That must have been horrible. I have a feeling it was the opiate thing. Doctors are being TOO careful these days. I'm thinking of you.

I’m thinking the governmental regulatory oversight on pain meds causes more pain than it should.

I believe.

And while on the subject of opioids I'd like to ask one of those doctors or whoever is making up these laws where the fuck they were when I took Ibuprofen for years and no one told me "Hey that stuff will rip up your stomach eventually"! No "I'm worried about you" for any over-the-counter drugs but say the word Opiate and everyone's frigging hair goes on fire! And the more I learn about drugs it seems like, besides a danger of addiction, opiates seem to be safer than most others, especially when laid next to those biologic drugs for autoimmune disorders like Rheumatoid Arthritis. This is just an anecdote but my uncle took one, (I think it was Etanercept) and within a year developed ALS. I don't think you can prove it was a cause but either way it would have been better to put the poor guy on a drug that would have relieved his pain. (My mom told me years ago that he asked the doctor to chop off all his toes because of the pain.

I also remember Dr. Drew Pinsky on some Youtube talk show saying that unless the pain comes from cancer opiates should never be prescribed. How the hell does your body know what is the underlying cause and chose whether or not it will respond to a pain medication?

I do take Tylenol but it kind of scares me because it is supposed to be bad for your liver and it doesn't work as well. (I have taken liver supplements for many years just because of all the medication I have had to take.

as long as you don’t take 2,000 mg or more at any one time or 4,000 mg over 24 hours, your liver should be fine. But yeah, Tylenol’s not very effective for me either and doctors don’t want me taking Ibuprofen because it’s hard on the kidneys. And, of course, doctors won’t prescribe opiates anymore. So I use cannibas gummies which helps somewhat and distracts me temporarily from the pain.

We managed recovering addicts who were vehemently opposed to opiates on high dose Tylenol for the first 2 days postop, then normal doses after that. We did exceed that 4000 mg. upper limit, but livers are remarkably self healing once yu quit abusing them, provided the abuse is of short duration.

The bottom line for me is that cannabis and Tylenol in combination is nearly as good as opiates. I will, however, be first in line if they ever manage to come up with a pain control without psychoactive or other side effects.

Ibuprofen worked much better but doc doesn’t want me on it.

at easing pain but they do help me sleep and sleep is a very desired commodity when you are in pain. I've been taking them for the last few days after the surgery and then having to go get my first set of dentures screwed in. One of the nurses just started undoing screws etc and I couldn't stand the pain then. I asked for lidocaine and then novacaine and if it weren't for those 2 things I would have gotten up and left.

I woke up in the middle of a colonoscopy once. I could see the monitor. I was more fascinated than anything. Don’t recall feeling anything though.

and it was damned uncomfortable. It was like *poof* awake. I remember someone saying, ‘get him back under, Quick!’

OK then, I must say that I just had Novocain when they cut skin from the roof of my mouth and grafted it onto where my gums should have been. I mean they sewed it on with thread and needle. That was the absolute worst dental experience I ever had. I brush my teeth and gums every day after that.

I know I kept breaking through mine but I can't imagine going through that with no drugs to calm me and allow me to sleep on and off. If I was told about the procedure you had with just novacaine I would have run away. (Maybe find a country that doesn't have this type of obsession with drugs)

it took 2 nurses to hold me down. they insisted i had a ‘full dose on board’ of versed.
every time i told them about the last 1. #5 they finally used propafol, and it was great.

I'm out for a few minutes, then I wake up suddenly and completely and despite drug company advertising, I remember it all just like you seem to. Docs love that drug because they believe if a patient wakes up, s/he won't remember a thing.

Uh, no, not in my case, and trying to tell them about it goes in one ear and out the other.

I don't know why they didn't give you a second dose, it's what they have to do for me. And a third, if it's a long procedure.

Older drugs were much better but now have black box warnings because no anesthesia drug I know of doesn't.

Had you taken your opiates before surgery? If so, that might be why they were afraid to give you a second dose of Versed. I'm afraid you're damned if you do and damned if you don't if you can't tolerate going off the opiates for a few hours, and if you can't, you've got a lot of company.

I will be beyond thrilled when they stop using Versed for short term anesthesia. It doesn't work as advertised for some of us.

about the opiate because I figured I'd be asleep! I have thought about that. If I knew what they were not going to do I would have taken a pill.

(Brevital, thank goodness) and still worke up with a mouthful of Novocaine. If they gave you no other anesthesia and wouldn't repeat the Versed when you so obviously needed it, you might have grounds to sue. Talk to a lawyer. This should not happn to anyone.

It's not that you woke up on Versed, from this thread it seems a lot of us do and we remember it, so much for drug company hype.

(Ha! I don't tell docs about my opiate stash at home. Some of them are still being trained to view chronic pain people as ordinary junkies in disguise.)