General Anesthesia

[eliza]

Is there an RLS algorithm for general anesthesia anywhere?

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.

Eliza

[ViewsAskew]

Hi Eliza,

I am so sorry you had to go through that. Thankfully he administered the Fentanyl. One of our members, a few years ago, was administered something that made her RLS and PLMD so bad that she actually caused damage to her leg from the kicking.

I wish it were different, but as of now none of us can assume ANY of the people we will meet in a hospital will know about RLS. I went through a horrid time in 1998...I'd hope it would be better ten years later, but I don't think it's improve all that much, based on your experience.

Yes, there is a booklet from the Foundation. http://www.rls.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.as ... &srcid=471 It is downloadable.

I'll use this as an opportunity for shameless shilling. If you are not a member of the RLS Foundation, please mail in your $25 US dollars. They do have many brochures available for us - members or not - but it costs money to create these kinds of things. If we all chip in, maybe we can make a difference to the future of our children, who won't ever have to go to a hospital and have this happen to them.

[pedrime]

How awful. Bad enough to have surgery but the lack of knowledge from an MD on top of that. I also can't believe you wouldn't automatically receive fent or another strong opiate post-op. If you had to go under the knife one would assume strong pain relief would be in order. Your anesth. sounds like a ditz. Thanks for sharing your story and glad it's over for you.

(BTW was reading my hubby's Men's Health once and it estimated 10% of anesth's are opiate addicts. Maybe your guy was siphoning yours off)

[KBear]

On the subject of anesthesia I will be having a colonoscopy on Monday and will be "out" for the procedure. Does anyone know what they commonly use to put you under for a colonoscopy?

[Polar Bear]

I had this procedure done about 3 years ago. Don't know what anaesthetic was used but it was not an awful procedure. Felt a bit strange to be watching a screen and see a tube while it travels through your body, but that didn't last long, I was soon 'out of it'. Worst bit was being told to roll over on the table (preparing for the inevitable) and looking into the face of my (nurse) neighbour from 3 doors up She asked me if I'd prefer that she leave but I reckoned with her experience it might as well be my foot or leg she was viewing and told her just to continue... past caring....

Can't recall any awful after effects.

Good luck, Betty.

[eliza]

Pedrime, well I must be feeling better because your post made me laugh. Lol – “ditz” that’s funny. He never did get it. Even after everything was over I tried to impart a little wisdom to him. I told him the fentanyl stopped the RLS completely and instantly. He said “Yes, people really like it for pain.” Hm, pain wasn’t the issue with me.

Kathy, with regard to colonoscopy anesthesia it might be the same if it’s general anesthesia. My surgery was just a biopsy and there were no stitches or anything (if I’d had stitches the repercussions from the wild thrashing would have been much worse). They also did the tube in the throat thing – being proactive I guess. Anyway I got the full deal. I’d definitely print out the brochure Ann mentioned and take it along. If they know what to do it should go without a hitch. Take care and I’ll be thinking about you.

[FidgetBoy]

Just a tip-- in general, the most common medications that RLS'ers get exposed to in a surgical procedure that can worsen symptomatology are the nausea meds: compazine, droperidol and reglan. Since reglan is almost never used-- I have simply taken the step of adding compazine and droperidol on my "allergies" list. The secret is to say your reaction is "severe dystonias"-- once that gets put on your wrist band, people will avoid those meds like the plague.

[ViewsAskew]

Josh, in English, please

I mean, what if they say to me, "So, tell me about the severe dystonias.."

[Aiken]

Dystonia is literally just bad tone in muscles. Usually it's continuous spasming.

Not far off of the mark for many RLS patients when something sends them over the edge, really.

[Neco]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dystonia

I think that's actually written down in my chart

[SquirmingSusan]

For my surgery in December, I made sure that every doctor involved knew what not to give me. At my pre-op physical I made sure that my primary doc wrote down the stuff to avoid, and then when my gynecologist came in before surgery I made sure that she understood, and then when the anesthesiologist talked to me, I made sure that he understood. Understood as in "I'm not going in there if you don't get this." Fortunately he listened well and told me they would use Zofran instead of compazine.

It wasn't technically general anesthesia, but it was the same drugs. They called it "MAC." It was a combination of Fentanyl, Valium, and a barbiturate. I slept so well. They told me I had a smile on my face.

[mackjergens]

Here is a link where you will find info about surgery and RLS. Its actually a pampet you can print off and give to your Dr's before Surgery.

This is a long list of pamplets on RLS, just continue to scroll down thru the list and you will find "Surgery & RLS


http://www.rls.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.as ... &srcid=471

[FidgetBoy]

Sorry all-- I should have explained "dystonias"... it's a combination of muscle spasms and constant, uncontrollable, sometimes very violent movements... it feels/looks very, very similar to RLS. Most medical providers know more about "dystonia" then RLS so the term carries more weight. Since I've received compazine before and I did experience very, very bad RLS and my doctors called it a "dystonic" reaction-- I've always equated dystonia with RLS.

[ViewsAskew]

Thanks, Josh (and everyone else who replied) for explaining the dystonia thing.

[susieandirenes]

Every time I come to this website I learn something important!

I have never filled out one of the RLS cards, but I will now!
And on it will go:

ALLERGIES: Compazine, Droperidol =
severe dystonia, muscle spasms

There are probably other things I should put on there also!

Thanks so much for sharing your lives! It means a lot to those of us out here bouncing around.