What's general anaesthetic like?

[paddyclamp]

I'm having it on Fri...have never had one before...am a bit scared :s

I found the feeling of it creeping up your arm very very weird. not at all painful or uncomfortable, just weird. Then a little tingle at the back of my throat and I was gone. I managed to get to 7 I think.

When I woke up I was very very very tired and slept for about 10 hours straight, no vomiting. I had a bit of a sore throat but nothing major and a sore bit on my lower lip were I presume a tube was pressing against it.

take some throat sweets and lipbalm in for afterwards, good luck, you'll be totally fine :)

I have had GAs a few times. The only thing that's ever bothered me afterwards is that I sometimes get a sore throat so my tip is to take throat sweets for afterwards.

They are fun (Ive had about 5!)

They chat to you while they are doing it and you are thinking "nope, no way am I going under". You can't believe it will have that effect.

So you are just mid chat to the anaesthetist and then out you go (you don't realise). Then you wake up in recovery and it's all over. If you are like me you get very garrulous as you come round and tell the person looking after you all sorts of rubbish!

Oh yes Bumps I talked all sorts of rubbish when I came round. Then I was very drowsy, I dozed on and off for about 5 hours. I threw up once (spectacularly) after the journey home.

Like someone else said, the lack of awareness of time passing is very odd and wondering where "I" went is the right way to put it. Odd but not bad.

As they put it into the drip, the anaesthetists always seem to make jokes, but I never catch the punch line, as by 8 I am gone. There is no lead up, you just go out like alight. Feels like you wake up 10 seconds later in recovery. Very odd, but not unpleasant.

Am out now so can see I am lucid. Have sore throat where put breathing aid in and feel starved and bit tired but ok. Can't get more live than that - went under an hour ago.

I've had a few GA's. Some I don't remember as I was critically ill and out of it. I've had different kinds of GA. one was a GA to put me asleep via a very tight mask. It actually took a while, and I heard the moniter of my sats dropping (a GA and muscle relaxant stops your breathing). I've got lots of health problems, and I had 6 anaesthetists in the room.
The other GA was via IV by my central line.
After feeling sleepy blacking out, you wake up in recovery.
They can give you anti sickness.
I was a bit confused coming around and I said weird silly things lol..
I got a GA on Monday (as long as they don't cancel) was meant to be today.

I can report another side effect- am watching the fall guy on rerun which probably indicates some level of not being quite right.

I do have a headache but I think that is due do not drinking since last night and they haven't put a drip for fluids which they do on longer procedures.

Im having ga on monday and have found this thread very helpful. still shitting myself though
Hope all goes well for you OP.

I'm glad they rescheduled your op Reeny

I've had one GA. I was given morphine as a premed, so was feeling pretty woozy by the time I met the anaesthetist. The anaesthetist put various lines in me (expertly). I didn't feel any sensation as the anaesetic went in, but I remember being wheeled to the doors of the theatre, and feeling curious about what it would look like inside. Just as the doors were about to open, I went out, so I never saw inside the theatre.

I was out for 5 hours, and woke up on a ventilator, but was perfectly lucid, and didn't feel nausea or pain when I came to.

The feeling of the meds creeping up your arm is kinda weird and I always find it so odd that it feels like the very next minute when you wake up, I've always thought, oh no, why did you wake me straight up, why didn't you do the op? Then slowly slowly realise I am in a diff room and some part of my body feels odd!

Anyway, my real point was I have finally realised that it's the morphine that makes me nauseous. So I now either have it combined with anti sickness drugs or avoid it if possible. Before realising that, I was always a little slow recovering because of the nausea.

I've had one GA for minor day-surgery. I woke up needing to really pee from the drip (insisted on getting up about ten minutes after coming to I was so bursting!) and then I couldn't pee! Nurse said it was common as it was part of the medication, has anyone else had this?

All these replies are making me feel so much better! It's good to hear so many people have lived to tell the tale!

LOL - I know EXACTLY how you feel, I went through this for the first time myself a few weeks ago....I frantically cleaned my house and took stuff to the charity shop in case I didnt make it out the other side

I had to be given temazepan before hand as I got stressed and my blood pressure was rising, I had frantically drunk loads of water in advance as I was worried that my veins are hard to find and true to form they were being elusive! But honestly the team were superb - I dont remember any counting I must have literally gone straight out and came round thinking "that was GREAT"

The inside of my bottom lip was a bit grazed and, for some reason, I couldnt sleep for about a week afterwards.

One bit of advice, if you are a facebooker, stay off it for about 2 days...I did a lot of posting while still a bit high

You will be fine!

Agree with the out very quickly and no sense of time passing.

I was crying and scared when I went under (wimp), but fine and very calm and serene when I came too.

Slept A LOT for 24-48 hours after coming round, but this helped me to get over the post op pain tbh!

I too couldn't pee afterwards, and in fact the nurses were threatening to us a catheta in me as they were worried at the amount of fluid I had in me from the drip! In the end they just left me on the commode with the tap running for 15mins and I managed to produce enough to satisfy them (just!).

No appetite for 24hours is afterwards, but the drowsy feeling was lovely!

I too talk rubbish and declare I love everyone loudly! Also accused the surgeon of stealing my pants

I love my GA I have had 4 in the last 2 weeks through problems with my illness and many more the last 2 years.

The worst bit is waiting about and Nil by Mouth and the Oxygen mask going on your face as they tend to smell horrible.

The best bit is watching the white liquid going into the Cannula then the relaxed feeling then feeling your eyes close.

I next realise things when the nurse is saying "XX your in recovery, can you wake up2 and you can taste the Oxygen mask in your mouth.

My best GA was the very first one, I remember going to sleep then waking up naturally (no nurse woke me up), I did feel more sleepy and slept for nearly 48hours but I felt better that time then any other time This was on Xmas day a few years ago so I think the nurses were happy to have a patient to look after :)

Good Luck.

I have also never counted, I have always been told "It will take roughly 30"

30 What?

I always talk rubbish when I wake up in recovery aswell.

I had a GA last week and asked DH afterwards if I'd said anything embarassing.

DH replied 'no, but you were talking exactly like DS'

DS is 9 months old...

Counting backwards is seen as rather old-fashioned now and apparently can cause more anxiety. I work in anaesthetics and I've never seen it being done. We prefer to chat away to patients until they lose consciousness, I think it's a bit less intimidating

Although I've had a couple of GAs myself, it's quite interesting to read other people's experiences of what happened to them and see it from the other side! I wonder if anyone remembers anything before being in recovery because lots of patients will actually be woken up initially in theatre before being wheeled round???

Lots of people talk rubbish in recovery - one man roared at me like a lion, another kept waffling on about there being a cloud over her head and needing an umbrella! Nearly everybody asks what time it is every 2 minutes! It does all seem to happen really quickly and people lose their awareness of the passage of time a bit.

Daisy - when I had a very minor op under GA I think I remembered a glimpse of the theatre and being wheeled down the corridor with the anaesthatist talking to me and putting his hand on my shoulder so I guess it depends what other drugs you have too as I didn't have much for that one.

The major one I had I woke up screaming in pain the first time I woke up and throwing up the second time I woke up in recovery and don't remember anything about being woken up by anyone though I had been pumped full of other stuff due to the nature of the op. I do remember being woken up as they transferred me to a bed on HDU, the nurses there introducing themselves (though I can't remember what they said) and them insisting I sit up so they could xray my chest despite me not being very nice to them.... Apparently they had a full conversation with me about what type opf drain I had and all sorts about my op but I can't remember any of it - I only know cos DP told me!

After one of mine when I was younger they had managed to wake me a little in theatre (apparently) and so went to tell my mum she could come and see me, but I'm a very heavy sleeper and by the time she got to recovery I had gone into such a deep sleep she walked in to see someone gently slapping me in the face with a wet J-cloth because they were unable to wake me and were worried something had gone wrong. I was just sleepy!

Hi paddyclamp, I have had 4 in total now, the last one 4 weeks ago. Each time I worry about not waking up etc. but I always have! They are very very good with nervous patients just tell them you're scared and they will help you through it.

Each time I don't even remember dropping off, as it were, just chatting to various theatre staff, then waking up in recovery feeling like I've just had an amazing sleep. Last month I woke in quite a bit of pain but it was relatively major surgery and I was off home two hours later, pain eased a lot with some lovely drugs.

So try not to worry you will be fine!

Yes and the talking rubbish when you come round is true too, I even found myself talking about football with a nurse when I came round from my first, and I know nothing about it and have no interest in it whatsoever...

Well I go in first thing tomorrow so fingers crossed I'll let you all know how it went!