General anesthesia and peripheral neuropathy

[guera51]

I suffer from severe peripheral neuropathy of both feet and occasional slight numbness in both hands for approximately 6 years now. No origin of cause has been found- all blood tests have been normal for everything the family doctor can think of. I take Cymbalta 60mg daily which did help slightly but is starting to not help as well.
In Nov. of 2007 I had outpatient surgery for which I given general anesthesia. My concern is that in recovery,while coming to, my feet felt like they were on "FIRE" and the whole "FOURTH OF JULY" was going off in my feet. It was unbearable and excruciating. The recovery people had no idea what was going on and finally after much pleading gave me some benadryl but pill form. That took about 35min. to begin working but the symptoms only finally subsided after 3hours.
   I am being scheduled for knee surgery soon and I'm concerned about this happening again. The surgeon says it would be extremely difficult to do the procedure under local.  WHAT SHOULD I DO?


This discussion is related to Effects of anesthesia on Peripheral Neuropathy?.

[philnoir]

An accurate diagnosis of  neuropathy and its parasthesia may feel like ischemia but is actually neurological phenomenon, meaning that when you wake up and stamp your feet, the majority of your discomfort is relieved by more by stimulation of the nerves in your feet and legs than an increase in circulation.

I too have an idiopathic neuropathy in both feet from spinal stenosis. Lying down usually bothers my feet (they are partially numb, but also feel terribly hot although there is no temperature rise). To resolve this feeling, I often have to get up and walk around.

Still, this is worth exploring so tell the anesthesiologist about your symptoms so he/she can adjust your medication accordingly. A good anesthesiologist will come in to talk with you before the procedure. If you are being wheeled away toward the OR and still haven't talked with this doc, tell the nurse that you wish to do so.

Also, read Caretaker's answer above, which is full of useful information.

[needhelpgb]

I have Peripheral Neuropathy problem on my both feet and both hands almost every night and I had to wake up for that and shake my num parts for proper blood circulation.
I am going to have gallbladder surgery, can general anesthesia affect or worsen my hands and feet issues? I am very much concerned about that.
Now, when it happens at night I wake up but during anesthesia I can't do that. I am afraid after waking up don't know what will happen to my feet and hands.
Any suggestion will be appreciated.

[guera51]

Thank you for your response.  I have passed your suggestions onto my anesthesiologist. They did ask for the op reports and are looking into it and will let me know what they find.
I definitely agree with you about how they responded to me; this surgery will be at another hospital and both surgeon and anesthesiologist do not want to procede until they feel comfortable-- a delay in repairing my knee but increases my confidence in these doctors.
   Thank you again.  I hope more people will respond who have had this happen to them.

[caregiver222]

The first thing that should be done is to request the original operating room records (if they exist) and determine exactly what was injected into your bloodstream. There are several choices of anesthetic. The look up the pharmaceutical in the PDR and then contact the FDA and ask for the person in charge of that product (every product has one person assigned) and explain to them your problem and ask them if there were other complaints. If you are concise and don';t bother them with irrelevant quaetions, you will get an answer.

You are correct to be concerned.

It appears that you may have had a reaction to a specific medication. There is always nitrous oxide. You might want to contact a surgeon who uses hypnosis, which has worked quite well. I know some people who have had major procedures done this way.

I would seriouly think about finding another hospital and operating team. The fact they treated the initial problem so lightly concerns me.