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Over medicated with Anesthesia

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  • itchin

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    Anyone have experience with this? I guess its somewhat common. Anyway it can be deadly and is scary as shit. I failed English and am not a writer so bear with me and I'll tell you why I have been Googling.

    Last Friday my MIL and my wife's aunt drove up from Corpus to P/U my wife and daughter for Christmas preperations. (We go every year). I planned on meeting them Xmas eve because I had to work.

    She got about 20 miles from the house and had to go to the ER in an ambulance. To sum it up her gall bladder was bad and had to be removed. So Monday she has a successful operation. (Monday before Christmas) .

    Here's the really scary part. She is not her self she is trying to bite and hit people. They said it was a reaction to the drugs. But tonight she's still in the hospital in that state. (Something you'd see in a mental hospital) She is paranoid and combative. Ripping out I vs and caths.. Its really hard to see her like that and even worse for my wife. I cannot believe this long after the surgery she would still be like this.


    Anyway I'm wondering if anyone has had this happen or has seen this in a hospital setting? There is some stuff online but involving mostly elderly. (She's later 50s).
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    vmax

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    I would be talking to the patient advocate and demanding some answers.

    Dang, I hate to hear that, it does not sound like anything remotely acceptable. You'd think any of those drugs would be out of her system
    My mom had open heart this year and they gave her some crap that kept her really groggy for a full day because they want them coming out of it slowly, and I thought that was a long recovery
     

    itchin

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    That's what I was thinking. The surgery was on Monday. I read an article that said anesthesia targets the brain and reduces activity. I just hope she gets back to normal.

    Her husband is trying to transfer her to another hospital. I'll let him know about the patient advocate. Thanks.
     

    Chupacabra Hunter

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    My mother had the same surgery this past month...she is 78.... the anesthesia wore off within the day or so... she was groggy up until then. I would ask the surgeon when he makes his rounds or ask the nurse to ask the surgeon. Everyone reacts differently to the anesthesia...

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    Chupacabra Hunter

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    My mother had the same surgery this past month...she is 78.... the anesthesia wore off within the day or so... she was groggy up until then. I would ask the surgeon when he makes his rounds or ask the nurse to ask the surgeon. Everyone reacts differently to the anesthesia...hope it goes well fit your mil..

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    General Zod

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    My dad gets that way when he goes to the hospital - EVERY TIME he has to stay overnight, whether there's anesthesia involved or not. Hospitals mess with people's perceptions, and with certain elderly people, it's worse than you can imagine. My dad gets confused (forgetting what year it is and what city he's in, thinking he's in a hotel...) paranoid (thinking he's being held against his will and that people are trying to steal his belongings) and belligerent. He has threatened to attack people and has attempted to remove catheters and IV's, even after discussions about exactly why he has them and agreement that he will not attempt to remove them. Ten minutes later, there he goes...

    Bear in mind, this is a normally lucid and competent 80 year old man with no trace of dementia on a normal day. But if he has to spend a night in the hospital, he becomes a complete effing loon and it can take weeks for him to recover fully.
     

    IXLR8

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    My neighbors kid had a similar experience. It went away in few days, and he is fine now. It takes some time to excrete all of the drugs. People react differently to medication, and unplanned interactions do occur. I hope things work out well for you and your family.
     

    itchin

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    Zod your dad's experience makes me hopeful. The scary thing for me is today is Friday and she is still in that state of mind. I figured she would have come out of it by now. I appreciate all yalls input. It makes me feel a lot better about the situation.
     

    Greg_TX

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    My dad gets that way when he goes to the hospital - EVERY TIME he has to stay overnight, whether there's anesthesia involved or not. Hospitals mess with people's perceptions, and with certain elderly people, it's worse than you can imagine. My dad gets confused (forgetting what year it is and what city he's in, thinking he's in a hotel...) paranoid (thinking he's being held against his will and that people are trying to steal his belongings) and belligerent. He has threatened to attack people and has attempted to remove catheters and IV's, even after discussions about exactly why he has them and agreement that he will not attempt to remove them. Ten minutes later, there he goes...

    Bear in mind, this is a normally lucid and competent 80 year old man with no trace of dementia on a normal day. But if he has to spend a night in the hospital, he becomes a complete effing loon and it can take weeks for him to recover fully.
    My mom acted pretty much the same way the last couple of times she was in the hospital, minus the aggression. Very paranoid, vivid hallucinations, thinking everyone there was trying to hurt her, hearing voices, etc. No amount of reassurance from me or her friends would help. The strange thing was that even the next day she would repeat everything word-for-word that she said the day before, so it was much more real to her than just a bad dream. Once she got home, in her own environment, she was just fine.
     

    F350-6

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    I don't know anything about this type of stuff, but as an outside observation, I notice everyone focusing on the anesthesia or possibly the environment. Keep in mind that she's probably being given other medications still, and there's always a chance that it's one of the meds she's on now, not what happened a week ago that is causing her to act like this.
     

    jordanmills

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    That's rough. Do you know what they gave her? It's usually propofol (milky white liquid) for general surgery in most people. In moderate doses, it's a hypnotic and can cause an altered conscious mental state, but nothing really like a paranoid schizophrenic episode like you seem to describe. Higher doses cause paralysis and eventual death. I have one of the worst reactions to it on the scale that I'm aware of (short of an allergy, of course) as it causes periodic amnesia for about two weeks after I'm given even a proper dose (obviously an allergic reaction would cause near immediate anaphylaxis and likely death). Additionally, the bloodstream half life is about three minutes, anesthetic concentrations are about four times the consciousness threshold (about 2 mcg/mL, the consciousness threshold is about 0.50 mcg/mL).

    Of interesting note is that propofol is passively absorbed by other organs and passively released to equalize saturation - a long sedation (on the order of at least a couple of days) will result in a prolonged secondary recovery from the primary effects (i.e. the patient will feel groggy for hours if their non-blood tissue has absorbed a lot of it). If she has been given some other medication that displaces propofol, it will largely remain unmetabolized in other tissues while she is on the displacing stuff, and she will remain in this state until she's recovered enough to have whatever is displacing the propofol removed from her regimen. But since propofol is largely polar (not soluble in water), it is unlikely that she is on anything else that could displace it.

    The point of all that rambling is that her current state is very likely unrelated to the anesthesia.

    This is all just supposition based on a guess of what she's been given and a wild guess at her physical condition and recent treatment regimen. It may be completely off the mark. At any rate, anesthesia is a pretty complex and moderately risky procedure. People sometimes just die from it. It should only be administered by a well trained professional, usually standing with a doctor.
     

    benenglish

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    I've had experience with a sister who has been through a number of surgeries and an extended induced coma. She extubates (every single time!), pulls her IVs, fights, has elaborate paranoid delusions, sees people who aren't there, talks to them...the list is endless. Generally all this clears up within a couple of days after the procedure but she must be restrained in the meantime. It's painful to watch but no longer unexpected.

    Two things.

    First, one of the best resources I've found is the patient advocate for the hospital. Vmax hit it on the head with that advice. I hope you've talked to that person, itchin2shoot. Just remember that, ultimately, the family member with legal standing is the person who controls. It's difficult and there are rules and procedures, but I've successfully fired the attending surgeon while my sister was still in recovery. I'm not suggesting that course of action; I'm just pointing out that, ultimately, the family controls. I'd be interested to know what sort of response you've gotten from the patient advocate.

    Second, by my count it's been about 5 days since the procedure, right? With my sis, this stuff usually went away in less than two days. Once, however, it went on for almost 3 weeks. She recovered. My point? Don't lose hope. You're not at that point, yet. Far from it.

    Prayers sent.
     

    itchin

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    Thanks guys. especially Ben for sharing his experience. I just spoke with me wife and she said her mother is showing signs of improvement. She ate some eggs and toast and is affectionate instead of combative. We are Hoping this is the beginning of her fully recovering. Thanks guys.
     

    robertc1024

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    Good to hear. Bodies/brains work in weird ways. I spent two days screaming at my wife in the ICU that I wanted sausage. What I really wanted was water. We joke about it now, but it ain't no fun until you're over the hump. Prayers to your MIL and family.
     
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