[cheetah]

Well it's really not the actual drugs that scare me. It the not knowing what is going on and feeling out of control.

I've never had a bad experience or reaction to anesthesia but still it terrifies me. I've been fortunate in that I've been able to undergo procedures awake that usually require at least some type of sedation.

Maybe I am strange. I hear from many people that they would rather be knocked out and not know what is happening. Not me. I have an extremely high tolerance for all things medical and would rather watch.

At the end of next month I may in in the position of having to make a choice about a surgical procedure. It would be an elective procedure but one that will potentially improve my quality of life. I know little about it or how it is done. Right now I am feeling like if it requires general anesthesia I want no part of it. Everything I have read about it says yes, so should I even spend the money to see the doctor?

I want to have an open mind but it is so difficult for me to do.

[Perna]

I was that way too, cheetah (still am I guess) but the actual experience is not that bad; I appear to be mostly afraid of what my head is making up/thinking. My appendix burst so I didn't really have a choice of getting surgery or not I wouldn't pick surgery but if you need it you need it and the anesthesia/being out is the least of your problems.

Oh I am tooooooooo.. so bad...

I have a severe death phobia, and the thought of general anesthesia SCARES THE CRAP OUT OF ME. I always wonder what would happen if I didn't wake up, died on the table, ect..

I have a history of PVC's and Tachycardia so I am always worried that my heart will go while Im under.

Scarrrryyyy

[silver_queen]

I had to have an op with general anaesthesia a couple of months ago or so and I hadn't had it before (general anaesthesia). It went fine though I remember I tried to resist it as long as possible and was very indignant about it all when I awoke, I didn't like the lack of control and as a result my eating got worse for a while afterward (I have eating issues). But if you can handle that and if you accept that really practically ALL general anaesthetic surgeries go fine, then maybe that would help. My aunt is quite the opposite to you, she said she was asleep (without drugs) before she was anywhere near the operating theatre lol.

Hey and this is an elective surgery for you, so you could look it up online or get somebody else to look it up for you and then they can tell you if it looks safe, lolol.

[RozG]

i've had general anaethesia a few times and each time the pre-med stuff has knocked me right out...so no awareness of being taken to surgery. the only downside i ever found was being groggy and disorientated afterwards but the nurses were always fantastic about it.

[wickedwings]

talk to the docs and nurses and tell them... they will help you through anything that bothers you. from my own experience, it's been fantastic, and the nurses were excellent.

[sunrise]

cheetah, I felt similarly to you, but I had surgery in January, and my first ever general anesthesia. It went very well. They gave me some kind of sedative in an IV to knock me out so I don't even remember them putting the tube down my throat. I was already asleep. When I woke up, the tube was out of my throat. I don't remember a thing about the surgery. I threw up once while in the recovery room, but I guess that is not uncommon, and if you are just really nauseous they will give you some medicine to help. If I ever need surgery again, I will not be so apprehensive.

[lenjan]

I have had general anesthesia a few times, and I have to say -- I was terrified before the first time, but I am now a huge fan. You're out so fast you don't even realize what's happening, and when you wake up, whatever was being repaired feels a lot better than it did before, or you never felt the pain of something really invasive that would have hurt terribly and been really icky if you'd had to be awake.

Honestly -- it's not at all like the movies.

[ECHOES]

It's a peaceful rest to me. But I do get nervous before a procedure.

We are out of control when under general anesthesia. It does require trusting our doctors and surgeons. Not always easy but once accepted it feels better.

I had some major surgery that followed months of procedures where I was referred to one after another surgeons each who specialized a bit more. In the end, I had surgery in a hospital across the bay, not one of the local ones where I'd had the other procedures done. I did get to see the surgeon a few times and I like him a lot and trusted him, as he is very successful and experienced. His confidence made me feel that I could trust him to remove part of my pancreas, an involved procedure deep in the abdomen.

I hope you can have the surgery that will make your life better.

[cheetah]

A few years ago I had a cyst removed from my tail bone. This is the only time I remember ever having general anesthesia (only other time I was 18mos old). I expressed my terror to the surgeon and he agreed to attempt the procedure with a local anesthesia but I went into it with the understanding that depending on the size of the cyst we may have to use general.

The anesthesiologist was kind enough to spend time with me before and gave me a tour of the equipment. Part way into the surgery doc said he couldn't comfortably go any further with me awake. The cyst was deeper than expected. Even though I agreed and knew of this possibility I just felt myself fill with fear.

I was attempting to ask the doc a question but don't ever remember finishing it or getting an answer. The surgical crew was paying no attention and knocked me out right in the middle. I was trying to put my trust in these people but I was not made aware of what was happening when. The next thing I knew I was being scolded by a woman telling me to keep my eyes open and stay awake. I was in recovery.

This experience certainly did nothing to reassure me.

[ECHOES]

You may have finished your question to the doc but don't remember it

The recovery room nurses do urge the patient to wake up and stay awake so they can gauge how you're doing: if the anesthesia is wearing off, if you are nauseas (used to happen to me until I learned to tell them ahead of time that anesthesia does that to me; now they give me something to prevent that ahead of time), if you are in pain (they want to get you on pain meds soon and prevent it from getting really uncomfortable), and things like that. They need you to be awake to help them take good care of you.

Also they might tell you to move your feet to get you moving to prevent blood clots. All part of the initial recovery process and part of good attentive care, even though we might really really prefer to sleep

Feeling afraid is surely understandable when having to have surgery/anesthesia.

[Danialla]

I have had quite a few surgeries, including a brain surgery and trust me you should have no worries about the anesthesia.

I too was a bit worried before my first surgery, but now....heck I look forward to it !

Take care

[sunrise]

cheetah, that sounds like a bad experience. Maybe you can go over your worries with the nurse at our pre-op visit and get some reassurance.

I actually look fondly back at my experience of coming out of anesthesia. I was in the recovery room, which was a big room with all sorts of beds and IVs and machines. And it was in the winter so they had decorated it with all these silvery, glittery stars hanging from the ceiling with transparent fishline. I remember coming very slowly to consciousness and hearing voices and sensing movement and slowly opening my eyes, just slits and seeing all this "stuff" and the glittery stars rotating above. I wasn't quite sure where I was. It seemed very surreal. I actually loved it. I remember closing my eyes again and dozing off a bit, or just being conscious of noise, then opening my eyes again and seeing the scene. It was all very gentle, as if I was viewing the world through gauze. No one nagged me to keep my eyes open or stay awake. My vital signs were fine, no need to rush me through the recovery process. I woke up when I woke up and remember it as the best part of the whole surgery/anesthesia experience.

I'd kind of like to do that part of it again.