Health The med thread

[gaskin]

Try anaesthetist.

only have to have a 5 minute consult, then put the patient to sleep.

Tricky part is getting them to wake up again.

There is a reason why they are paid the big bucks. It is a difficult and high-risk job.

 

[Shell]

There is a reason why they are paid the big bucks. It is a difficult and high-risk job.

What like a fine balance between putting the patient to sleep v death?

How dangerous IS a GA. I know they're risky for older people... but in general for younger healthy adults?

 

[Caesar]

I once dated a pathologist who picked the specialty because she loved surgery, but wanted to work regular hours. Apparently half-finished autopsies don’t mind if you stick them in the fridge at 4:55 on a Friday.

 

[Shell]

Would also love to know of any cases of patients being aware while under.

Nip/tuck did an episode actually of that- a woman pretended to be a victim of the carver. And when they put her under to fix it, she could feel everything. Just wonder if that is a real thing, at all.

 

[Spongebob]

Would also love to know of any cases of patients being aware while under.

Nip/tuck did an episode actually of that- a woman pretended to be a victim of the carver. And when they put her under to fix it, she could feel everything. Just wonder if that is a real thing, at all.

Since 2015, I have had about 6 GAs, plus several deep sedation. out like a light every time.

One of my former colleagues told me a very different story. She had an emergency c-section, but the anaesthetics didn’t not work correctly She felt everything. The drs did not believe her, until she was able to tell them everything that was done and said while she was undergoing the procedure.

 

[cats_09]

Would also love to know of any cases of patients being aware while under.

Nip/tuck did an episode actually of that- a woman pretended to be a victim of the carver. And when they put her under to fix it, she could feel everything. Just wonder if that is a real thing, at all.

I've twice had to have teeth surgically removed and was given the option of a local anaesthetic or GA.

Both times I opted for GA as it wasn't as simple as pulling the tooth - I had 2 baby teeth that didn't have adult teeth under them, so as I got older they were sinking and while my dentist had tried to build them up it got to the stage of needing to be removed.

I was 15 /16 when I had 1 removed, as at that stage it was hoped the other would be ok and might not need removed. I was knocked out, but I woke up before they had finished my surgery - they were still drilling to actually remove the tooth, with hands & tools in my mouth, so I couldn't say anything obviously. I kinda want into shock from it, I physically shaking & shivering afterwards when I went into recovery, and they got me a blanket thinking I was cold but that wasn't it. I took a while to calm down

A couple of years later I had to have the other one removed, along with 3 wisdom teeth which weren't causing me too much trouble, but one that was growing horizontally into my teeth & wrapping around nerves in my jaw. I saw the same guy, but this time I was out for the whole procedure which was much nicer

No matter how small the procedure, it's not nice to wake up or be awake for it if that's not what you're expecting

 

[Shell]

Holy ****ing shit. Thats horrifying cats.

 

[Shell]

Since 2015, I have had about 6 GAs, plus several deep sedation. out like a light every time.

One of my former colleagues told me a very different story. She had an emergency c-section, but the anaesthetics didn’t not work correctly She felt everything. The drs did not believe her, until she was able to tell them everything that was done and said while she was undergoing the procedure.

Yep i remember a teacher telling me she had a c section and could definitely feel the instruments inside her moving around. Not excruciating pain.. but not pleasant at all

 

[Shell]

I've twice had to have teeth surgically removed and was given the option of a local anaesthetic or GA.

Both times I opted for GA as it wasn't as simple as pulling the tooth - I had 2 baby teeth that didn't have adult teeth under them, so as I got older they were sinking and while my dentist had tried to build them up it got to the stage of needing to be removed.

I was 15 /16 when I had 1 removed, as at that stage it was hoped the other would be ok and might not need removed. I was knocked out, but I woke up before they had finished my surgery - they were still drilling to actually remove the tooth, with hands & tools in my mouth, so I couldn't say anything obviously. I kinda want into shock from it, I physically shaking & shivering afterwards when I went into recovery, and they got me a blanket thinking I was cold but that wasn't it. I took a while to calm down

I dont even know where to begin on all of that- sounds so scary to go through.

FWIW, I've been under twice- both for teeth. The latter was the wisdom teeth- i was completely under the whole time except right at the end. I totally remember the tube coming up out of my throat and seeing it... gave me a bit of a fright at the time. Other than that I was fine. Wisdom teeth were a walk in the park actually- had little blood or swelling., Just couldnt eat anything for a few days.

 

[cats_09]

I went home and slept for a few hours, by the next day I was pretty good and ready to get out of the house. Similar in that I couldn't eat a much for a few days, and after overcoming the shock I wasn't in a lot of pain - I was given Panadeine Forte and took maybe 2 or 3

When I had the 4 teeth removed, the surgery was less eventual but definitely made more use of the Panadeine Forte, and was a great excuse to live on things like jelly & icecream for a few days

 

[rank and file]

What like a fine balance between putting the patient to sleep v death?

How dangerous IS a GA. I know they're risky for older people... but in general for younger healthy adults?

Have a read of "Against All Odds".
An anaesthetist and a vet work out that if you dose kids up with ketamine you might be able to extract them from their flooded Thai cave.
Big roll of the dice because if all those kids came out dead they would've been thrown under the bus.

 

[Shell]

Have a read of "Against All Odds".
An anaesthetist and a vet work out that if you dose kids up with ketamine you might be able to extract them from their flooded Thai cave.
Big roll of the dice because if all those kids came out dead they would've been thrown under the bus.

I will mentally add it to the list. Cheers.

Re pain (and we've discussed this many a time in other threads).... the worst ever pain ive been in, is the eye pain I endured when I had conjunctivitis. I put up with that shit ALL day (went to a specialist around 11am, who said i was having an allergic reaction to the eye drops. Yeah i wasnt)- until I was literally punching the walls and crying. Wanted to rip my eye out, Kill Bill style like you have no idea... 10/10 worst pain.

Second- period. In a canter. Just a whole lot of awfulness to go thru on a monthly basis. 9/10

The flu- body aches and pain, lasts 2 weeks minimum. 8/10
A migraine- have had just the one but it was horrible. 8/10


Wisdom teeth removal: GA, all went well, no blood, some swelling and yeah a considerable amount of pain. But srsly not even that bad. 5/10

 

[James Colorado]

I have a spinal disc bulge atm (L5/S1, it's quite common). Been working on stretching and strengthening exercises with the physio, and have been taking these very seriously. Most of the time it's very manageable, it just hurts in the hip when I get up after lying down for a while or if I've been in the car, and tends to resolve itself after a few steps. When it does flare up though, because it compresses the sciatic nerve, I have very intense pain throughout my whole left leg, to the extent that putting any pressure on it is agony. It's actually forced me to take four days off this year, which for a workaholic is saying something.

Seeing a surgeon on the 12th for an opinion. I'd much rather get it resolved through physio, but the thinking of my GP and physio is that as my issue is actually quite localised, surgery could be worthwhile.

There has been a couple of benefits though (always looking at the bright side). This all started after a breakup four months ago, and so has allowed me to focus on physical pain rather than emotional, which is always a lot easier to do. Part of my physio requires me to go for a daily walk, so walking 5 kms a day has actually done a lot for my cardiovascular fitness as well as the strength in my legs.

 

[MWPP]

MWPP that's cool.

Any interesting insights at all???
/while not breaking any confidentiality stuff.

Yeah , far too many to be posting about from my phone haha. As both a doctor and a patient. I almost don't know where to start.

But here's one that happened on a night shift last week. There were 2 sets of parents to be next door to each other in the birthsuite . Such a contrast
-One baby was born to parents who were having their 11th and 5th kids (biologically anyway- as none were in their care) . Pulled at my heartstrings as the baby’s destined to follow her 14 siblings into foster care
-Next door were first time parents who had to farewell their twins (conceived via IVF but at 22 weeks , born too soon for us to be able to save them). Pulled at my heartstrings in a very different way

 

[MWPP]

On a lighter note- for anyone who's interested in this stuff, I highly recommend the Netflix documentary show Lennox Hill. So relatable for many reasons.

 

[Engimal v3]

Last time I went to the doctor I was a teenager. Definitely haven't been since I've lived in Melbourne. Mum never really took me unless I was really crook, and now I'm a bit apprehensive to see one now as an adult.

 

[Shell]

Yeah , far too many to be posting about from my phone haha. As both a doctor and a patient. I almost don't know where to start.

But here's one that happened on a night shift last week. There were 2 sets of parents to be next door to each other in the birthsuite . Such a contrast
-One baby was born to parents who were having their 11th and 5th kids (biologically anyway- as none were in their care) . Pulled at my heartstrings as the baby’s destined to follow her 14 siblings into foster care
-Next door were first time parents who had to farewell their twins (conceived via IVF but at 22 weeks , born too soon for us to be able to save them). Pulled at my heartstrings in a very different way

Oh jesus christ. Thats awful.

Kudos to you for being able to handle that job.

 

[Shell]

Last time I went to the doctor I was a teenager. Definitely haven't been since I've lived in Melbourne. Mum never really took me unless I was really crook, and now I'm a bit apprehensive to see one now as an adult.

Why?

I actually dont mind the doctor. Esp the GP i have now- he's fantastic. And always on time. I know... like the longest Ive waited for him is like maybe 10-15mins. Other docs ive seen at the same clinic, the longest wait i had was over an hour.

And anyway- its dentists i flipping hate. They're the worst.

 

[Over The Post]

It's weird that- if a human throws up- yeah nup, not doing it, no way. But kittens vomiting up their breakfast etc.. yeah no probs, all good.

The day before flying to NZ for a three week holiday, I got an emergency call from the dog rescue to take a very sick puppy from the 24-hour vet (which was $1100 a night) to a rescue-friendly vet in Mornington. My second transport run. Stinking hot day. Made a bed on the back seat with a new doona, daughter next to it to keep puppy calm. Loaded pup and before I could start the car it volcanoed blood from its mouth and liquishit from the other end. Straight through the doona and soaked the back seat. Raced in to vet, "Oh yeah, it does that." Thanks for ****ing telling me.

So drive home with the aircon full blast and all windows open, lined a laundry basket with plastic and old towels, and installed pup. Doona went in the bin. Hour and a half later we reach Mornington and the vet says pup has less than a 10% chance. Hour and three quarters home, rip back seat out, used two boxes of baking soda and the gerni to get most of it out, and stuck it in the garage to dry while we were away.

 

[Shell]

Feeling pretty ****ing lousy today.

Late yesterday my eye just suddenly went bananas- ie. itchy af, red, bit of swelling. Today i look like I have a bit of a black eye.


Got drops + cream now tho. And ice. Ice ice baby makes things better.

 

[Shell]

Any doctors MWPP you're a doctor.

What's the most painful procedure (or condition) a person can/has to endure- without GA?


Is it child birth for women and kidney stones for men??
/idk, ive never had either.

 

[MWPP]

Any doctors MWPP you're a doctor.

What's the most painful procedure (or condition) a person can/has to endure- without GA?


Is it child birth for women and kidney stones for men??
/idk, ive never had either.

Most painful procedures that don't involve a GA involve local so it isn't so much pain at the time, but pain later
Occasionally there's stuff like discograms which can't be done under GA as the information gleaned from then wouldn't be able to be ascertained without them
And I'm reluctant to say this because the last thing I want to do is put people off being on the registry , but bone marrow donations are painful unfortunately
Most caesarean sections are under spinal / epidural and it's a tugging sensation rather than pain at the time of procedure if all goes to plan

As for conditions, yeah, those two are up there (but pain is a subjective experience so it varies person by person). Plus kidney stones can occur in each gender, and aren't always painful. at the extreme end, they can be though.
Others include shingles in specific locations , specific types of trauma (accidents) and chronic neuropathic pain

 

[Shell]

Most painful procedures that don't involve a GA involve local so it isn't so much pain at the time, but pain later
Occasionally there's stuff like discograms which can't be done under GA as the information gleaned from then wouldn't be able to be ascertained without them
And I'm reluctant to say this because the last thing I want to do is put people off being on the registry , but bone marrow donations are painful unfortunately
Most caesarean sections are under spinal / epidural and it's a tugging sensation rather than pain at the time of procedure if all goes to plan

As for conditions, yeah, those two are up there (but pain is a subjective experience so it varies person by person). Plus kidney stones can occur in each gender, and aren't always painful. at the extreme end, they can be though.
Others include shingles in specific locations , specific types of trauma (accidents) and chronic neuropathic pain

Spinal taps?

What do they entail exactly?

And yep- totally agree. Pain is totally subjective. What you claim to be painful, might not be as much to someone else. Also the whole 1-10 scale is subjective too. For me i rate 10 as the worst pain ive ever been in- and thats easy- eyes when i had conjunctivitis. Felt like i was being constantly stabbed in the eye with a compass.


But then if I experienced something ELSE in the future.. that was worse, then that would go to the 10, and that would become a 9. If that makes sense..

 

[MWPP]

Spinal taps?

What do they entail exactly?

And yep- totally agree. Pain is totally subjective. What you claim to be painful, might not be as much to someone else. Also the whole 1-10 scale is subjective too. For me i rate 10 as the worst pain ive ever been in- and thats easy- eyes when i had conjunctivitis. Felt like i was being constantly stabbed in the eye with a compass.


But then if I experienced something ELSE in the future.. that was worse, then that would go to the 10, and that would become a 9. If that makes sense..

A spinal tap is a lumbar puncture. Spinal fluid (CSF) from a safe part of the back.
Above I was abbreviating spinal anaesthetic (different thing) rather than spinal anaesthetic though, which involves injecting local anaesthetic into part of the spine (the subarachnoid space)

And exactly re: the numerical rating systems. Which is why the trend is far more important. The tough one is when objective measures (which are never perfect) don't match subjective reports, and teasing out treating genuine pain from doing patients a disservice for drug seeking behaviour

 

[Shell]

A spinal tap is a lumbar puncture. Spinal fluid (CSF) from a safe part of the back.
Above I was abbreviating spinal anaesthetic (different thing) rather than spinal anaesthetic though, which involves injecting local anaesthetic into part of the spine (the subarachnoid space)

And exactly re: the numerical rating systems. Which is why the trend is far more important. The tough one is when objective measures (which are never perfect) don't match subjective reports, and teasing out treating genuine pain from doing patients a disservice for drug seeking behaviour

I find this all so very fascinating, cheers.
Almost as much as true crime/criminal behaviour + psychology.

Could talk about all this till the cows come home..