Behaviour changes in children after general anaesthetic for tonsil surgery

[Tryingmybestmummying]

Hi
I have 2 boys who went under general anaesthetic for tonsillitis. My first DS came out kicking and screaming and I felt he has never comeback to his usual self. It’s almost 2 years post operation. At the time he was 5 years old. Since then he gets frustrated easily and screams.
My second DS just had his operation 3 weeks ago. I was worried that the same might happen. My 2 years old was calm and never shouted or screamed but now every time he is put in his car seat, he screams. He shouts a lot and is not his usual self. I’m at loss, sad and feel lonely. Is this only happen to me? Do I still have hope that my DS2 would come back to his calm nature? I mentioned this concern to nurses and doctors but they just told me to take my DS1 to GP. Please share your story of your love one after general anaesthetic.

aaaaannnnddd this now another username I'll have to stop using as lots of my friends and family can definitively identify me from that B12 stuff and and all my other ranty gubbins posts! I'll be back with a different name, cheerio...

d’you anaesthetise the uk?…neither link seems particularly relevant to most paed tonsils these days. The first link also comments on the safety of nitrous when used for medical reasons and the second one concludes that its findings are of unknown clinical significance.

Most of us don’t routinely use nitrous but for those of use who do use it will mainly just be using it for the time it takes to do a gas induction where it can still have real value. In the small number of cases where the anaesthetist thinks there’s benefit of using nitrous throughout, even the most cack-handed surgeon would struggle to make the operation long enough to cause significant exposure.

like I said, the main medical risk of nitrous is to staff (particularly midwives), who are more likely to be exposed to it for longer than any patients. It’s also terrible for the environment and that’s the main reason it’s not used that much these days.

not sure it’s useful to dwell further on the pros & cons of a drug that the OP’s child probably didn’t even have.

I had two GA in five months. I've definitely had brain fog. Frightened me a bit until I learnt that it's quite common. It's lifted just about now. But it's been three months since the last one.

That's fine you are obviously someone with professional knowledge. I was responding initially to the OP saying her child displayed symptoms she felt were unusual after an anaesthetic. Because children with low b12 are rarely diagnosed, I was responding to a description of unusual symptoms rather than the mainstream. She might have a child susceptible to having their b12 tanked even by a small amount of gas, and not know it. I agree those links are not specific to paed tonsillectomy and there is very little gas used but children with occult b12 deficiency is an emergent area of medicine where it is a question of building up a picture from clinical observation and a patchwork range of studies rather than waiting for a consensus from a massive RCT or something that won't get done.

My other point was to consider pans pandas, which would not relate to anaesthetic but to the impact of any strep infections preceding the operation.

Sorry for detail but I cannot ignore incorrect statements about autism: You said “No autistic children sleep at night.” Plenty do, including my champion sleeper. As those in the know say, if you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve met one autistic person.

That's true, and thanks for the correction. It was hyperbole, relating to the strong association of poor sleep with autism, and the recognition from many charities and health services that this is often something autistic people struggle with.

I did not mean that every single autistic child does not sleep every night.

Very glad that yours does!! Mine doesn't at all which is probably why it looms large for me. You've met one parent of an autistic person.... etc! :)