I wish I’d had one yesterday that I could pull out of my pocket and give to my anesthesiologist before surgery. After being reassured by the hospital that they knew all about it, and would give me meds that would help the RLS, I knew I was in trouble when I mentioned to the anesthesiologist that some anti-nausea drugs worsened RLS. He said, “Really, which ones?” Of course I was unprepared and didn’t know.
In recovery, I started thrashing about with out-of-control RLS. He kept telling me I had to be still or I was going to impact my recovery. I kept repeating that I had RLS all over. It was obvious he didn’t have a clue. Doesn’t it seem logical that if I could have stopped thrashing I would have? I told him if I could put a piece of methadone under my tongue it would stop the RLS. He curtly said he didn’t have any and when I told him my husband had my prescription it was met with silence.
Something must have clicked eventually because he finally gave me fentanyl. Although he gave it to me because he thought I was writhing in pain, it instantly relieved the RLS squirminess too. Thankfully! Googling it now, I see it’s an opiate-type drug. Ah, no wonder it worked. Maybe he put two & two together from the methadone comments.
Sorry for the saga, venting I guess, but I do wonder if there was some med guideline us RLSers could take into surgery with us. If there isn’t one yet, is there someone at the RLS foundation who could compile one?
Thanks, and if you have general anesthesia, remember fentanyl.
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Eliza