Surgery and anesthesia with FND?

[AjaStar]

Have any of you undergone surgery with FND? I need to have a hysterectomy that would put me under for at least two hours and I’m scared how my brain is gonna react. Will I wake up worse? Please share your experiences with your types of surgery and anesthesia used and how it affected your FND symptoms. Thanks

[M3rry]

Ask to talk to the anaesthetist in advance. Tell him/her about your reactions to drugs especially if you use opiates and/or benzodiazapines and any antidepressants - basically all of them. If you do well with opiates them you can ask they use fentanyl. Yes it is dangerous, yes it kills if it is used incorrectly... but it is due to it being a (relatively) safe anaestheic. The big advantage is that is is also a good painkiller.

From experience - my husband was in this situation and mentioned that he gets fentanyl patches for his pain - the anaesthetist was happy as he could just give him more of a drug my husband was accustomed to (which makes it safer).

But get it discussed in advance as everyone is different and your reaction might be very different. (Personally I react better to anaesthetics than to sedation and recover much faster.)

Personally I am more interested in how the shock menopause will affect you - I'm having uterine problems and this is possibly my worst case scenario (I'm hoping for something less invasive - not that any treatment in this area is anything but intrusive)

[AjaStar in reply to M3rry]

I want to leave my ovaries that’ll keep you from going into menopause

[CORFUORBUST]

Whatever you do, do not give them that diagnosis. I just had surgery and it went well. I am on lots of different tablets and they go through them all. I had general anaesthetic for a 2 hour surgery and I was fine. I had bladder surgery so under gynea. What affects you is the after care, which is borderline none, once you are out of recovery. I felt that as I have been "labelled" FND, I got no sympathy or duty of care. I was in Ealing hospital, London and it was an absolute dump and I would never go there again. To expand I have many allergies and I also have coeliac disease, they took none of them seriously. Doctors and physios would come in and had bathed in perfume even though I am allergic. I was also covered in plasters which I am allergic to and have had to deal with numerous rashes and welts. They sent me food that was not gluten free and fortunately for me I looked at it and thought that it could not possibly be gluten free and when I checked with the staff, it was not, but, they could not care and just kept asking me do you want a sandwich!! God only knows if I had ate it how seriously ill I would be. I eventually asked to go home a few days early as I was sick of the way they treated me and did not take me seriously.

[AjaStar in reply to CORFUORBUST]

I’m glad you woke up ok. I had a minor procedure where I was under for 20 minutes and I woke up to irregular heartbeats that lasted a half hour....so I’m scared what’s gonna happen after two and a half hours.

[CORFUORBUST in reply to AjaStar]

Oh sorry to hear that and I truly hope that you'll be ok. Good luck.

[Penny-Lane]

Hi, I am in Australia. I had bariatric surgery to fix some problems about a week after I came home from the neurology unit (1 month) and then rehab unit (2weeks). I was not in a good way but had a lovely surgery who listened to my fears about seizing in surgery or in recovery. I found out later that he sat in recovery until I woke up just so he could help if I started to seize. He left adequate pain relief and anti-nausea and strangely (but happily!) the oxycodone he left relieved all my symptoms except trouble walking while I was taking it. I went from seizing several times a day (full blown thrashing on a bed for 10 minutes plus), very affected speech and global dystonia to just trouble walking. I was treated kindly and with respect by the nurses and given my Gluten free FODMAP diet. It was a private hospital in Melbourne. I have to say that the large teaching hospital where I stayed for a month, after the first admission treated me with care and dignity. They came and quietly held my hands through every fit (I would hit myself), and looked after my showering, eating, dressing, toileting and general care with compassion and no hint that I was anything but another genuine neuro patient. This was the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, a big public hospital. I feel lucky after hearing other people's stories of hospital treatment.