Afraid of being put to sleep for surgery

[meatball01]

I'm having a colonoscopy and endoscopy on July 7. They are going to put me to sleep because of my anxiety. The drugs they usually use to relax you is stuff I have taken before and not even relaxed me enough to take a nap. My doctor said he was putting me to sleep because the last thing he needed was a panic attack during this procedure.  I've been doing better since my phyc. got my meds back to normal but now I'm really concerned about this test. Let me know if any of you out there have been put to sleep for a procedure like this. Just worried about not waking up like Michael J.

[mjbrown]

Although there is always some risk involved with general anesthesia, now a days that risk is very very small. Also, the test you are having are pretty quickly done, so you will not need to be under for very long. The smaller dose of anesthesia you will need, and the short period you will need it, greatly reduces the already small risk associated with general anesthesia. Just try not to think about it too much from now until the 7th. I know this is easier said than done, but you will be fine.

Hope everything turns out okay...

[john248]

I have been put under about 6 times for hours at time. They tried a general for a hernia repair, I freaked out and they put me under. Good luck on the 7th.

[crackedglass]

I always wake up in the middle of endoscopies. I ask not to be sedated so I won't wake up disoriented in the middle of those procedures, but they insist that I'd move around dangerously if not sedated. When I wake up I listen for a long time to make certain I'm not imagining it,then cough a little or move slightly until I hear them say, she's waking up, let's get out. It never hurts or is hurting at the time...probably due to the drugs...so please don't worry about that part of it. It's mostly just irritating that I can't just sleep through the procedure.