Another for Ribth

scienarasucka · February 2012

My H had his wisdom teeth out this morning. He says they tried to knock him out with a nitrous mask and a ketamine drip but he is positive he was awake the whole time, just paralyzed. He says he remembers them drilling on and extracting all four teeth. They didn't believe him afterwards.

Does this really happen? Did he just dream it? He says he's not traumatized since it didn't hurt because they also numbed him up (thank goodness).

ribth · February 2012

Yes, it can happen. Was it supposed to be a general anesthetic or just sedation? If they didn't give enough ketamine, he probably wasn't quite out. Ketamine is a great drug, but it alters perception quite a bit, so it can cause weird side effects if it's not co-administered with an amnestic drug (like midazolam). Nitrous wouldn't be amnestic enough. Both would ameliorate pain, but it's good that they gave the local if he wasn't completely out. ETA: Neither would cause paralysis, but the ketamine might've altered his sensory perception enough to make him think that he was paralyzed.

scienarasucka · February 2012

It was definitely supposed to be general. I wondered that about the paralysis. I used to use ketamine on mice all the time but they could never tell me how it felt...

Thanks! You're at least as useful to have around as my pediatrician sister.

PeonyParty · February 2012

That is seriously effing terrifying.

ribth · February 2012

If it was a GA, it's possible that they did give him some kind of muscle relaxant that would've resulted in paralysis.

I'm glad he's taking it so well. A lot of people wouldn't. Can he recall conversations? Sometimes that's what it takes to convince the people in the OR that the patient wasn't really asleep. That's a big problem, especially that they don't really believe him, because they might have their dosing calculations wrong.

scienarasucka · February 2012

Yeah, he can remember the doc and nurses talking. He also remembers the doc having trouble with one tooth and swearing up a storm.

He's also all cut up around his mouth, with scratches up his cheek and a series of small cuts on the other side that make him look like the Joker. :-/ I'm not super impressed with this doctor, but I guess it's all over now.

Should he try to tell them again that he wasn't out? Leave a review on one of those "rate your doc" websites?

KayRI · February 2012

I have a friend who woke up in the middle of knee surgery. He told me about it the day before I was having the same procedure done.

ribth · February 2012

Did the surgeon do his own anesthetic or was an anesthesiologist present? Sometimes oral/maxillofacial guys get anesthesia training as part of their surgical training so that they can do their own anesthetics. They also probably put a bunch of retractors in to hold his mouth open, which could explain the cuts.

If it were me, I would mention it at my post-op followup visit. That's a really egregious error, and it helps if he can provide specifics on the conversations that were had in the OR because it lends credibility to his experience. The person administering the anesthetic should know so that they don't underdose the next time.

I would be truly horrified if I had a patient who could recall details of things that actually happened. The rates of it happening are really low - like 0.04% of anesthetics in our institution but vary in the literature, up to 1% or more in some series. Obviously, it can be really traumatic for the patient.

Kay, I wouldn't consider that person a friend if they said that right before your surgery.

Another for Ribth

Re: Another for Ribth

Choose Another Board

Search Boards