Information for study - your input gratefully received.

[joenix]

Hello,
my name is Sarah. I'm an anesthesia nurse in Belgium and am in the pre-stages of writing a thesis based on the nursing care of patients with multiple sclerosis after general anaesthetic.
Our hospital has involved itself with the controversial CCSVI treatment of the disease, and while I am not here to discuss the effect of this treatment it does offer the ideal opportunity for me, as a member of the nursing staff, to see if our after-care treatment in the recovery room can negatively or positively affect relapse.
I will be montoring temperature and muscle stimulation (to test whether the effects of curare are still present upon arrival in the recovery room), as well as other functions.
I have some specific questions here which I would very much appreciate should you be able to answer if you have had experience of general anaesthetics. The experience does not have to be negative! You also should not answer any questions you do not want to. I would just like to be able to pinpoint certain problems from the perspective of the patient, rather than the health care worker.
Thank you
Sarah

1. For how long (roughly) were you under general anaesthetic?
2. Have you been under general anaesthesia more than once?
3. Which procedure/s did you undergo?
4. Do you remember your stay in the recovery room? If so...
              4a. Were you shivering/cold? Or too warm?
              4b. Did you have pins and needles in hands or feet?
              4c. Were you in pain?
              4d. If you had prior problems with swallowing did you experience this in the recovery?
              4e. Did you have problems breathing?
                 And did any of the above situations improve during your time in the recovery room?
5. Did you experience any relapse within 1 week of the operation? Was this a temporary relapse or permanent? Which parts of the body were affected with this relapse?

Again, thank you.
I will check regularly on the results.
Sarah

[joenix]

thank you to everyone so far.
it seems like lots of fears are unfounded, or maybe this is because anesthesia has made leaps and bounds in the last years.
i will be sure to share my findings. in the meantime please continue filling in the questionnaire. it gives me pointers on what to add/take away from my present study. it should be completed by february next year, although i will be sure to update at regular intervals
thank you again
sarah

[Mike_Shuswap]

My surgery was March 2009, and I wasn't dx'd w MS til March 2010.

1- 2 to 3 hrs

2- yes, twice before

3- brain biopsy

4- yes
  a- warm
  b- no
  c- can't remember
  d- n/a
  e- no

5- no

I developed a rash all over while recovering in the hospital which they suspected was a reaction to morphine. I was taken off morphine and given what they called T6 instead, but the rash persisted and even worsened a couple days later. I was given prednisone for 3 days and benadryl, the rash subsided, and we still don't know what caused it.

Good luck with your thesis!

Mike

[HVAC]

1. For how long (roughly) were you under general anaesthetic? I do not know


2. Have you been under general anaesthesia more than once? Eleven times with MS


3. Which procedure/s did you undergo? Many different kinds, pretty much a gambit.



4. Do you remember your stay in the recovery room? If so...
              4a. Were you shivering/cold? Or too warm? Cold
              4b. Did you have pins and needles in hands or feet? only after epideral took forever to wear off
              4c. Were you in pain? No
              4d. If you had prior problems with swallowing did you experience this in the recovery? no more than anyone who is tubed.
              4e. Did you have problems breathing?
                 And did any of the above situations improve during your time in the recovery
room?
5. Did you experience any relapse within 1 week of the operation? Was this a temporary relapse or permanent? Which parts of the body were affected with this relapse? No but I do not have a relapsing/remitting MS I have Primary Progressive.

With asthma I do have trouble with having my breathing suppressed easily and I throw up like crazy after a procedure. Most anesthtesiologist know this and give me medications accordingly. I have had so many procedures I usually fall asleep as soon as they put the I.V. in before the drip even starts.

[johnniebear]

Hello,

Not sure if my story will help you. Surgery in April 2011

1. under for  2 3/4 hours
2.  last time I was under was in 2006
3. Repair my Achilles, remove bone spur & anchor implanted
4. Not sure when they brought me in the room, I recall them wanting me to move my leg
     for a  Xray
4A  -no
4B- right arm & hand pins & needles for nearly three days-
4C- from the surgery yes pain.
4D-4E-  No
5.  No

I would like to add I'm not on any DMD'S yet.
When I had a visit with my MS Dr  a month later,  he thought they way I was on the table cause my problem,  I was on my stomach  & my arm stretched out and head turned to one side,  I do have two spinal cord lesion at C4 and C6  and herniated disk at C5/C6

Good luck
Johnniebear

[Sumanadevii]

I can't help either but I will say I am scared to death of having to be put under.  I hope I never face it.

[Lulu54]

Hi Sarah,
Good luck with this gathering of information.  We have kicked around the topic of surgery and relapses more than once here.  I hope our members who have had surgry since their dx will be able to share some of their experiences.

Fortunately, I can't help out here.  I haven't have general anaesthesia since 1973 when my appendix misbehaved.

best, Lulu