risks from general anesthesia

Hi, I can’t be any help, but would like to know the same. Going in for Inguinial Hernia surgery and also wondering about my body’s reaction to the “Mesh Implant” they will be using.
Hope you don’t mind me piggybacking.
Andy

[SIZE=”2″]Hello.
I had major heart surgery and was under for 6 hours and have had no problems. The main thing is make sure every one knows about your GBS and the One putting you to sleep make sure they know what GBS is Mine changed one of the drugs she usually uses. also stress no tetnis shots or any imune shots.I pray everything will be fine and you are in my prayers. Also I have not heard of any problems with a hernia operation useing the mesh.
Your friend (Lakoda)[/SIZE]

Check out the search engine on this site. There is a post I wrote regarding this, or click on my name and search my posts. It is info I got from a neuro anestheasiologist. Will check tomorrow, if you did not find info I will reply. Very busy, mom died last week, father very ill in hospital, Kev is ok and older son going to indianapolis, hopefully for a trial procedure for his blind eye.

Hi, I would just like to re-emphasize that it is important for all the doctors–especially the anesthesiologist to know that one has had GBS or has CIDP and also that say that, for some people, there IS a risk with anesthesia. Some people do well, but any medical procedure is a body stress and people need to discuss their particular cases with anesthesiologists. In particular, please note.
1. A number of people advocate using lots of caution with succinylcholine as an anesthesia drug and it is often worth using another agent.
2. Some people with GBS or CIDP have residual respiratory weakness and it is important to think about this as part of the support of breathing during surgery and after (especially if there is going to be chest or abdomen surgery since these also affect breathing–chest for obvious reasons and abdomen because people do not breath as well if it hurts to do so).
3. Some people had the onset of GBS right after surgery and there may be something about surgery that predisposed to this in that person. Surgeries may involve cutting across nerves and tissues and this can expose antigens again to the immune system.
4. I work with children with another immune disease that attacks the nervous system and they typically get transiently worse when getting anesthesia (and sometimes the anesthesia is for MRI scans in these very young children so there is no surgery). From this, it seems that anesthesia can act to stimulate inflammation. I recommend people not have surgery unless it is really necessary until the immune process is better controlled. This relates to CIDP, but also early GBS. If anesthesia is needed, propofol seems one of the gentler and less inflammatory anesthesia drugs.
5. Some people have a pain flare after anesthesia and surgery.
6. It can also be a bit harder to recover from major surgery because a person is at baseline not 100% in strength. If the surgery will be major and require rehabilitation, make sure that there is a plan that takes into account that the person has residual weakness or pain.
WithHope for a cure of these diseases

My sister Diane was diagnosed with GBS March 10 2010 and she just had major surgery to remove her colon. She contacted c-diff infection, you get that from hospitals nursing homes or sometimes from an antibiotic, they kill good bacterial along with the bad. The Dr said he had never seen someone with so much infection as my sister. It was major surgery. She is still in ICU but I imagine they will be moving her to the next step down. It was touch and go at times but she has bounced back. She is still paralyzed nothing has changed with the GBS. She did not get pneumonia but they were concerned, they kept her sedated for a week until they were sure she could hold her own.

[SIZE=”3″][COLOR=”Teal”]Good morning.
I was going to say nothing but I am sorry I cannot let the last 2 replys pass without a coment.
!st WITH HOPE you need to change to GLOOM AND DOOM. People come here looking for hope not that they in your eyes will die. 1st I mention to let the doctors know you have had GBS/CIDP. My doctors made adjustment. getting GBS from surgery is less than 1/4 % and anyone can get it.I was in my beliefs DEAD for over 2 hours and when I went to SICU I was out and in my room in less than16 hours. I had NO PAIN.I went in with FAITH and was raised not to deliver terror to someone who is already scared. I see with eyes of HOPE.
Diane Sister your sister was in a hospital that may have had a problem with cleaning.Staff infection is in doctor offices/hospitals/almost any place you go. I am praying for her and please in the future think before post fear. Put yourself in the receivers shoes. With Hope even could have scared me. But I had no choice /SURGERY OR DIE.
Mikeaz I appoligize that you had to be exposed to ones who feel to share only the worse of surgery.I feel you will be fine and go with faith and trust and I am sure you will be just fine.The only side effect I had was my nurse making sure I slept. She was so cute. If any staff touch you during recovery make sure everyone has gloves on or wash their hands. I have been praying for you and I retired from a top 10 hospital and my wife did open heart and neuro surgery for 34 yrs.Just think you will go to sleep and wake up and it is done and if you have pain all you do is ask for pain meds. Please let us know how you will be doing. Your unconditional friend (Lakoda) /COLOR][/SIZE]

Mochacat, really??? That was beyond rude. Mikeaz asked for information/risks regarding surgery, which he received. I’m sure he will do whatever is best for his health.

Mikeaz, as others have stated, just be sure that your doctor and the anesthesiologist has dealt with patients who had/have GBS or CIDP. I had major surgery almost 6 years ago and they used different anesthesia and administered it slowly. I didn’t have any negative side effects, however, it did increase the length of time I was in surgery; I believe the surgery was supposed to be 3-4 hours and it was approx. 7-8 hours.

Take care and be well.

Tina

[SIZE=”3″]Tina I am sorry you feel I am rude with my remarks. Have you seen a pt going to surgery who has been filled with DOOM and GLOOM. Ask a surgeon the affect it has on a patients vitals when they enter the OR.I was asked all the time about surgery and most love ones wanted to know the dangers.I would not say the odds were less than 10% and that it was a very dangerous operation. I would say for them to ask a nurse to call the room and most times the reply was we are doing fine.
Tina I said what I did because I have seen love ones breaking down because someone told them only the bad things that happen. I remember my grandmother saying. If you cannot say something with hope and postive then say nothing.
I put myself in the hands of my surgon and in the Great Spirit and I went and had my operation.Alot of the medicine is more dangerous than surgery. Med has 4 pages saying how it will kill you and one paragraph about how great it is for you.
Tina I am not sorry for my reply as I lived and saw what neg thinking can do to someone who is haveing surgery.I said what I felt and I feel I was very to the point. Bless you Tina. (Lakoda)

I feel I must speak up about this? First off? Do let your surgeon then, anathesologist KNOW that in no uncertain terms are you tolerant/or intolerant of some anathesias! Make it clear that you have a DEMEYELINATING nerve issue similar to MS! That should shake them up to use the more ‘conservative’ meds. As noted above? I’ve been thru at least [B]SEVEN[B][/B][/B] PROCEDURES since my onset of CIDP [actually more than that? But these are ‘official’?]. The one thing I’m grateful to MS’ers for is the good, bad and ugly reports they have regarding anathestics! Thanks to these good folks we BENEFIT from their experiences, and thus…more caution in our treatments. I’ve been fortunate in learning about this? The key word is “DEMEYELINATION”! I do know I HAVE benefitted from their experiences? Once I mention the ‘D’ Word? The anathesiologists go to a whole different set of knock outs for us!
So far? I’ve been under ‘general’ about 14 times since I’ve gotten CIDP. I have been fortunate that I’ve NOT gotten any bad s/e’s! These are times when you have to/MUST advocate for yourself with any facts [good solid medically credible resources] that you can muster if needed? Usually, tho, you won’t need them. I hope you succeed in the whole thing?
Good luck? Let us know how you fared? Your reactions add to the ‘body of knowledge’ we all try to gather and keep.
Hope you are up and about w/o issue the next day! – homeagain

Hi Mikeaz ,

I just had a major surgery and I had GBS and now have CIDP for 9 years now and everything went just fine . I do think your pain can be a little greater with GBS only because your dealing with nerves . You might want to let them know that when you go in for pre-op testing . They will be prepared for it and it will ease your nerves a bit too 🙂 Overall I have no complaints and it went very smooth . Try not to worry …. I hope things go great for you !

Kimberly

[QUOTE=mikeaz]Anyone know if there are risks to GBS patients (I’m 90% reecovered) from receiving general anesthesia for surgery?[/QUOTE]
Hello I had my thyroid removed in March 2010. Every Dr I saw or tech I encountered I let them know that I have GBS. I had no problems. Thank goodness! I was very comfortable with my Drs. Again the only advice I can give you is be comfortablewith your Drs. and let EVERYONE know you have GBS. In my initial dx .. I was given IvIG it is fantastic except that since the first drop in me I began to becoem sick with a bad headach. Turns out my body rejected it and I acquired aceptic meningeis (sp??). But even tho through that I believe I was lucky. Know your body — listen to your body– and if you believe something is wrong… call your Dr. Good luck and relax 🙂

Dear Friends,

I’ll post and let you interpret: This information was taken from web link:

[url]www.mult-sclerosis.org/news/Jul2000/Unmaskingsubclinicallesions.html[/url]

[SIZE=”3″][B]An endogenous pentapeptide acting as a sodium channel blocker in inflammatory autoimmune disorders of the central nervous system.[/B][/SIZE]

[url]http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=//nm/journal/v6/n7/abs/nm0700_808.html&filetype=[/url]

Nat Med 2000 Jul;6(7):808-11

Brinkmeier H, Aulkemeyer P, Wollinsky KH, Rudel R

Department of General Physiology, University of Ulm, D-89069 Ulm, Germany.

[COLOR=”Blue”]Reversible blockade of sodium channels by endogenous substances has been claimed to account for the fast exacerbations and relapses commonly seen in demyelinating autoimmune diseases.[/COLOR] [COLOR=”Red”]Evidence has been provided that in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with [B]multiple sclerosis or Guillain-Barre syndrome,[/B] a sodium-channel-blocking factor exists that has properties of local anesthetic agents.[/COLOR] This factor could contribute to the nerve conduction block and paresis seen in these disorders. We describe here a previously unknown endogenous substance in human cerebrospinal fluid with distinct channel-blocking properties even at very low (0.00001 M) concentrations. The pentapeptide with the sequence Gln-Tyr-Asn-Ala-Asp exerted its blocking action by shifting the steady-state inactivation curve of the sodium channels to more-negative potentials, as most local anesthetics do. [COLOR=”Blue”]In the cerebrospinal fluid of healthy individuals, its concentration was about 3 &mgr;M,[/COLOR] [COLOR=”Red”]whereas in patients with [B]multiple sclerosis and Guillain-Barre syndrome,[/B] it increased 300-1,400%. At these concentrations, the peptide’s blocking efficacy was higher than that of 50 &mgr;M lidocaine.[/COLOR] [COLOR=”Blue”]At a concentration of 10 &mgr;M, [B]lidocaine is able to ‘unmask’ subclinical lesions in multiple sclerosis; thus, the endogenous pentapeptide may well contribute to the fast changes of symptoms. Furthermore, it may become valuable as a marker of disease activity.[/B][/COLOR]

PMID: 10888931, UI: 20348033 [B]END[/B]

I have had two hip replacements (April 20th and June 16th), and I told the anesthesiologist that I did not want Lidocaine or any other sodium channel blockers and I did not want any vasopressors. Both times the anesthesia was changed after I explained I had previously had GBS and now had CIDP. I also gave him a copy of the above literature.

Regards to all.

Jethro

P.S. I had the “new” type anterior hip replacements. Everything went great. I feel really good and can walk totally unassisted…but I use my cane because I do not have 100% balance from the GBS. I also need my knees replaced but my surgeon said no more surgery until after January. He wants me totally recovered from the hip surgery and wants all my blood counts back up to normal. Those two surgeries that close together really takes a toll on the body.

Tina, best of luck with the surgery. You will be in our prayers.

this is in answer to the comment about upsetting anyone about anesthetics and GBS. First of all it was not meant to scare anyone. I am an up front person i do not like sugar coating anything. I want the TRUTH when i ask a question. I don’t like round about answers, and I really thought that this is what this forum was about. So I guess I will never really know when i ask a question if I am getting the truth or sugar coating.
Peace to all and you are all in my prayers.

[COLOR=”Teal”][SIZE=”2″]Good morning Diane sister.
I was not refering to sugar coateing as you call it. When I worked for my hospital we had class’s in how to talk to Pts and relatives and friends. One thing really stands out. They said to tell them the truth but do not DROP A TREE ON THEM WHEN A TOOTH PICK WILL WORK. What that means is CHOOSE YOUR WORDS BEFORE YOU SPEAK.You said you are up front–direct. So am I but I choose the soft wording .Not walk up tap someone on the sholder and when thet turn say (YOUR???? IS DEAD.) Love you and bless you.and everyone. (Lakoda)[/SIZE][/COLOR]

Well i am glad that you have had training in this sort of thing but not all of us have had that opportunity. Sometimes the tooth pick does not work. I don’t believe I said anything abnormal to a lay person. I would never hurt or scare anyone on purpose, so please forgive me if I had. Sometimes toothpicks aren’t enough
God bless and thank you for your in put

Hello to you all! I am new in here.,,,I had knee scope the could not get my o2 sat up, it would not go any higher than 74% I was admited to hospital for 10 days on the vent x5days then o2 @ 10 liters! I survived and going to have elbow surgery d/t ulner nerve neropathy. I am so tired of feeling weak,fatigued,severe pain! but i am survivor…. on the 22nd of this month it will be my 4yr an.

Hello to you all! I am new in here.,,,I had knee scope the could not get my o2 sat up, it would not go any higher than 74% I was admited to hospital for 10 days on the vent x5days then o2 @ 10 liters! I survived and going to have elbow surgery d/t ulner nerve neropathy. I am so tired of feeling weak,fatigued,severe pain! but i am survivor…. on the 22nd of this month it will be my 4yr an.

I asked my neruo about general anesthesia last time i seen him & he said no longer than 1 hour , of course that is my sistuation, yours is probably way different. make sure your drs & anesthesiaologist is aware of your GBS/CIDP . good luck & god bless !!