Im interested to know about peoples experiences recovering from a general anaesthetic. I shattered my collar bone recently (xray below). I had the general on Thursday, i now feel like i’ve ran 20 marathons then beaten up Anthony Joshua, with some nausea and faint like feeling thrown in.

Whats was it like with you and how long did the side effects last?

Ed

Took me about 24 hours to recover from a general when I had my wisdom teeth out – and I was only under for about 20 minutes.

It can effect people differently I was pretty rope for a couple of weeks after my GA. However… on top of any anesthetic hangover you’re presumably taking painkillers and they can have a leave you feeling pretty rough. Codeine leaves me in really low spirits if I’m taking it for days on end

I felt groogy that night I had it but felt absolutely fine the following day after I had mine a couple of years ago. I was under about an hour.

I threw up and was excessively groggy and nauseous after all of my operations, wasn’t until the third operation that doctors came to the conclusion that I was intolerant to morphine and codeine. Might be the painkillers that you’re on making you feel a bit off?

Or maybe you keep looking at that x-ray. Ow!

30 years ago I had several when having a bust leg plated. Left me starving!
A week before xmas 12 I had an emergency hernia op. Something has left me feeling still shattered 5 weeks later.
Can’t think waht the difference can be except for 30 years!

Mrs FD had a general on Monday. Took her 2 days to get over it.

Depends on what mix of agents you had, your anaesthetist should have told you?
You’ll probably have had propofol as your main agents and you may well have had muscle relaxant too. (eg rocuronium).
There are always risks of after affects but the likelihood of that continuing in the medium term are very low, however there is still a risk.
Upshot is it depends, no definite answer as to when it will stop. If you’re still concerned speak to hospital.

I quite enjoyed the whole GA experience, to have a broken and dislocated thumb reset and pinned, both the going under and waking up – ‘Morphine Sir’, ‘Don’t mind if I do’.

I think because I turned up at the hospital horribly hungover and dehydrated, then no food or drink for the next 24 hrs, the grottiness afterwards was a substantial improvement.

Wish I’d had a GA for my decommissioning.

I woke up fine from it, but for a couple of years afterwards I felt the ‘cold’. Never did before. Really struggled the first year with my winter m/c commute.

I will let you know on Tuesday…Op on Monday 🙁

I lost my appetite, which is incredibly unusual for me, an never shat for over 2 days! 😯

I’ve had quite a few general anaesthetics and have found the effects to last about 48 hours. I’m unable to function and spend my time drifting in and out of sleep just feel exhausted. Gradually it wears off. I’m not aware of any long term effects. The painkillers I’ve been discharged with have made me feel really ill especially tramadol and diclofenac.

love ’em. The lady who administered mine said, cuz i was nice, she’d give me a ‘special mix’. The feeling of coldness going up your arm, into your neck and then into your head is lovely.

Was starving when i woke up, luckily a plate of sandwiches werent too far away.

I used to have gas at the dentist. Not laughing gas but the stuff that completely knocked you out

Last time I had it was horrible. Took ages to come around and was puking all over the place. Took a few days to feel ok again

I remember the anaesthetist saying something like ‘It’s just going in now, count to five and you’ll be asleep.’ And me thinking ‘Yeah ri…’ Next thing I knew I was in the recovery room being woken up by a nurse. A very strange experiance, no memory of that hour at all, no dreams, nothing at all. I was tired for several weeks afterwards, especially when I exercised. Apparently the GA is absorbed into your body fat and when you metabolise the fat the GA gets into your blood stream.

No problems here other than hiccups that lasted nearly 24hrs.

So you’ve smashed your collar bone, had surgery and you think it’s just the anaesthetic that might be making you tired? Give yourself a break mate. Breaking a collar bone hurts (I know Ive done both and had both plated) and you’re going to knackered for a good week at least.

Mr Jester had hiccups for a week, constant every 3 seconds or so during his waking moments. Only subsided when he went to sleep. He was very relieved when they stopped.

Counted back from 10, reached 8 then woke up in the recovery ward. Was home after a slice of Battenberg and a cup of tea.

your anaesthetist should have told you?

My anaesthetist just said “I’m just going to give you a nice gin and tonic”

Knee Op in the morning few years back, felt a bit tired for a couple of hours afterwards, skiing the next day. Nothing to worry about!

Only two experiences both times I have lost 24 to 36 hours of memory

Had my first GA two weeks ago for a knee op. felt fine straight afterwards but rough the following day and the next. The nausea coincided with the painkillers (coidiene phosphate i think in the bin now). Stopped taking them and felt fine within hours.

You’re lucky. I’ve been told I’m too fat for general’ anesthetic. I had to be fully conscious when they corrected my carpal tunnel syndrome.
It was the scariest thing ever, pulling and chopping, then you could here the blood splatting on the floor when the removed the torniquet.
Nasty.

Dentist’s gas having an extraction as I kid. Vivid dream.
A river running through some sort of tropical jungle. Not very wide.
River goes over a big drop.
On the edge of the drop two trees one on each bank.
With a piece of my gum tied between them.
Trees start to move and get further and further apart. Gum stretches. . .

Never forgotten that & it was 40 years ago.

Had my shoulder plated (slightly worse than yours) plus a wrist with a nerve block.

Felt properly f***ed up for about a week. Oramorphe and sleep worked out quite well.

Feeling better yet?

Spooky, I have had the exact same 2 things as m1ilhouse.

GA is weird. You think it’s going to be like sleeping. It really isn’t.

Wrist straightening with freezy thing and stuff was odd and then I felt really bad and sick a few mins after.

Hmm. Woke up screaming after one- that’s cos I REALLY needed some morphine after getting my leg pinned and plated.. Was on it for 5 days then df118s for the pain afterwards so tbh, I don’t really remember if there was many after effects..
Actually, one of my shins was bald and it took ages to grow back.. Something electronic they attached to stop the bleeding I think? Hopefully someone can explain..

Great. GA and morphine after a m/cycle crash. Woke up starving and thirsty. Indian guy in the bed next to me gave me a lental dahl his wife had bought in for him and some spicey scotch egg type things (one of my most memorable meals) big glug of lucozade and then out like a light for 24hrs!! Fine after that.

Gas at the dentist when i was younger was nasty stuff , woke up feeling crap and felt that way for hours after .

Went in to hospital in 2011 for a minor op , had a general anasthetic . It was awsome , came round and felt like i’d had the best sleep ever , clear head like i’ve never known . Went in search of food then went back to work beause i couldn’t settle at home .

Had a short GA to put a stubbornly dislocated shoulder back in (sunday night).

Thought I was feeling sort of OK by the wednesday so got smuggled into work for an hour to help them sort something. As soon as out and about found I was getting sweats / generally shaky. Took a few more days to get fully out of system. Not sure how much of this was down to Sunday’s cocktail of GA / morphine / gas & air / Codeine etc.

Lasting memory is anaesthetist telling me (with a smile) “this is the stuff they killed Michael Jackson with”…..

Currently recovering from a hernia operation on Tuesday night – GA wore off in 24 hours , now just dosed up on pain killers – stuck on the sofa – three weeks min off the bike – very very bored

Profopol for each hernia op. They inject lidocaine into your vein first as it can sometimes burn a bit. Woke up every time very euphoric for half hour and then very sleepy. Lasted 48 hours. Had oramorph for pain relief after surgery and then codiene and diclofenac.

I always have low oxygen sats levels after surgery so I’m on oxygen overnight.

Only ever had 2. After each I had weird skin reactions for weeks afterwards…. Exposure to cold caused large red raised areas of skin.

That and a ‘sair erse’…..apparently due to pain killing suppositories…..

I’ve had several over the past few years due to multiple eye operations, first one wiped me out for a fortnight, walking up the stairs and I needed a nap. After that been fine after 48 hours. I think it depends on what they give you.
I didn’t have any painkillers

Slightly OT but I have had two GA experiences and find it strange how the Drs advice for afterwards differs. First one was to have my toncils out, I was in hospital for 3 days and told not to drive or work for 4 weeks. Second one was an op on my broken leg and I was told I could drive an auto that afternoon and go to work the next day. Why would these be so different?

I had a GA the week before xmas for a Tonsillectomy/Biopsy, had the op about ten in the morning, felt a bit cold for the first hour or two after the op but nothing much else and I was fit to go home six in the evening.
I had four teeth (one wisdom, three molars) out on Wednesday as part of my cancer treatment. It was done in the local hospital day surgery under local anesthetic, the op took less than half an hour and they let me go home after a further half hour.

Had one for a circumcision when I was 22. No probs from the GA, I was more worried about the swelling that made the end of Little Nick point off to the left. The next night was spent at a party, I woke up the next day behind the sofa. No ill effects 🙂