How did you feel after a long anaesthetic?

[paddyclampo]

Just trying to prepare myself really. Have had a couple of general anaesthetics in the past and have been fine afterwards but they were only for an hour or two whereas this one will be 3 to 5 hours :S

Had both quite recently. First less than an hour. Second four hours. Felt exactly the safe AFAIR.

I was only out for around 45 mins recently and had a 'hangover' feeling for 3 days after

sorry mis read op haven't ever been put under longer than an hour or 2 so ignore my comment

I have had horrific anaesthetic experiences in the past the worst being hospitalised for 5 days after what was supposed to be day surgery. This year I had another surgery and spoke to the anaesthetist at length I had a continuous rate infusion (CRI) and no opioids. It was amazing no profuse vomiting, eating in under an hour of coming out of theatre, yes I did have to contend with a bit more pain, but to not ave he omitting was so worth it.

I had surgery as a child and vomited for England every time. These two as an adult, no vomiting or even nausea. Plenty of morphine for me, though.

Thanks for the replies! Good to hear the positive experiences :) Do you think I'll be awake enough for visitors in the evening?

Had 4 hr general, was first on the day's list, felt nauseous and incredibly cold on waking, but soon felt up to a bit of lunch and had evening visitors. I felt v sleepy for days afterwards!

Thanks Scylla :)

Tired for a few hours after 4-hour op, then fine except for profuse vomiting. Ended up staying in hospital for 8 hours longer than planned as I kept puking, but was fine if I didn't eat. They finally let me go home to be well-looked-after by family at 10pm, under strict instructions to return if I threw up the next day (I didn't).

Have since found all anaesthetics make me throw up, so hopefully if you were ok with shorter ops it'll be the same for you.

I think it just depends how you react to it - I had a short op last year, was only under for about half an hour and I was coherent enough to tell the nurses they'd put me in the wrong bay number and direct them to the right one by the time they were wheeling me back to the ward. I recover very fast from the initial effects of anaesthetic. However, I then felt like a washed out rag for a month. Honestly, it was really very minor surgery and the surgical recovery was quick, but the anaesthetic made me feel like a truck had hit me and it took ages to get over. So I think if you've had shorter surgery and been fine, you should be ok with the longer one too.

On the subject of visitors..,I'd also say that maybe... Depending what your having done you may have some post op pain? As a nurse ( although icu so my patients come back asleep) I suggest they don't get visitors when we first wake up as they may be disorientated tired drowsy nauseous.. Generally not at their best! Remember 4 hour op is significant but not a long op in the scheme of things! We had an 8 hour open bowel yesterday for example.
Ask for good anti emetic and pain relief.
Good luck!!!

Does how quickly you wake up depend on how long you're out for? When I've had shorter ops I've always woken up in recovery and then that's been it! I had the idea of being out of control I guess

Hi OP, during recent GA, I mentioned to medical team that I had problem with nausea after earlier GAs. They dosed me with anti-nausea meds during GA, and it worked a treat.

I needed several hours before feeling up to anything post surgery. But I will warn you, just because your surgery is scheduled for a specific time, there is no guarantee that it will process on schedule. Mine was delayed by many hours, resulting in an overnight stay for what should have been outpatient procedure, because my surgery happened many hours later than scheduled.