Recovering from a GA

[ThatAmberBiscuit]

Hi, just looking for peoples experiences on recovering from a GA.

I had laparoscopy to remove an ovarian cyst last Thursday, op took a couple of hours. I woke up after the op feeling really light headed and dizzy.

That dizzy/light headedness has continued, my head feels foggy like a hangover, and I don’t feel myself, like I’m getting easily confused/forgetting things.

I’m only taking paracetamol as there was a suggestion by the nurse at the hosp it could be the painkillers but that’s not helped. Drinking plenty of plenty of water/resting.

I had a different longer surgery a few months ago and didn’t feel like this. So just wondered if others have and how long it lasted?

This is me OP. I always get lightheaded / dizzy after surgery and only ever had one person explain it to me (midwife after a caesarean) who said it’s my body’s way of telling me to slow down.

I’ve had bloods done, cut out certain medications like anti inflammatories and it doesn’t help. As I’ve aged, I now also get it with certain illnesses like covid.

I don’t know anyone else that’s ever had it but I know it’s normal for me.

my advice is to rest and don’t stress about it. It tends to last 7-10 days for me depending on the surgery, sometimes as much as two weeks. I’ve had like 6 surgeries now so I don’t worry about it any more!

Oh I didn’t have it after my gallbladder op. It was my second c section where it started and then several surgeries since. I may have had it after my first c section but it’s hard to say as I had a massive haemorrhage and some bright spark discharged me with iron tablets when I met the criteria for a blood transfusion, so I thought my light headedness etc was severe anaemia but I now suspect it wasn’t. But as I say I don’t remember it after my gallbladder. Could be the type of anaesthetic / pain killers used?! I don’t know.

Thank you! It’s good to know that it’s not just me. I’ll try to take it easier and hopefully it will clear up in the next week ish then 🤞

definitely. I found it gradually lessened rather than abruptly stopped. If it starts, just sit down. Sometimes I’d even get it whilst sitting. Strangest thing! I’ve mentioned it to loads of medics who aren’t ever concerned but never explain and as I say I’ve never come across anyone else who gets it.

obviously if it persists or you’re worried see your GP which is what I did about 10 years ago. They ran bloods which were normal and it just went away on its own.

GA is a big deal, it takes weeks to get all of the drugs of your system plus all of the internal healing your body is doing (which takes far longer than the external wounds to heal). Look after yourself 🩷

Is there a reason you think it's specifically due to the anaesthetic? The anaesthetic drugs will be long gone by now, but there could be due to a whole bunch of things to do with the whole package of having surgery that can make people feel ropey. Best bet though would be to talk to someone in real life who has access to your medical history, has more information about the operation/could try getting hold of the surgeon/anaesthetist if needed and can see any blood tests etc. In very general terms the sorts of things that can influence how people feel post op include: spending a couple of hours in a steep head down position if it was a laparoscopic procedure can leave you feeling quite discombobulated for a while; anaemia, infection, wonky electrolytes can all can all make you feel pretty rough; the physiological (hormonal/inflammatory) stress response to surgery is different with different procedures so you often can't compare many operations that well. Occasionally there's something completely co-incidental going on that can make recovery feel more difficult (or that any other medical condition a patient has has gone on the wonk). Post-operative cognitive dysfunction is a phenomenon that is occasionally diagnosed if all other things are reassuring and can take weeks to recover from, but tends to affect a slightly older demographic than the usual mumsnetter - time is usually the best healer for this. Hope your surgical team/GP are able to come up with some ideas/reassure you. HTH.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to this. I thought it was the GA based on what they had been said in the hosp as they said it can make people feel funny, but I’d posted as I wasn’t sure it was right to still feel like this.

And I completely agree it could be anything that it could be anything causing it.

I felt a bit worse this morning so rang the docs and have an appt later this afternoon. So hopefully will either get some reassurance or some help if needed.