Were you Groggy the first day???

Julie-

You will be groggy the first day, especially if you have the morphine pump. For the 1st 24 hours, it drips continuously. I was thankful for the pain relief because when I first woke up.....ouch!!. But..they are experts and only give you what you need to handle the pain. I was groggy and falling asleep often, but had no trouble communicating with anyone.

I could comprehend what people were saying and answer them pretty well.

The anesthetist will control your dose and they are pretty good at what they do. Just let him/her know your concerns and they will adjust your doseage accordingly!

Good luck!!!

I wasn't groggy and was completely free of pain. I had a spinal for surgery and an epidural for post op pain relief.

The sedation (no tube in throat) used with a regional is different from the sedation used for general. And with a regional, the level of sedation can be varied (light--just relaxed, medium-groggy, heavy--sleep through it all).

If you do opt for an epidural you may want to ask if it can be left in for 24 hours post op pain. I wasn't sure if I could tolerate a PCA morophine pump. (nausea, fogginess, etc) I wasn't concerned about morphine in an epidural/spinal because it doesn't have the same circulation--effects are limited to nerve-endings in lower portion of body and drug does not cross brain/blood barrier.

I was awake, alert, and not sick when my family came to visit me in my room after I got out of recovery. I felt great and had absolutely NO pain. If I had had general or a pca pump I would have probably had a very foggy brain and maybe an emesis basin in front of me. A previous experience with general before left me with severe nausea and for three days. I wanted to be sure this time I could have a decreased chance so they also gave me zofran before this surgery.

General vs epidural
https://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/sho...light=sedation

pca pump or epidural for post op pain management
https://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/sho...pidural+or+pca

Difference between spinal and epidural
https://www.hystersisters.com/vb2/sho...ghlight=spinal

Hey, you know, I already posted here but I just wanted to add another thing that you might ask your Dr. and the A man about. I had what they call a Lidocane Bath inserted into my incision. It is a tiny little tube they put in your incision that constantly drips a numbing medicine (narcon I think). Anyway, it is new here, about 6 months. It makes your incision site numb, well not completely numb, but I am sure it helped a lot because I did not use that PCA machine at all, only Motrin every 6 hours. They left it in the next day after my surgery. It slowly drips down until no medicine is left. I was worried that when they took it out, it would hurt and the pain would come, but by the time they pulled it, out the medication had already dried up and the tube just slipped out. I absolutely felt nothing! Truely!

hugs, val

Wow Val, that sounds just like what I need. I'll have to inquire about it with my dr. If they work that good, maybe they should give everyone a Lidocaine bath.

My hyst was the first surgery I'd ever had in my life, and I'd heard and read all kinds of things about the anesthesia - alot of them were horror stories!

Luckily, none of my worries came true. I was just fine as soon as I came out of recovery. I was tired, that's for sure, but not foggy or confused. I loved having visitors and my DSO stayed with me every moment he was allowed to. I'm not saying I could have danced around the room, but I was amazed at how well I felt! I wish the same for you!




HollyG