Re: Recent General Anaesthesia - a good experience

[Guest guest]

Gretchen,

I had to respond to your post about nerve blocks making CMT worse.

I had a nerve block and this did not make my CMT worse. Indeed without a

nerve block I cannot imagine the type of pain I would have felt after elbow

surgery which lasted 3 hours. My surgeon and anaesthesiologist told me that

the majority of surgical pain is trauma related and that the block would

enable the body to process the trauma pain and I would then be left only

with healing pain. This was certainly my case.

I was nervous about a reaction between CMT and the block, but as far as I

could see the worse reaction was the fact they moved my ulnar nerve, which

caused a persistent " fizz " feeling for about the first week after surgery in

my hands (I don't think that was related to the nerve block).

Each of us needs to do what we feel comfortable with and have educated

discussions about pros and cons of treatments before doing them.

Donna from London

[Guest guest]

Donna:

I'm sure the anesthesiologist counseled you on the possible

complications of whatever kind of " nerve block " you had (Axillary vs

Interscalene- Brachial Plexus Block vs Bier(Arm). Once you understand

that the " block " may give you permanent damage, transient damage or

even a permanent, total neuropathy, and you choose that course based on the

incidence of same, then all the consequences are in your court.

Because an anesthesia provider " has never seen " a complication doesn't

mean it never happens. I tend to be overprotective and shy away from

POTENTIAL problems. And being more paralyzed than I am is not my idea

of a good time!!

Hope everything went well with you and that you benefit from the ulnar

nerve transposition.

As this is a common occupational and sports condition, how did your

surgeon distinguish your peripheral neuropathy as opposed to that

caused by compression at the ulnar groove?

Dennis

[Guest guest]

Dennis,

I had an interscalene block I believe. We chose this as the pain management

aspect to my recovery was important to me.

I had a complete elbow restabilisation which involved moving the ulnar nerve

(now back where it started) - the surgery was a complete success. Sometimes

in the whole scheme of things, one needs to decide which condition to focus

treatment on - for me fixing my elbow was extremely important, so that was

my focus, at the potential risk to other aspects of my health (e.g. CMT).

I do not think that people should be scared of anaesthesia, or even the

scary sounding technical posts that are made on . Rather through

awareness, dialogue and conscience decision making we can all make better

choices and focus our treatment accordingly.

Best wishes from London,

Donna