Epidural vs General

My surgery is on March 7, everything in place except what type of "knock out" do I want. My dr. doesn't decide that just me and Mr. A, my best buddy. The drs. nurse told me a epidural is the way to go. She said no tube in throat, no sudden onset of pain, no groggy feeling once fully awake. I don't know what to opt for. I have had a spinal with a c-section and remember not liking it too well. I would appreciate any feedback. I am having a TAH/BSO with possible bladder sling. Thanks in advance for the info!

I, myself had general. Which I was so afraid of due to past surgeries. The anesthesia was the scariest part of the entire thing for me. Before I'd had a horrible time coming out of it. I felt miserable and it made me sick. This time I came out really well. I did have the grogginess. I do remember the recovery room, barely and I did sleep alot once I got back into my room. I was in my room at 2 or so in the afternoon and by 9 that night I was wide awake and finally started doing the morphine so that I could sleep. I had one small bout of nausea this time and they quick gave me something to kill that and it worked. I chose general because I didn't want the spinal either. I did have verced in my IV before I even went into the OR. However, there are alot of ladies that have had the epi too and loved that.
To get alot of differant opinions do a search with anesthesia, spinal or general and it should bring up alot of posts.
Good luck on your surgery and let us know how it goes and what you chose and your experiance.

I had the spinal for tah, loved it, a little uncomfortable during procedure but the recovery is wonderful , no nausea etc. felt more awake was able to visit with family 1 hr. later. Only reaction I got was the itching from the morphine which they controlled with Benadryl. Good luck with your surgery and hope all goes well, see on the other side soon.
Bertha J.

I had a spinal for a C section and I didn't like the feeling of paralysis for so many hours- however- with the hyst they can also sedate you a bit so you probably wouldn't care. The spinal is considered somewhat safer than general ,though these days deaths under general are very rare. The epidural is somewhat different- I believe you have to keep a tube in for the duration of your stay, and that didn't appeal to me.

I had decided to go with spinal w sedation because I didn't like the idea of being totally unconscious (control issue, I think). However, for some reason A man had difficulty with the spinal and had to put me under. I had absolutely no problems- no sore throat or nausea ,and my recovery was easy. I was groggy initially but it wasn't unpleasant. One nurse told me her observation of patients was that the spinal ones seem to do better recovery wise, but I was an exception. Other patients were very surprised I even had a hyst!

If you go with the spinal, I'd recommend mild sedation because sometimes the surgery can go on for a while and you'll become bored or anxious.

Epidural and General

Hi Maci

I had a "twilight general" for my hyst with an epidural for post op pain relief. The twilight general is not as full on as a full general, but I was not awake for any part of the op - would not have wanted to be awake as surgery was over 3 hours in my case.

The epidural was in place for 48 hours post op and I did very well with it. Some ladies don't handle the epi well or dislike the numb feeling. Personally it didn't bother me. If I were ever to have surgery again, I would go this way again. The very best part was no barfing post op.

You really need to discuss this with your "a" man and go with whatever you are comfortable with.

Also, if you do a search and type in Epidural, you will find heaps of threads discussing for/against.

All the very best wishes for your surgery.

Regards

I had an epidural for my TAH BSO - vertical incision and a sedative to "relax" me during surgery since I certainly didn't want to be awake for it! For me, it was ideal. Last thing I remember was sitting on table in operating room being told that the Anesthesiologist was putting something in my IV to help me relax - and next thing I 'm aware of is waking up in my room 4 hours later. I had no pain, no nausea or headaches as I had with previous general anesthesia. the epidural was left in for 24 hours when another dose of the pain medicine was administered before the needle was removed - again no pain, no discomfort and no "dead" feeling. I was able to get up that same day and after the epidural and catheter were removed, I was up going to the bathroom. I would definitely go this way again as the pain was minimal, I didn't have to worry about waking up in pain and having to push a pump, and I didn't have any of the nausea and headaches attached to the other types of anesthesia or pain medicines.
Everyone reacts differently. I had wanted the pain pump and general anesthesia but my Dr. recommended strongly doing it this way and I'm glad I listened. Good luck!


TAH BSO - vertical incision 1/20/03 for solid ovarian mass and uterine hyperplasia with atypia - NEGATIVE Pathology report - Yea!! on slow but steady road to recovery

I had a tvh in June and had an epidural. They gave me a little
something to relax me, and I "slept" through most of the
surgery! My roommate had general anesthesia and was sick
to her stomach and her throat hurt. The epidural also kept me
numb for a little longer too! It's the only way to go.

I had a TVH which lasted 2 1/2 hours with a spinal and no sedation. It was a bit boring but felt great after. No morphine,
just pain suppositories for one day. I'll be having bladder surgery in the near future and hope to have it done the same way.

I had a spinal/epidural for my TAH/LSO 2 weeks ago, also when I had RSO 2 years ago. This time was better, slightly awake during surgery (talked to my surgeon more than once during surgery, asked some questions about that darn ovary, he asked if I wanted to see it, and I did!). My recoverywas wonderful, my DH could not believe that I had just been through major surgery.

Words of warning: they used a pump for morphine in my epidural post surgery - it did not control my pain, and they ended up removing it and giving me a PCA (still morphine) which did the trick. Not uncommon, so if the epidural morphine isn't cutting it for you, complain! I also was one of those 1 in 300 who need a blood patch to control a spinal headache - but since I knew that could be a complication, I pushed to have a headache checked out and not written off as a reaction to morphine.

Despite the above, I still am glad a chose the spinal route, would even use it again if (God forbid) I end up in the castle again.
s - Christine

I had surgery two weeks ago--TAH BSO. I thought I wanted an epidural or spinal (had epidural for both of my C-sections), but the anesthesiologist said he strongly recommended a general for this type of hysterectomy. He said if I really insisted I could have a spinal. I decided to bite the bullet and have the general. I was pleasantly surprised in that I wasn't sick afterward at all. The particular staff anesthesiologist I had must have known his drugs. It's funny because when he came into the pre-op area, my husband and I (we're both 52) were surprised because he looked about the age of my mother-in-law--76. As it turned out, this doc was terrific. He put the iv in with absolutely no problem--I didn't even feel it. He gave me anti-anxiety medicine and started chatting so that I'd feel comfortable. My gyn later told me that she used this guy when she had her kids (both C-sections).