the ward. There were no smells, no mask (that I remember anyway). I was really worried about being intubated but can't remember a thing about that either. To be fair there was a bit of puking when I came round but an anti-emetic injection soon sorted that out.

I think what I'm trying to say in a long winded way is - don't worry!! Good luck with your op..

I understand exactly where you're coming from - one of my earliest memories is of an old-style GA for an op when I was 3 or 4 years old - horrible rubber/gas smell and a feeling of being suffocated.

In the last 18 months, though, I've had four (including one for a major op) and they've been fine - actually really pleasant! No awareness of any kind of mask or intubation - just a drug run through a canula that had already been inserted in the ward. Out like a light, then coming round in recovery for a chat with some lovely nurses and a slightly tipsy, warm, fuzzy feeling. No nausea afterwards.

Best of luck. I understand the anxiety but, really, you'll be fine.

As an adult, and having a procedure like you are, you wont be going off to sleep with anaesthetic gas. It'll be a really quick injection that will send you off.

At the very most they might get you to breathe a bit of oxygen as you go off to sleep but even if you do, it wont have the smelly stuff in it.

i had a GA as a child to have my tonsils out and like you, remember the mask, the counting, the rooming spinning, the sickness afterwards - horrible memories! So when I had to have a small op last year I also felt really panicky. Told the docs I was terrified of feeling sick & they said not to worry they would give me something to stop me feeling sick along with the anaesthetic. I remember going in to the pre-theatre area. Doc injecting a few things into my IV. I remember saying to him, what was in that one, I feel a bit strange. Next thing I know I was waking up and it was all over. I felt a little queasy a few hours later - the first lot of anti-sickness meds had obviously worn off - and they gave me more anti-sickness stuff. It was fine, much better than 25 years before. Try not to worry. x

It is absolutely no big deal whatsoever.

Stop worrying!

I've had six generals recently and still got really nervous and anxious before the last one, just a few weeks ago. I've been sick in the past but this time I woke up feeling lovely and relaxed and as if I'd just been to bed. On the way to theatre a lovely nurse said the best way to deal with it was to enjoy the rest... worked for me!
I had a canula, which sent me to sleep gradually but I also had an oxygen mask, which was still on when I woke up. It didn't smell and wasn't at all tight.

I was terrified before my first one which waqs 2 yrs ago. This time its not the anesthetic am scared off its the potential bleeding after. I actually quite liked the drunk feeling, was fun!

Thank you all so much for your positive messages.
I have no fear of needles, so having a canula inserted doesn't faze me, the fact that all of you have said there is no smelly gas mask in use anymore makes me much happier about the whole thing.

Thank you all.

All the best with it. Whats called a 'gas' induction (where you are sent off to sleep by breathing in anaesthetic gases) is mainly used in children and very very occasionally for specific reasons in adults. Some anaesthetists do like you to breathe oxygen through a mask, but it will be just that, not the actual anaesthetic gases you can remember from the dentist. Also, going off to sleep with an injection is very quick so even if you were breathing the oxygen it would literally be for seconds and then you would be asleep.

Re the sickness, no-one can 100% promise that you wont feel nauseous, but the anti-emetic medications are pretty effective nowadays and the anaesthetic agents used are less puke inducing.