Re: Surgery with local anesthesia

[Guest guest]

Dear e, Thank you for your response, and I will definitely think about having general v. local. And I really appreciate the information regarding light anesthesia, and will pass it on to other women I know also concerned about general anesthesia and hair loss. If you find out any other information regarding light anesthesia and the different drugs used I would really appreciate it.

But as far as general anesthesia causing hair loss this is not arguable. It absolutely does. It is documented in several medical journals. Not all dr.'s may agree or be aware of this, but than again not all dr.'s, or should I say very few, agree that implants can cause women any harm.

Thanks again,

----- Original Message -----

From: e L

Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 8:23 AM

Subject: Re: Surgery with local anesthesia

,

I would be very leary of having an explantation done under local. While the thought may be very tempting, if the doctor should get in there and find a mess, you definately don't want to have him/her digging around with only a local. There is no way you can have a spinal, either, simply because it is too high up and the risk of respiratory depression and apnea (when you stop breathing) is a very high possibility. Anyway, no smart doctor would (or should) do a spinal that high up. And even if you did have a local, if they needed to dig around, they might need to put you to sleep anyway. Trust me, after my heart surgery, when I had all my complications, and had to have my chest opened up 4x to do I & D's (irrigation and debridements), I had only locals, and I felt every little pull, tug, stretch, and movement. And my heart surgeon loaded me up with locals, including lidocaine, marcaine, tetracaine, ! and bupivacaine. And he wasn't even going as deep as a ps will need to go to remove implants. He was only going down to the sternum. I was in tears every single time. And my cardiac surgeon, one of the most sincere, kindest, gentlest men out there, hated doing that to me. Finally, he insisted he put me out. I agreed without hesitation. So, please, think twice about having this done under local. I would hate to be in the OR and they find a mess in there, tell you they need to put you to sleep because of what they have found, and then your anxiety level goes up tenfold, and you go under general anesthesia like that. Not only is that hard on your body, but your emotions.

As for general anesthesia causing hair loss, I have never heard of that. I am not going to say it's not possible, but I have been a nurse for 10 yrs, and not once have I ever heard of anyone complaining of that. Hovev! er, now you have me very curious. When I go to work on Mon, since I work in the recovery room and work with anesthesiologists all day, I will ask one of the ones I respect and see what they say. I will post either Mon evening or Tues what their response was. And as for it taking a while for you to recover--my guess would be that that could simply be the way your body responds to anesthesia. OR, it could be the type of anesthetic you received. OR, it could be that you did not cough and deep breathe enough after surgery and hence your body retained the anesthesia for much longer. Most times now propofol is used to induce anesthesia. It looks like milk. It really is a wonderful drug as it is very short acting and is out of your system in minutes. But then neuromuscular blockers are also used to intubate you, and the ones most often used today are called nondepolarizing. They are usually reversed by yet! another drug called neostygmine, and then yet another drug is used to maintain anesthesia during the case, and this can range from sevoflourane to nitrous, to isoflourane to halothane. So, you see, many, many drugs can be used in one case, and your body could have been very slow in getting rid of all or one of them, therefore causing you to feel sluggish and abnormal for a long period of time. So, if you ever have general again, I would be sure to tell the anesthesiologist your past experience, and that you want the least amt of drugs possible or even to do a "light" anesthesia. There is something called a "bis" monitor in most OR's, which monitors the deepness of anesthesia. Some anesthesiologists don't like it and don't think it's accurate; however, I have found it to be very accurate when I have been in the OR monitoring pts along with the anesthesiologist. At one hospital I worked at in Denver, it was used all the time by nur! se anesthetists, but not by anesthesiologists. Interestingly enough, the nurse anesthetist pts always woke up easier and not as sedated. At the hospital I'm at now, the anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists use it all the time. In Seattle, no one liked it, but they used it. So, asking for a light anesthesia is also an option.

I will be sure to ask some anesthesiologists on Mon about the hair loss and see what they have to say, and then will post and let you all know if there are indeed drugs which may cause that or case studies where this has happened.

e

----- Original Message -----

From: Katz! Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 5:24 PM

Subject: Surgery with local anesthesia

Hi : Thank you for asking about me. I am looking into dr.'s to do my explant. I would like to use Dr. Feng, but I don't think she will do the operation with local. I am going to call this week to find out.

If anybody knows of a good surgeon who does explants with local anesthesia I would love to hear about them. I had a bad reaction to general anesthesia. My brain was foggy for several weeks afterwards and I had a! nd am still having hair loss. I know I've mentioned this before but I don't know if my hair loss is from implants or general anesthesia, or both. I am also a member of another support group where there are alot of women who have hair loss from general anesthesia. Anyway I would really appreciate if any one knows of a surgeon (preferrable near NC) who can do explants with local anesthesia.

Another quick question - I have saline implants and my boobs itch alot, and sometimes feel like there are worms/bugs crawling around in them. Has anybody else had this? Also does anybody know of any other support groups similar to this one dealing with women and problems caused by their implants.

Thanks,

----- Original Message -----

From: Heer

Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 5:17 PM

Subject: Re: DR. Kerrigan

I have never heard of this person, I am curious why you would want to have it done under local? General is way easier, but Patty did it that way I think, anyhow glad to hear from you, good luck on your decisions.

How are you feeling anyhow?

Love and hugs,

----- Original Message -----

From: Katz

Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 3:43 PM

Subject: DR. Kerrigan

Has anybody heard of Dr. Kerrigan at Dartmouth-Hitchcock? I am looking into dr.'s who do explants under local anesthia(sp?), and a friend of mine read that she was a top dr.

Thanks

----- Original Message -----

From: Heer

Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 1:22 PM

Subject: To the group

Hello everyone, Rogene made some great points, and Patty did as well, I am disappointed that I in anyway got involved in some of the disputes going on, as I have already said it just hit me at a time of extra stress in my life.

I had not been home for more than a few days from finding out I would not be able to bring home my daughter than all this stuff happened with Betty Boop.() for those of you who don't realize was hesitant to come back to the group and I kind of pushed her thinking it would be good for her, she decided at this time she cannot be a part of any groups, I sense she is disturbed at how most of us are better and she is still so ill, that makes me sad but I cannot explain to her in any way that it really isn't about who is more ill than the other but more about how we can help eachother and give hope to new members.

At any rate I was and am still a bit under the weather emotionally and trying to figure out ways of better dealing with that, my happy life, is still very wonderful, but without my precious little girl, I feel a great void in it.

This is no excuse to act stupid and I will continue to be here and try to be an adult and not get into these situations, Rogene is right, many of us have had brain damage of some sort and this affects us and can cause us to be irrational, so we need to consider all sides to the story and be gently and kind to eachother.

I am being baptized on the 19th of this month, I am very excited by the new roads opening up to me in religion and hope that all of you will be happy as well.

Love and kindness is needed here and I am going to continue to try to give that back to all of you in every way.

Thank you for being here when I need you

Love,

[Guest guest]

, I would be very leary of having an explantation done under local. While the thought may be very tempting, if the doctor should get in there and find a mess, you definately don't want to have him/her digging around with only a local. There is no way you can have a spinal, either, simply because it is too high up and the risk of respiratory depression and apnea (when you stop breathing) is a very high possibility. Anyway, no smart doctor would (or should) do a spinal that high up. And even if you did have a local, if they needed to dig around, they might need to put you to sleep anyway. Trust me, after my heart surgery, when I had all my complications, and had to have my chest opened up 4x to do I & D's (irrigation and debridements), I had only locals, and I felt every little pull, tug, stretch, and movement. And my heart surgeon loaded me up with locals, including lidocaine, marcaine, tetracaine, and bupivacaine. And he wasn't even going as deep as a ps will need to go to remove implants. He was only going down to the sternum. I was in tears every single time. And my cardiac surgeon, one of the most sincere, kindest, gentlest men out there, hated doing that to me. Finally, he insisted he put me out. I agreed without hesitation. So, please, think twice about having this done under local. I would hate to be in the OR and they find a mess in there, tell you they need to put you to sleep because of what they have found, and then your anxiety level goes up tenfold, and you go under general anesthesia like that. Not only is that hard on your body, but your emotions. As for general anesthesia causing hair loss, I have never heard of that. I am not going to say it's not possible, but I have been a nurse for 10 yrs, and not once have I ever heard of anyone complaining of that. Hovever, now you have me very curious. When I go to work on Mon, since I work in the recovery room and work with anesthesiologists all day, I will ask one of the ones I respect and see what they say. I will post either Mon evening or Tues what their response was. And as for it taking a while for you to recover--my guess would be that that could simply be the way your body responds to anesthesia. OR, it could be the type of anesthetic you received. OR, it could be that you did not cough and deep breathe enough after surgery and hence your body retained the anesthesia for much longer. Most times now propofol is used to induce anesthesia. It looks like milk. It really is a wonderful drug as it is very short acting and is out of your system in minutes. But then neuromuscular blockers are also used to intubate you, and the ones most often used today are called nondepolarizing. They are usually reversed by yet another drug called neostygmine, and then yet another drug is used to maintain anesthesia during the case, and this can range from sevoflourane to nitrous, to isoflourane to halothane. So, you see, many, many drugs can be used in one case, and your body could have been very slow in getting rid of all or one of them, therefore causing you to feel sluggish and abnormal for a long period of time. So, if you ever have general again, I would be sure to tell the anesthesiologist your past experience, and that you want the least amt of drugs possible or even to do a "light" anesthesia. There is something called a "bis" monitor in most OR's, which monitors the deepness of anesthesia. Some anesthesiologists don't like it and don't think it's accurate; however, I have found it to be very accurate when I have been in the OR monitoring pts along with the anesthesiologist. At one hospital I worked at in Denver, it was used all the time by nurse anesthetists, but not by anesthesiologists. Interestingly enough, the nurse anesthetist pts always woke up easier and not as sedated. At the hospital I'm at now, the anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists use it all the time. In Seattle, no one liked it, but they used it. So, asking for a light anesthesia is also an option. I will be sure to ask some anesthesiologists on Mon about the hair loss and see what they have to say, and then will post and let you all know if there are indeed drugs which may cause that or case studies where this has happened. e ----- Original Message ----- From: Katz Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 5:24 PM Subject: Surgery with local anesthesia Hi : Thank you for asking about me. I am looking into dr.'s to do my explant. I would like to use Dr. Feng, but I don't think she will do the operation with local. I am going to call this week to find out. If anybody knows of a good surgeon who does explants with local anesthesia I would love to hear about them. I had a bad reaction to general anesthesia. My brain was foggy for several weeks afterwards and I had and am still having hair loss. I know I've mentioned this before but I don't know if my hair loss is from implants or general anesthesia, or both. I am also a member of another support group where there are alot of women who have hair loss from general anesthesia. Anyway I would really appreciate if any one knows of a surgeon (preferrable near NC) who can do explants with local anesthesia. Another quick question - I have saline implants and my boobs itch alot, and sometimes feel like there are worms/bugs crawling around in them. Has anybody else had this? Also does anybody know of any other support groups similar to this one dealing with women and problems caused by their implants. Thanks, ----- Original Message ----- From: Heer Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 5:17 PM Subject: Re: DR. Kerrigan I have never heard of this person, I am curious why you would want to have it done under local? General is way easier, but Patty did it that way I think, anyhow glad to hear from you, good luck on your decisions. How are you feeling anyhow? Love and hugs, ----- Original Message ----- From: Katz Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 3:43 PM Subject: DR. Kerrigan Has anybody heard of Dr. Kerrigan at Dartmouth-Hitchcock? I am looking into dr.'s who do explants under local anesthia(sp?), and a friend of mine read that she was a top dr. Thanks ----- Original Message ----- From: Heer Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 1:22 PM Subject: To the group Hello everyone, Rogene made some great points, and Patty did as well, I am disappointed that I in anyway got involved in some of the disputes going on, as I have already said it just hit me at a time of extra stress in my life. I had not been home for more than a few days from finding out I would not be able to bring home my daughter than all this stuff happened with Betty Boop.() for those of you who don't realize was hesitant to come back to the group and I kind of pushed her thinking it would be good for her, she decided at this time she cannot be a part of any groups, I sense she is disturbed at how most of us are better and she is still so ill, that makes me sad but I cannot explain to her in any way that it really isn't about who is more ill than the other but more about how we can help eachother and give hope to new members. At any rate I was and am still a bit under the weather emotionally and trying to figure out ways of better dealing with that, my happy life, is still very wonderful, but without my precious little girl, I feel a great void in it. This is no excuse to act stupid and I will continue to be here and try to be an adult and not get into these situations, Rogene is right, many of us have had brain damage of some sort and this affects us and can cause us to be irrational, so we need to consider all sides to the story and be gently and kind to eachother. I am being baptized on the 19th of this month, I am very excited by the new roads opening up to me in religion and hope that all of you will be happy as well. Love and kindness is needed here and I am going to continue to try to give that back to all of you in every way. Thank you for being here when I need you Love,

[Guest guest]

Ok this may be stretching it a bit but have you considered that the brain fog you experienced may have been a reaction to the implants? I think everyone here has had that reaction, of course the anesthesia def does make one foggy, no doubt about that, but I never personally found it lasted too long, course I was still foggy after explant for months, but in my case it was def from my implants.

I too have worked in a hospital for over 10 years, I am not an RN but I worked with many anesthesiologists etc that were my friends and know many patients and while I have heard others in this breast implant issue say that anesthesia can cause hair loss I have never personally seen that to be true either, I would also be very interested in seeing any articles that say this for sure, but like you said Dr's are unwilling to believe implants cause illness so it is likely they would say this about allot of things.

I still know that I would not have wanted to be awake for the surgery I had, no way, those implants were a mess and getting them out was very difficult.

Anyhow, I hope you find someone that you feel comfortable with, I would talk to Dr Feng and see what she has to say about it, I know she is def a great surgeon and how she feels about implants, it is a positive experience to go to her, I wish you the best.

Good Luck, god bless

----- Original Message -----

From: Katz

Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 5:31 PM

Subject: Surgery with local anesthesia

Hi : Thank you for asking about me. I am looking into dr.'s to do my explant. I would like to use Dr. Feng, but I don't think she will do the operation with local. I am going to call this week to find out.

If anybody knows of a good surgeon who does explants with local anesthesia I would love to hear about them. I had a bad reaction to general anesthesia. My brain was foggy for several weeks afterwards and I had and am still having hair loss. I know I've mentioned this before but I don't know if my hair loss is from implants or general anesthesia, or both. I am also a member of another support group where there are alot of women who have hair loss from general anesthesia. Anyway I would really appreciate if any one knows of a surgeon (preferrable near NC) who can do explants with local anesthesia.

Another quick question - I have saline implants and my boobs itch alot, and sometimes feel like there are worms/bugs crawling around in them. Has anybody else had this? Also does anybody know of any other support groups similar to this one dealing with women and problems caused by their implants.

Thanks,

----- Original Message -----

From: Heer

Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 5:17 PM

Subject: Re: DR. Kerrigan

I have never heard of this person, I am curious why you would want to have it done under local? General is way easier, but Patty did it that way I think, anyhow glad to hear from you, good luck on your decisions.

How are you feeling anyhow?

Love and hugs,

----- Original Message -----

From: Katz

Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 3:43 PM

Subject: DR. Kerrigan

Has anybody heard of Dr. Kerrigan at Dartmouth-Hitchcock? I am looking into dr.'s who do explants under local anesthia(sp?), and a friend of mine read that she was a top dr.

Thanks

----- Original Message -----

From: Heer

Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 1:22 PM

Subject: To the group

Hello everyone, Rogene made some great points, and Patty did as well, I am disappointed that I in anyway got involved in some of the disputes going on, as I have already said it just hit me at a time of extra stress in my life.

I had not been home for more than a few days from finding out I would not be able to bring home my daughter than all this stuff happened with Betty Boop.() for those of you who don't realize was hesitant to come back to the group and I kind of pushed her thinking it would be good for her, she decided at this time she cannot be a part of any groups, I sense she is disturbed at how most of us are better and she is still so ill, that makes me sad but I cannot explain to her in any way that it really isn't about who is more ill than the other but more about how we can help eachother and give hope to new members.

At any rate I was and am still a bit under the weather emotionally and trying to figure out ways of better dealing with that, my happy life, is still very wonderful, but without my precious little girl, I feel a great void in it.

This is no excuse to act stupid and I will continue to be here and try to be an adult and not get into these situations, Rogene is right, many of us have had brain damage of some sort and this affects us and can cause us to be irrational, so we need to consider all sides to the story and be gently and kind to eachother.

I am being baptized on the 19th of this month, I am very excited by the new roads opening up to me in religion and hope that all of you will be happy as well.

Love and kindness is needed here and I am going to continue to try to give that back to all of you in every way.

Thank you for being here when I need you

Love,

[Guest guest]

, Can you tell me the names of the medical journals and the articles so that I may read them to inform myself? I'd like to read them. Thanks, e ----- Original Message ----- From: Katz Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 6:57 AM Subject: Re: Surgery with local anesthesia Dear e, Thank you for your response, and I will definitely think about having general v. local. And I really appreciate the information regarding light anesthesia, and will pass it on to other women I know also concerned about general anesthesia and hair loss. If you find out any other information regarding light anesthesia and the different drugs used I would really appreciate it. But as far as general anesthesia causing hair loss this is not arguable. It absolutely does. It is documented in several medical journals. Not all dr.'s may agree or be aware of this, but than again not all dr.'s, or should I say very few, agree that implants can cause women any harm. Thanks again, ----- Original Message ----- From: e L Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 8:23 AM Subject: Re: Surgery with local anesthesia , I would be very leary of having an explantation done under local. While the thought may be very tempting, if the doctor should get in there and find a mess, you definately don't want to have him/her digging around with only a local. There is no way you can have a spinal, either, simply because it is too high up and the risk of respiratory depression and apnea (when you stop breathing) is a very high possibility. Anyway, no smart doctor would (or should) do a spinal that high up. And even if you did have a local, if they needed to dig around, they might need to put you to sleep anyway. Trust me, after my heart surgery, when I had all my complications, and had to have my chest opened up 4x to do I & D's (irrigation and debridements), I had only locals, and I felt every little pull, tug, stretch, and movement. And my heart surgeon loaded me up with locals, including lidocaine, marcaine, tetracaine, ! and bupivacaine. And he wasn't even going as deep as a ps will need to go to remove implants. He was only going down to the sternum. I was in tears every single time. And my cardiac surgeon, one of the most sincere, kindest, gentlest men out there, hated doing that to me. Finally, he insisted he put me out. I agreed without hesitation. So, please, think twice about having this done under local. I would hate to be in the OR and they find a mess in there, tell you they need to put you to sleep because of what they have found, and then your anxiety level goes up tenfold, and you go under general anesthesia like that. Not only is that hard on your body, but your emotions. As for general anesthesia causing hair loss, I have never heard of that. I am not going to say it's not possible, but I have been a nurse for 10 yrs, and not once have I ever heard of anyone complaining of that. Hovev! er, now you have me very curious. When I go to work on Mon, since I work in the recovery room and work with anesthesiologists all day, I will ask one of the ones I respect and see what they say. I will post either Mon evening or Tues what their response was. And as for it taking a while for you to recover--my guess would be that that could simply be the way your body responds to anesthesia. OR, it could be the type of anesthetic you received. OR, it could be that you did not cough and deep breathe enough after surgery and hence your body retained the anesthesia for much longer. Most times now propofol is used to induce anesthesia. It looks like milk. It really is a wonderful drug as it is very short acting and is out of your system in minutes. But then neuromuscular blockers are also used to intubate you, and the ones most often used today are called nondepolarizing. They are usually reversed by yet! another drug called neostygmine, and then yet another drug is used to maintain anesthesia during the case, and this can range from sevoflourane to nitrous, to isoflourane to halothane. So, you see, many, many drugs can be used in one case, and your body could have been very slow in getting rid of all or one of them, therefore causing you to feel sluggish and abnormal for a long period of time. So, if you ever have general again, I would be sure to tell the anesthesiologist your past experience, and that you want the least amt of drugs possible or even to do a "light" anesthesia. There is something called a "bis" monitor in most OR's, which monitors the deepness of anesthesia. Some anesthesiologists don't like it and don't think it's accurate; however, I have found it to be very accurate when I have been in the OR monitoring pts along with the anesthesiologist. At one hospital I worked at in Denver, it was used all the time by nur! se anesthetists, but not by anesthesiologists. Interestingly enough, the nurse anesthetist pts always woke up easier and not as sedated. At the hospital I'm at now, the anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists use it all the time. In Seattle, no one liked it, but they used it. So, asking for a light anesthesia is also an option. I will be sure to ask some anesthesiologists on Mon about the hair loss and see what they have to say, and then will post and let you all know if there are indeed drugs which may cause that or case studies where this has happened. e ----- Original Message ----- From: Katz! Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 5:24 PM Subject: Surgery with local anesthesia Hi : Thank you for asking about me. I am looking into dr.'s to do my explant. I would like to use Dr. Feng, but I don't think she will do the operation with local. I am going to call this week to find out. If anybody knows of a good surgeon who does explants with local anesthesia I would love to hear about them. I had a bad reaction to general anesthesia. My brain was foggy for several weeks afterwards and I had a! nd am still having hair loss. I know I've mentioned this before but I don't know if my hair loss is from implants or general anesthesia, or both. I am also a member of another support group where there are alot of women who have hair loss from general anesthesia. Anyway I would really appreciate if any one knows of a surgeon (preferrable near NC) who can do explants with local anesthesia. Another quick question - I have saline implants and my boobs itch alot, and sometimes feel like there are worms/bugs crawling around in them. Has anybody else had this? Also does anybody know of any other support groups similar to this one dealing with women and problems caused by their implants. Thanks, ----- Original Message ----- From: Heer Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 5:17 PM Subject: Re: DR. Kerrigan I have never heard of this person, I am curious why you would want to have it done under local? General is way easier, but Patty did it that way I think, anyhow glad to hear from you, good luck on your decisions. How are you feeling anyhow? Love and hugs, ----- Original Message ----- From: Katz Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 3:43 PM Subject: DR. Kerrigan Has anybody heard of Dr. Kerrigan at Dartmouth-Hitchcock? I am looking into dr.'s who do explants under local anesthia(sp?), and a friend of mine read that she was a top dr. Thanks ----- Original Message ----- From: Heer Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 1:22 PM Subject: To the group Hello everyone, Rogene made some great points, and Patty did as well, I am disappointed that I in anyway got involved in some of the disputes going on, as I have already said it just hit me at a time of extra stress in my life. I had not been home for more than a few days from finding out I would not be able to bring home my daughter than all this stuff happened with Betty Boop.() for those of you who don't realize was hesitant to come back to the group and I kind of pushed her thinking it would be good for her, she decided at this time she cannot be a part of any groups, I sense she is disturbed at how most of us are better and she is still so ill, that makes me sad but I cannot explain to her in any way that it really isn't about who is more ill than the other but more about how we can help eachother and give hope to new members. At any rate I was and am still a bit under the weather emotionally and trying to figure out ways of better dealing with that, my happy life, is still very wonderful, but without my precious little girl, I feel a great void in it. This is no excuse to act stupid and I will continue to be here and try to be an adult and not get into these situations, Rogene is right, many of us have had brain damage of some sort and this affects us and can cause us to be irrational, so we need to consider all sides to the story and be gently and kind to eachother. I am being baptized on the 19th of this month, I am very excited by the new roads opening up to me in religion and hope that all of you will be happy as well. Love and kindness is needed here and I am going to continue to try to give that back to all of you in every way. Thank you for being here when I need you Love,

[Guest guest]

, As for the light anesthesia, the drugs used are the same ones used for heavier anesthesia, but just in lighter amts. They use just the bare minimum to achieve unconsciousness and keep you there. I would suggest discussing this with your surgeon and the anesthesiologist. I know that when we use light anesthesia we use drugs that have very short duration and half lives such as propofol and succinylcholine. The bis monitor is used to tell us how "deep" you are. It gives us #'s and the #'s tell us if you're too deep or not deep enough, and your anesthesia is adjusted from there. The agent that is used to maintain your anesthesia is one that you want to be able to blow off easily afterwards with the use of oxygen immediately after surgery, coughing, and deep breathing. Drugs you may want to stay away from are the drugs they may give you before your surgery, such as the anti-anxiety agents, like Ativan, Valium, Versed, Vistaril, or any other benzodiazepines. These drugs make you relax, but have long half lives and remain in your system a long time, usually more than 6 hrs, typically more like 8-12 hrs. Also, frequently during surgery, the anesthesiologist may give you a remifentanil or sufentanil drip, both of which are short acting drugs, but when given in a continuous drip, obviously are going to remain in your system longer. If you stay away from the benzos and the 2 drips I mentioned, you may do better with general anesthesia. And even though the anti-anxiety drugs are nice and help you to relax, the anesthesiologist or RN can give you a dose of Fentanyl which can relax you and is out of your system quickly but you will be asleep before it's gone. Hope this helps. e ----- Original Message ----- From: Katz Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 6:57 AM Subject: Re: Surgery with local anesthesia Dear e, Thank you for your response, and I will definitely think about having general v. local. And I really appreciate the information regarding light anesthesia, and will pass it on to other women I know also concerned about general anesthesia and hair loss. If you find out any other information regarding light anesthesia and the different drugs used I would really appreciate it. But as far as general anesthesia causing hair loss this is not arguable. It absolutely does. It is documented in several medical journals. Not all dr.'s may agree or be aware of this, but than again not all dr.'s, or should I say very few, agree that implants can cause women any harm. Thanks again, ----- Original Message ----- From: e L Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 8:23 AM Subject: Re: Surgery with local anesthesia , I would be very leary of having an explantation done under local. While the thought may be very tempting, if the doctor should get in there and find a mess, you definately don't want to have him/her digging around with only a local. There is no way you can have a spinal, either, simply because it is too high up and the risk of respiratory depression and apnea (when you stop breathing) is a very high possibility. Anyway, no smart doctor would (or should) do a spinal that high up. And even if you did have a local, if they needed to dig around, they might need to put you to sleep anyway. Trust me, after my heart surgery, when I had all my complications, and had to have my chest opened up 4x to do I & D's (irrigation and debridements), I had only locals, and I felt every little pull, tug, stretch, and movement. And my heart surgeon loaded me up with locals, including lidocaine, marcaine, tetracaine, ! and bupivacaine. And he wasn't even going as deep as a ps will need to go to remove implants. He was only going down to the sternum. I was in tears every single time. And my cardiac surgeon, one of the most sincere, kindest, gentlest men out there, hated doing that to me. Finally, he insisted he put me out. I agreed without hesitation. So, please, think twice about having this done under local. I would hate to be in the OR and they find a mess in there, tell you they need to put you to sleep because of what they have found, and then your anxiety level goes up tenfold, and you go under general anesthesia like that. Not only is that hard on your body, but your emotions. As for general anesthesia causing hair loss, I have never heard of that. I am not going to say it's not possible, but I have been a nurse for 10 yrs, and not once have I ever heard of anyone complaining of that. Hovev! er, now you have me very curious. When I go to work on Mon, since I work in the recovery room and work with anesthesiologists all day, I will ask one of the ones I respect and see what they say. I will post either Mon evening or Tues what their response was. And as for it taking a while for you to recover--my guess would be that that could simply be the way your body responds to anesthesia. OR, it could be the type of anesthetic you received. OR, it could be that you did not cough and deep breathe enough after surgery and hence your body retained the anesthesia for much longer. Most times now propofol is used to induce anesthesia. It looks like milk. It really is a wonderful drug as it is very short acting and is out of your system in minutes. But then neuromuscular blockers are also used to intubate you, and the ones most often used today are called nondepolarizing. They are usually reversed by yet! another drug called neostygmine, and then yet another drug is used to maintain anesthesia during the case, and this can range from sevoflourane to nitrous, to isoflourane to halothane. So, you see, many, many drugs can be used in one case, and your body could have been very slow in getting rid of all or one of them, therefore causing you to feel sluggish and abnormal for a long period of time. So, if you ever have general again, I would be sure to tell the anesthesiologist your past experience, and that you want the least amt of drugs possible or even to do a "light" anesthesia. There is something called a "bis" monitor in most OR's, which monitors the deepness of anesthesia. Some anesthesiologists don't like it and don't think it's accurate; however, I have found it to be very accurate when I have been in the OR monitoring pts along with the anesthesiologist. At one hospital I worked at in Denver, it was used all the time by nur! se anesthetists, but not by anesthesiologists. Interestingly enough, the nurse anesthetist pts always woke up easier and not as sedated. At the hospital I'm at now, the anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists use it all the time. In Seattle, no one liked it, but they used it. So, asking for a light anesthesia is also an option. I will be sure to ask some anesthesiologists on Mon about the hair loss and see what they have to say, and then will post and let you all know if there are indeed drugs which may cause that or case studies where this has happened. e ----- Original Message ----- From: Katz! Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 5:24 PM Subject: Surgery with local anesthesia Hi : Thank you for asking about me. I am looking into dr.'s to do my explant. I would like to use Dr. Feng, but I don't think she will do the operation with local. I am going to call this week to find out. If anybody knows of a good surgeon who does explants with local anesthesia I would love to hear about them. I had a bad reaction to general anesthesia. My brain was foggy for several weeks afterwards and I had a! nd am still having hair loss. I know I've mentioned this before but I don't know if my hair loss is from implants or general anesthesia, or both. I am also a member of another support group where there are alot of women who have hair loss from general anesthesia. Anyway I would really appreciate if any one knows of a surgeon (preferrable near NC) who can do explants with local anesthesia. Another quick question - I have saline implants and my boobs itch alot, and sometimes feel like there are worms/bugs crawling around in them. Has anybody else had this? Also does anybody know of any other support groups similar to this one dealing with women and problems caused by their implants. Thanks, ----- Original Message ----- From: Heer Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 5:17 PM Subject: Re: DR. Kerrigan I have never heard of this person, I am curious why you would want to have it done under local? General is way easier, but Patty did it that way I think, anyhow glad to hear from you, good luck on your decisions. How are you feeling anyhow? Love and hugs, ----- Original Message ----- From: Katz Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 3:43 PM Subject: DR. Kerrigan Has anybody heard of Dr. Kerrigan at Dartmouth-Hitchcock? I am looking into dr.'s who do explants under local anesthia(sp?), and a friend of mine read that she was a top dr. Thanks ----- Original Message ----- From: Heer Sent: Friday, January 04, 2002 1:22 PM Subject: To the group Hello everyone, Rogene made some great points, and Patty did as well, I am disappointed that I in anyway got involved in some of the disputes going on, as I have already said it just hit me at a time of extra stress in my life. I had not been home for more than a few days from finding out I would not be able to bring home my daughter than all this stuff happened with Betty Boop.() for those of you who don't realize was hesitant to come back to the group and I kind of pushed her thinking it would be good for her, she decided at this time she cannot be a part of any groups, I sense she is disturbed at how most of us are better and she is still so ill, that makes me sad but I cannot explain to her in any way that it really isn't about who is more ill than the other but more about how we can help eachother and give hope to new members. At any rate I was and am still a bit under the weather emotionally and trying to figure out ways of better dealing with that, my happy life, is still very wonderful, but without my precious little girl, I feel a great void in it. This is no excuse to act stupid and I will continue to be here and try to be an adult and not get into these situations, Rogene is right, many of us have had brain damage of some sort and this affects us and can cause us to be irrational, so we need to consider all sides to the story and be gently and kind to eachother. I am being baptized on the 19th of this month, I am very excited by the new roads opening up to me in religion and hope that all of you will be happy as well. Love and kindness is needed here and I am going to continue to try to give that back to all of you in every way. Thank you for being here when I need you Love,