General Anesthetic and Severe M.E

J

Jessie 107

Established Member
I have severe M.E, I am bedbound.
I have to go to hospital for a procedure which is going to require a general anaesthetic. The procedure should only take 5 / 10 minutes.
My question is, has anyone who is severe had a G . Anesthetic?
How has is affected your M.E ?
What should I tell the Anesthesiologist about my illness?
I have mild Pots.
No horror stories please.
 
I had to have a general anaesthetic in my 30s. At that point, I too was bedbound, and, looking back, had POTS. I looked to the MEA literature for advice and passed it on to the anaesthetist (and I was fine!).

I would expect the advice to have been updated by now. I'd get in touch with the MEA.

Good luck! :)
 
Sasha said:
I had to have a general anaesthetic in my 30s. At that point, I too was bedbound, and, looking back, had POTS. I looked to the MEA literature for advice and passed it on to the anaesthetist (and I was fine!).

I would expect the advice to have been updated by now. I'd get in touch with the MEA.

Good luck! :)
Click to expand...
Leaflet available online, cost £1 - https://meassociation.org.uk/product/anaesthetics-your-questions-answered/

Jessie 107 said:
I have severe M.E, I am bedbound.
I have to go to hospital for a procedure which is going to require a general anaesthetic. The procedure should only take 5 / 10 minutes.
My question is, has anyone who is severe had a G . Anesthetic?
What should I tell the Anesthesiologist about my illness?
Click to expand...
Not personal experience but you might want to focus on Pre Anaesthesia drugs where there may be more latitude in choice/avoidance/inclusion than on the actual GA being used https://bnf.nice.org.uk/treatment-summaries/pre-medication-and-peri-operative-drugs/
 
Last week I had midazolam and fentanyl for a procedure. It was not a general anaesthetic but conscious sedation and local anaesthetic. I had no problems with at all. I was weak and tired the next couple of days, but that would have been expected even without the drugs and I was completely back to normal by the third day. I am very sensitive to most drugs, even at low doses, so was surprised not to have any adverse effects.
 
I had two anaesthetics last year, and I don't think that they caused any side effects. The problems in hospital are noise ,bright lights and excess activity so you need to plan for those. I wore my eye mask and earplugs while being anaesthetised and the eye mask had been replaced when I got back to recovery.

If you suffer from migraine and have to fast, the anaesthetist would consider putting up an IV line if fasting triggers a migraine.
 
I don't have severe ME (I'm not always bedridden), but I have had many surgeries over the years, and I do feel that with each successive surgery, my overall fatigue gets worse and/or the surgery takes longer to recover from, especially if I have general. My last surgery (shoulder replacement in March 2022) required general, and it's hard to say whether the anesthesia alone is why my overall health is worse now, as I also took an exhausting trip in June that may have contributed more to my worsened ME. I always ask before a surgery if non-general is an option (nerve blocks, while harder for recovery pain, are easier on my fatigue; spinal blocks; etc. with mild sedation are my preference), and if general is required, I talk to the anesthesiologist before the surgery and ask for the lowest possible amount of anesthetizing medication.

Not sure if this is helpful.
 
I hadn't seen this thread before @Jessie 107 but, in case you need it again or someone else needs it, I had a GA accompanied by a saline drip on the advice of my immunologist and all was fine. In fact I felt better than I had prior.
I hope your procedure went well.
 
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