Spinal with general anesthesia questions

I was wondering how the spinal (morphine spinal, that is) works with the general anesthesia.

Many of you have written about it and said it worked wonders.

How does it actually work? I mean, do you feel the morphine same as if you had a pump? Or, does it work differently?

I'm scheduled for a TAH this coming Friday (June 25), and I'm wondering if I should ask for it.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

MarieMarie

Hi,

I had the spinal block (not the epidural) morphine with general anaesthesia. It was very good, apparently the anaesthetic knocks you out but doesn't block the pain very well so that's why the morphine is good as well. It was a single dose while I was out, then when I woke up I went for the morphine pump as I wanted to be in control rather than having to wait for the nurses to get around to giving the injection. I would recommend the pump, you can use it as much or as little as you like, you can't overdose as the more you have the sleepier you get.

I was off the morphine after 24 hours and only using ibruprofen and paracetemol after that, now only ibruprofen to reduce post op swelling, no pain though.

Good luck!

xxx

I had the spinal and a dose of knock-out medicine. It was awesome. When I woke up I wasn't very drowsy at all and there was still a nice numbness from the waist down so there was no reason to hook me up to a morphine pump. Only problem was that something they put in the spinal ( I don't remember what it was called or what it did) really, really made my nose itch.

I had a spinal, and I highly recommend it. However, the anestheseologist didn't say anything about putting morphine in the spinal. I think it was more like a block, since it did numb me from the waist down to the point that I could not move myself onto the operating table after the spinal had been done. It wasn't painful, and I had no lasting effects (no pain at the site of injection afterward). The anestheseologist said that she could give me LESS general anesthesia if I had the spinal. I normally have a very hard time waking up from anesthesia, but this time, I woke up fairly quickly. After I woke up, I had the morphine pump but only used it once. Thanks to the spinal, I didn't need it. So yes, I recommend having the spinal.

I had the same kind of experience as Artbird - I would really recommend it. I didn't use the pump at all - I had a morphine drip in my IV for the first 24 hours as my spinal didn't take effect fully on my left side but the dose was so low that the nurses said I would not notice if I was not taking it at all. I was onto Advil and Tylenol by the next morning with no pain at all.

I really liked the fact that I woke up very "awake" and was able to walk the evening of my operation.

Good luck - life on the "other side" is WONDERFUL!!

Once again, I find another thing I didn't know. I am going to talk with my doctor about a spinal. I had two surgeries last year, gall bladd and lap. both times I was hard to wake up. I like the idea of not having to have alot of anesthesia.
So if this is what sounds good to you. Diffently ask for it.
Thanks

I had spinal morphine with general anesthesia and I LOVED the results. The pain control was fantastic without the worries of depressed breathing, which would have been a major issue for me (probably would have meant time on the vent ICK). They were able to use less anesthesia too, which was no doubt good for my breathing.

I was a little apprehensive about how it would feel to get a spinal cath inserted, but the anesthesiologist was fantastic. She numbed the site very well (only a little sting from the lidocaine at first, then nothing!) and got it in on the first try.

For postop pain, it worked the same as with a patient controlled IV analegesia. Just push the button when it hurts and out you go again

I had general anesthesia with a single spinal injection of morphine. It's called dermorph. They did the injection in my lower spine at the same time they put me to sleep so I didn't feel it (I was sitting up--they laid me on the table after I was asleep). It doesn't numb your lower body; it just kills the pain for 24 hours to get you through the worst of it. Mine lasted about 30 hours. I was up and walking the afternoon of my surgery. I never really felt any pain even when I got home. You do have to stay overnight if you use this. My doctor said it might make me itch (which it did). They give you benadryl for the itching. It also didn't make me sick like most pain medication does.

I had general anesthesia with an epidural. I was told there was some demoral (sp?) in it.

Well my epidural only worked on half of me. The left side felt pretty normal. But the right side was in complete agony.

They tried to adjust it by pulling it out just a bit. But it did not work. So they ended up giving me a demoral boost into the IV every few hours to help. It only took the edge off.

Moral of the story....the back stuff works great, as long as it works all the way.