problems with sedation
Posted , 7 users are following.
Two years ago I had conscious sedation that left me with memory problems and nightmares. I will have to have an endoscope exam and will ask for an unsedated procedure. I would like to know what other people experience when unsedated for this procedure.
Thank you
0 likes, 53 replies
jo19531 john19480
Posted
john19480 jo19531
Posted
Barretts john19480
Posted
I concentrate on breathing slowly and try to remain calm and relaxed. I know it'll all be over quite soon.
john19480 Barretts
Posted
yana_75731 john19480
Posted
I'm shocked that you had memory loss and you now have me thinking what is the best thing to do. I have my endoscopy next week, so I need to be sure.
I've been waiting a while so I've had time to ask plenty of people, my partner and his mum have had endoscopes, his mum several, today being her latest and Friday she will have another and she is always sedated, Paul on the other hand went for the throat spray, and he says it was horrific!
john19480 yana_75731
Posted
If you have had sedation in the past without adverse affects you may likely be okay using the drug again. I don't like the idea of being immobilized and not in control of a procedure. I will continue to think this over and probably will not go for sedation unless other people's bad experiences indicate otherwise. However, presently I'm unceratin.
Best wishes that it works out for you. You can always ask for mild sedation if you like a compromise.
yana_75731 john19480
Posted
john19480 yana_75731
Posted
In my opinion, if you can avoid psychotropic drugs it is better.
Nonetheless, find out what drug is used and check on its known adverse effects. Everybody is different and the effects of drugs can be different too. If the doctor doing the procedure knows you are not sedated, he or she may be more considerate and this can mitigate physical problems. If you find out what drug is used, let me know.
Regards.
lily65668 yana_75731
Posted
I say this because people my age (over 65) don't have the option of full sedation. They only give us a half dose anyway, as there's a very small potential risk of cardiac or respiratory arrest in the elderly. (Like poor Joan Rivers.) My case was a bit complicated and has been described elsewhere on this site: large, spiky denture stuck in my throat for three weeks while I was thrown out of one hospital after another because no one would believe me that I'd swallowed it. By the time someone believed me (after threats of legal action from a friend) it was well and truly embedded and they had a bit of a tussle to get it out.
I had what is medically known as a "paradoxical reaction" to the half-dose of sedation. I was fully conscious throughout, knew where I was and what was going on, but was unable to control my actions. It felt like all my higher centres (which would have helped me cooperate) had been suppressed by the sedation, and the primitive limbic system was in the driving seat. It took six people to hold me down and I would have gouged the nurse's eyes out if she hadn't been kneeling on my arm.
I certainly didn't have any memory loss. When the nurse was wheeling me out of the endoscopy room in my bed afterwards, I remember kneeling up, clutching the head of the bed and yelling in her face. (I was still mad at everyone and out of control.) She laughed, said I'd crash out in about two minutes' time and would wake with no memory whatever of the procedure. In the event, I climbed over the cotsides so I could get a proper phone signal the minute I got back to the obs ward (where they at least had the decency to keep me for 24 hours for IV antibiotics) and didn't close my eyes for the next 30 hours. "Wired" wasn't in it! I only wish I did have memory loss.
Yana, if you're under 65 (or 60 in some areas) I'd say go for either. Younger people get a full dose of sedation and it's extremely rare for them to retain any memory of the event at all. However, if the sedation had a bad effect on you, maybe best to go for the throat spray alone. The vast majority of people on this site report good experiences (or at least not too terrible) from throat spray. For myself, phobic as I am about having tubes (or forceps in this case) poked down my throat, if I ever had to have it done again I'd opt for throat spray and staying in control. As John says, we all have different reactions to drugs.
john19480 lily65668
Posted
I believe that generally, sedated patient don't suffer undue effects. However, there is a small proportion of the population (me included) that has a vulnerability to psychotropic drugs. It is our responsibility to make our concerns known to the medical people.
In every population there are outliers, and these people need to be addressed adequately, which I believe is not done in every case.
yana_75731 john19480
Posted
yana_75731 lily65668
Posted
Wow, I'm scared now, I'm pretty good with pain and I won't take any tablet unless I really have to, but as my partner had an endoscopy several years ago with throat spray and said it was horrific, I'd sort of made up my mind for sedation.
I suffer with anxiety and I do need medication for it, so my worry is, if I go for the throat spray and can't control my breathing then the whole situation will become out of control for me, but then as the medication slows my heart rate the sedation may affect this.
I will ask the hospital tomorrow as I'm going to try and find out what they use to sedate you, I will also mention what medication I'm on as on the forms it just says to bring a list with you.
I may find out that sedation isn't possible with my medication.
yana_75731 lily65668
Posted
lily65668 yana_75731
Posted
The only possible problem could be with the medication you mention. If you're taking some kind of benzo they might only want to give you a half dose, or even none at all. Still, even then not everyone has a paradoxical reaction like mine. You say your mum has had it done and was out the whole time. If you're 51, she's presumably in the senior bracket like me, which means she won't have had a full dose of sedation either.
As a former NHS nurse (long time ago) I must say I'm not very sanguine about John's suggestion to get the hospital to tell you exactly what they plan to give you - if you're in the UK, that is. I suspect they may be a bit more open to dialogue with patients in Canada than they are on this side of the Pond! Still, it's worth a try. But don't forget - as John and I have both said - everyone is different. It's quite possible that even a half-dose might put you out. Also, paradoxical reactions to benzos are far more common among the elderly in any circumstances, not just procedural sedation.
Don't forget either that my procedure was far more traumatic (physically and mentally) than just having a tube slipped down, apart from which I was already dehydrated and malnourished, and had lost 15lbs in three weeks due to problems with swallowing. In fact, I suspect that if they'd believed my story about the swallowed denture they'd probably never have attempted to do it under simple sedation anyway, but would have put me under GA.
I'm sure you'll be OK.
yana_75731 lily65668
Posted
Yes she's my partners mum and quite poorly, she's 80 and only has mild sedation, she's had two this week.
I had thought that the hospital may not want to divulged that information, I'm expecting them to say the consultant will discuss things with me when I arrive, they did say when they rang me about the appointment that if I had any questions to give them a call, so I'll give it a go.
Things were extremely traumatic for you so I would like to take the least stressful option which I thought would be sedation but I hadn't considered a possible reaction so I really don't know.
Yes I'm in the uk.
john19480 yana_75731
Posted
For example, reduce pain and/or make you forget the procedure.
yana_75731 john19480
Posted
Really all I want is for it to reduce the pain as I'm quite happy to be aware of what's happening.
john19480 yana_75731
Posted
yana_75731 john19480
Posted
I'm sure as I suffer with anxiety they wouldn't do that to me, but I do think they want people in and out so the throat spray is what they push for.
john19480 yana_75731
Posted
yana_75731 john19480
Posted
lily65668 john19480
Posted
lily65668 yana_75731
Posted
Good luck - whatever happens, I'm sure it can't be as bad as your worst fears!
john19480 yana_75731
Posted
http://www.wikihow.com/Suppress-the-Gag-Reflex.
yana_75731 lily65668
Posted
yana_75731 john19480
Posted
john19480 yana_75731
Posted
lily65668 yana_75731
Posted
I'm sure you'll be fine.
lily65668 john19480
Posted
john19480 lily65668
Posted
yana_75731 john19480
Posted
yana_75731 john19480
Posted
john19480 yana_75731
Posted
yana_75731 john19480
Posted
lily65668 john19480
Posted
Yana - I really don't think you have anything to worry about on this account.
yana_75731 lily65668
Posted
I really think what with having anxiety that sedation is the way for me, I've been trying my gagging reflexes today after going on the site John mentioned, given enough time I could see how this may work but I've got two days so I have to go for sedation.
Many thanks for your help.
lily65668 yana_75731
Posted
That being said, I have read accounts of people jumping up and running out of the hospital while under sedation, but this is very rare. I would also stress that I had no after-effects whatever from the sedation (though the scarring in my throat was another matter) and still retain a clear memory of the whole event.
Once again, I'm sure you'll be fine with sedation. You won't remember the procedure and you won't have any after-effects. And just think how relieved you'll feel once it's all over! Don't forget to come back and let us know how you got on.
yana_75731 lily65668
Posted
I will definitely let you and John know how I get on, it's at 9.30am Wednesday. My fingers will be tightly crossed.
yana_75731 lily65668
Posted
I thought I'd let you and John know how it went today.
Well I chose to go for sedation, there was no pressure to just go for the throat spray, the nurses were very nice, I got called in and I had the throat spray and a canular put in my arm, one of the other nurses was getting a tube ready for my nose and that's it!! That's as much as I can remember, I woke up in a different room, had a cup of water by the bed, don't know if I'd been asked or they just gave it to me, so I drank it, a nurse put the sides of the bed down I got up, sat for a minute then went in a room with my partner and the nurse for him to tell me what happens next.
I felt fine afterwards and even did a bit of shopping, the only thing I have is, its a bit painful when I eat at the moment, feels like there's something stuck in my chest every time I swallow, I'm sure that's down to having something pushed down my oesophagus and hopefully it won't last long.
lily65668 yana_75731
Posted
yana_75731 lily65668
Posted
Well they told me they didn't find anything so it's a short wait for the biopsies to get to the doctors.
john19480 yana_75731
Posted
Hopefully everything will be okay and you can carry on without any anxiety.
yana_75731 john19480
Posted
Well I thought they'd gone in through my throat, they did give me the throat spray, which albeit not very nice, it was the most taste I've had in months! The tube was a clear tube with the little things that go in your nose.
Although I don't want anything serious to be found, I do want something to be causing all my problems as food is my enemy at the moment and if nothing is found then I'm back to square one.
lily65668 yana_75731
Posted
john19480 yana_75731
Posted
I heard of a person who moved to a different city and was found to be allergic to the municipal water so it can be a difficlut process isolating what causes problems with food.
yana_75731 lily65668
Posted
yana_75731 john19480
Posted
If nothing is found in the biopsies then I can only imagine that this will be a long process in finding what is causing my reactions to food.
lily65668 yana_75731
Posted
Roberta1111 yana_75731
Posted
It's been a few months since this post, how are you doing now.
I am so confused with all the posts on GET SEDATION OR DONT GET IT. Enough to make your head spin .
I was suffering from chronic nausea for over a year all my tests point to nothing.
I am a little nervous of getting sedation from what people point out here yet also nervous if no sedation I might freak and the dr won't be able to continue.
My GI is ok either way he does say if no sedation it's harder to get biopsies on the patient . I want to see what is causing all my problems so so so confused which way to go. My scope is scheduled on Mar 1st .... I am pretty healthy a little overweight and 59 yrs old.i actually had to stop looking on this forum and others got too anxious with all being said
Robin
john19480 yana_75731
Posted
It's welcome that your experience went fine and the process is over.
When you can, advise on the results.
Good luck and keep shopping!