ERCP under General anaesthetic - My Experience

[peanutfoldover]

Hiya, someone else kindly put up a post detailing their experience with a local anaesthetic (LA) and I found it really helpful to read so here is my account of having an ERCP under General Anaesthetic (GA).

I found out at the 12 week scan that my baby had died at about 11 weeks. I had no bleeding or cramping so it was a huge shock. We already have a child so I naively thought everything would be ok this time too. The EPAC nurse phoned me the next day and told me I couldn’t have medical management because it happened after 10 weeks. So I could either wait for it to happen naturally or have an ERCP under LA or GA.

My local hospital is struggling with staff shortage due to flu. It was a 2 week wait for the LA or a one week wait for the GA. So I chose the GA because I’m not very good with pain and I just wanted it over ASAP.

On the day of the ERCP I was first on the list in day surgery. This is apparently standard protocol, so we don’t have to wait any longer than necessary. Every member of staff was so kind and sensitive to the fact I had miscarried. We were led onto the ward to fill out some health questionnaires and a form about what we want to happen to the remains. We hadn’t actually talked about that so we ticked undecided, we’ll get to decide again in a couple of days.

A doctor and anaesthetist popped in to tell me what would happen and so I could sign consent. They were so calm and kind.

The nurse then asked me to undress and put on a hospital gown. They then walked me down to the anaesthetic room. Stupidly I didn’t bring any slippers so I had to walk down in my Dr Martins which was an interesting look!! Lol

In the anaesthetic room they put some ECG pads on my chest and they checked and double checked my name and DOB about 5 times and made sure I knew why I was there.

They put in a cannula which was absolutely fine (this kind of thing doesn’t bother me though). They offered to hold my hand and distracted me the whole time. I was given a bit of sedative and then I was asked to take some deep breaths. I fell asleep pretty quickly.

After what felt like 20 seconds they woke me up. My first thought was how absolutely glorious I felt, obviously a bit high on the anaesthetic! They told me straight away that it all went very well but the consultant would come by later. I fell back to sleep immediately and they took me back to the ward. My husband was there and apparently had a fry up while he was waiting!!

I slowly came round after about 20 minutes. I had this overwhelming sense of relief. No real pain at all and only very light bleeding. The nurse brought me tea and toast.

I got up and dressed and the doctor, consultant and a medical student came by. The consultant said it went really well, everything came out intact. The cord and placenta looked perfectly healthy. She said they would send the remains off for testing but we’d only get results if the cord or placenta were not right (I can’t remember the exact diagnosis they test for). She said there are no rules for trying again. She said we can get back to trying straight away, wait for a period or leave it 6 months or however long we want. She encouraged me to keep taking folic acid now until we have another or decide to not have another.

We then went home via McDonald’s!

I had some period pain all day yesterday. I took cocodamol and ibuprofen for it (paracetamol would probably be enough for those with a normal pain threshold!!) This morning I have no pain at all. Bleeding has been very light ever since. This morning I don’t think I’ve had any.

I’m just pleased it’s all over. I’ll be back to work on Monday.

So all in all, it was fine and actually I feel confident to try for a baby again as I know I could cope with doing that again if i had to.

HTH anyone else waiting for the same procedure.

Just to add... yesterday my daughter was at school and I stayed in bed pretty much all day and slept for most of it. I think I would have been too groggy to look after a child till about 5pm to be honest. I felt absolutely fine after that and did the whole bedtime routine.

So glad it all went well for you! Hope your recovery goes smoothly
I’m getting better each day, feel a bit bruised internally now, but nothing that a few ibuprofen can’t fix. Off for a weekend away to try and relax a bit and destress!

Aw that’s lovely, go and enjoy a lovely weekend! I’ve been looking at holidays today myself!

I honestly feel fine. I had more pain/bleeding after having a smear in the summer!! No bleeding at all today Infact.

I just feel this huge sense of relief that it’s all over. I think my DH is struggling to move on a bit more than I am.

I’m amazed the obstetrician said we could start trying again straight away! I’ve got my high dose folic acid on repeat prescription now.

It’s strange isn’t it, when we were trying for this baby I was obsessed with avoiding a winter baby (I found it so isolating last time). Whereas now I could care less if it was born on Christmas day!!! Just to have a baby, at any time would be amazing. Or maybe it won’t happen again for us, and that’s ok too. We have one and I’ll be eternally grateful for her.

Xxx

Thought I’d put an update to this thread.

It’s now a week post ERCP. I went back to work on Monday. Very little bleeding, just spotting really.

Started getting pressure feeling in my rectum around Tues/Weds. like a full bowel feeling all the time and quite uncomfortable to sit. GP explained it’s just post-op swelling and it would go down over the next few days which it has.

Something that has surprised me I’d that I started bleeding suddenly last night. Enough blood that I will probably just throw the sheets away. Fresh red blood. No clots, no smell. So perhaps just a period? (Although much heavier than my periods have ever been). I had intermittent uterine cramping all day which has given me the urge to sit on the loo and open my bowels, which have been quite loose (sorry for TMI) and a fair bit of blood each time.

That has now stopped and I’m feeling pretty wiped out and emotional with a headache.

Luckily I had today already booked off as A/L, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to go to work.

Really hoping that was the ‘final act’ in this miscarriage.

Thank you for this. I’m booked for my ERPC on Monday and it’s comforting to read others stories.

Hi ladies

@Nics23 I was scouring the internet for erpc real life stories all week as I had mine this morning. @peanutfoldover has summed it up really well. The only difference is I don’t know what the aftermath will be like.

I was also asked to take misoprostol(Cytotec) this morning I’m advance at 6am. You probs know well that this is the medical management drug and I was beside myself thinking about taking it for days beforehand. The whole reason I opted for erpc was so that I didn’t have the traumatic medical management experience.

(FYI I started to miscarry end December but fell through the hospital cracks for admin reasons I won’t bore you with so basically I was waiting to miscarry for a little over 3 weeks. Nothing happened whatsoever during that time by way of a natural outcome). So I decided to have erpc.

In terms of the Cytotec I was preparing for the apocalypse this morning tbh but it never happened. Not a pain and not a drop of blood. I don’t even know if it had even “softened” my cervix by the time I went to theatre. Nurse said 50% find it terrible 50% don’t.

Like peanut I was first on this morning’s list. Got there at 7.45am and was brought to a room at Signed consents, had blood tests and was brought to the most gorgeous private room at 8.45am. I was on my own in there with my husband which was really more than I could have asked for. He had a couch and a tv while I was gone and a table to log on at and do some work. I know this isn’t the same everywhere but I do hope you get nice compassionate mid wives at least.

At 9.15 I was given the GA and woke up at 10am in a recovery room just off the theatre on my own. I wasnt introduced to the consultant surgeon at any stage which I thought was weird and found out that the initial doc who did my consents (a third year registrar) did it! I f@#king hope she had done a few before. She said after that she got it all out. I asked if there is lining left and there is. Maybe everyone knows that but they leave the lining as much as they can and just remove the sac etc in so far as possible she said.

I had asked in advance if I would be waking up in a ward with pregnant ladies etc so that I could mentally prepare for that but the nurse said they try to avoid that at all costs where they can. This might or might not bother you but maybe something to ask about if you think it’s necessary for you.

Again like peanut I felt so much relief it was such a weight lifted and I do hope you have not been waiting for as long as I have. If you have had a general anaesthetic before you will probably have the same experience as before. This was the case for me it’s the best sleep of your life. If not you might feel cold when you wake up and they put a lovely heated blanket on you and you get warm in no time. I’ve never felt sick after but again different reactions but that’s my experience.

When I woke up I was in this recovery room off the theatre on my own (no other patients) for about 15 mins. I had a bad cramp so they gave me IV morphine and that killed it. They brought me back to the room with my husband in it then. They measured blood pressure on and off for about 2.5 hours. I had tea and toast in this time too.

I was on a drip - think this was probs to make me want to pee and generally I think you’re on a drip after GA for fluids. I pee’d at about 1pm and it was fine. Then I was discharged.

The doc/midwives told me to wait for 1-2 cycles and then go again but I don’t know time is not on my sides time wise And I have no children yet this was my first pregnancy so when I feel like it in the next few weeks I might just start dtd again. I really think it is just so they can date and not much else. My midwife said I will likely be more fertile in the next few weeks than at any other time but I think this depends on the person. Generally I am not that lucky with things like this but I will keep a PMA about it.

So far today I have had the equivalent of a light period and light period pain. Like no need for pain relief. It’s more of a heavy feeling in my lower area than cramps.

@peanutfoldover Jesus no one told me about a final scene bleed in the hosp today but my friend miscarried in her first (2 years ago and FYI she is now pregnant with her 2nd child and had a d&c). She said she had a massively unusual and heavier than ever bleed on her third cycle so maybe it’s just different for different people.

Anyway such a longwinded post but I found it hard to find step by step info and hopefully this helps.

The erpc itself is painless you won’t feel a thing. Maybe buy yourself something nice over the weekend so it arrives early next week. I’m going to Go mad on the internet shopping now. It’s a hard time and you deserve nice things for yourself esp at the moment. Good luck on Monday. I’m sure it will be fine for you.

@Bath2020 I’m so pleased you (finally) got your ERCP and can now start moving forward.

I felt almost euphoric for a few days after the op. So relieved it was over. Ready to draw a line under it and move on. And then I had that big bleed a week after and I’ve been feeling quite low in mood ever since. However, I do have history of PND and my mental health is a bit less resilient than it once was.but this sudden drop in mood has surprised me. I’ve also had quite bad headaches which are like my Achilles heel, I just can’t think straight or function while I’ve got one. So that hasn’t helped my overall mood.

My husband who was very strong and supportive initially has retreated into his shell somewhat this weekend. I think he’s struggling with it all and probably worried about me slipping into depression again. So just a warning to keep an eye on your other half’s.

@Nics23 I’m so sorry you’re having to go through this too. But I hope you have a similar experience to @Bath2020 and I. The ERCP has actually been the easiest thing about the whole miscarriage. The emotional side, for me, has been surprisingly hard. But I can’t decide how much of that is grief and how much is hormonal.

Mine was all done in day surgery, so in a 4 bed ward with other women having gynae procedures. No pregnant women or babies at all.

Feel free to come here and tell us all about it. I’ve found this forum so so helpful. Nobody gets it until they’ve been through it.

I'm sorry that you've all had to go through this. Its awful. Came on here for support and immediately found this post echoing what I've just experienced.

I've just had a ERCP on Friday - found out on the Wednesday, my 12 week scan that the baby's heartbeat stopped at week 9, but for some reason it hadn't triggered a miscarriage. Also some unknown development issue happened, but the sonographer was vague. Immediately had an appointment with doc to go through options. She booked the surgery through the EPU for 2 days time.

I agree that surprisingly the day of the surgery was actually the calmest/easiest day...? Felt like I was moving forward. Which was strange because thought it would be the worst thing ever.

I was in a 7.45am and out by 2pm, but I wasn't first on the list. I had to insert 3 tablets to start dilation? I think they were called pessaries? And I had to wait one hour for them to work, and they took bloods. My partner was allowed to stay with me and I was in a private room (not sure if on purpose but was still nice). Spoke to everyone involved and had a cannula inserted for an IV line and meds.

Was taken down to the surgery room, within five minutes they had me under (the worst part was whatever painkiller they gave me, made my head funny). From being taken to surgery to waking up it was exactly one hour.

When I woke up the most surprising thing is I felt nothing - no pain, no cramps (thought this was probably due to the pain relief). I was dreading waking up with that pain and realising what had happened, but was just like waking up from a nap. Had some minor bleeding. Was given tea, toast, left to have a sleep then allowed home when felt up to it. The staff were lovely.

Only started having cramps the next day, quite painful, but manageable with paracetamol and a hot water bottle. Still only minor bleeding, no where near period levels. Luckily don't have work till Wednesday but dreading it because I had to tell my boss why I wouldn't be in the rest of the week :(.

I've feel like I've gone a bit numb from all the emotions. Like deadened. Random bouts of crying seem to be the norm. My partner doesn't really know how to handle that, but he's been so sweet and supportive, even if he's struggling himself.

The thought of going back to square one is distressing, but so is the thought of taking a break. Its all so confusing. Sending love to all of you xx