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I have had four surgeries sense i developed POTS. The first time i had a bad reaction to the anesthesia, my bp dropped to 50 over 20 and my hr dropped to 30. They said if i would have stayed that way for a few more seconds that they would have had to shock my heart back into rhythm. Luckily that didn't happen. I have been under anesthesia 3 times since. Now they give me something to boost my heart rate before going under. I haven't had any problems since. It's wierd though because i normally am tachy. Have any of you had reactions to anesthesia? if so what happened?

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i sorry, i didn't mean to freak anyone out. I was just curios. I would just recommend that when you you see the anesthesiologist tell him about is so they know to whats your vitals extra close. Also of never happened to me again after they gave me something to up my vitals, and iv'e had 3 surgeries sense. I think it was Epinephrine they gave me, which would normally be bad with someone in with POTS, but its better then your vitals dropping! Try not to worry to much though, I'm sure your anesthesiologist will take good care of you, especially sense he talked to your cardio, they will know what to do for your case. If you don't mind me asking what kind of surgery are you having?

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although i've been having dysautonomia type problems all my life, the anaesthesia that came with surgery really made it worse for me. the last surgery i had in 2001 set my dysautonomia off really bad and made me worse over the years. since on octreotide (combined with an ssri) i am doing better but for me personally surgery under g.a. is a bit of a nightmare.

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I've always reacted very badly anesthesia... I have had a total of 9 surgeries in my lifetime and each time have had major problems- problems coming out of it, low BP after- usually keeping me in the hospital 2-3 extra days at least with each one- even day surgeries will keep me a few days to get my BP regulated. I also have problems with other parts of my body as well that are related to the autonomic system- example: my bladder. I had 2 surgeries- emergency appendectomy and knee surgery to fix dislocations- within 7 weeks of each other. I'm pretty sure that the two surgeries so close together caused my current "flare"....

Jen

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Has anyone had an anesthesiologist refuse to put you under due to POTS?

Back when I was having major GI malabsorbtion issues, the GI wanted to do an endoscopy, colonoscopy, and possibly exploratory surgery. It had been over a month since I was able to digest protein and I felt like death warmed over for the appointment. BP was running ~80/35. GI doc was gung-ho on getting me in his new surgery center. His gas man vetoed it immediately, especially exploratory surgery. At the time I didn't mind as I thought the GI doc was completely out-of-line with his recommendations, but it does make me wonder about future surgeries.

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Had colonoscopy with general anesthesia, because of my health issues, and GI troubles, and did fine, actually; Just slept all day and all night. It wore me out!!

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Jen, your reaction seems similar to mine. Besides my vitals dropping i also had trouble coming out of it and bladder problems causing them to have to catheterize me, those problems still happen, but i haven't had any problems with my vitals sense that time, because they know i have POTS and what happend in the past and they medicate me first. The first surgery they made me stay for 12 hours to monitor me, and wouldn't even let me sit up for the first six. They often recommend they i stay the night after surgery but i usually decline, because after about 6 hours i'm okay, just tired and dizzy. I am not aloud to have surgery at a surgery center or be put under at an office though, i had a surgery scheduled at a surgery center one time and i was sitting waiting with my gown on and everything, they found out my history and sent me home, and rescheduled it at a hospital, i also had to have my wisdom teeth out at a hospital instead of the normal office. I seem to do fine now as long as i am at a hospital and put on something to up my vitals.

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Bunny, im not surprised they wouldn't operate on you with you bp that low. In a normal person bp drops under anesthesia, with your bp that low, it dropping even more while your under could have caused problems. It probably wasn't the POTS exactly, just the fact at that time your bp was too low.

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Hannah- that is interesting.. Thinking back I don't ever recall being put under at a surgery center or office (Thank goodness! ) All of mine have been in hospitals or outpatient hospitals attached to hospitals. Now that I know about my problems, I'm terrified at the thought of surgery, especially because it has progressed so badly since I had the last two. I think it also depends on how long I'm under (which obviously makes sense). Last Jan. when I had my appendix out it took them twice as long as normal because I had so much scar tissue from my previous C-section- they had a hard time getting to my appendix and it was nearing rupture so I'm sure they must have to use special care in removing it. That surgery was very difficult for me to recover from, as I was under more than 3 hours. My BP didn't stabilize for days and after the third day inpatient they just let me go with instructions on how to handle the low BP (again, before I was diagnosed). It took me at least 2 weeks until my autonomic system functioned at all. Now, after research I see that anesthesia is not a friend to those of us with Dysautomia- sure wish I knew then what I knew now. :) But who would suspect such a thing?

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Hey all,

So I have been crying for 2 days and today was the BIG DAY, was in the gown about to have I.V's hooked up then the nurse ran the magic wand over my forehead and said "You have a fever" and they canceled surgery and sent me home with antibiotics and will try to reschedule Friday. I am so worried and wonder if the crying so much caused the fever!!!! I really don't want this surgery, I mean I was like a 2 year old balling and thinking the worst was going to happen.I told husband I felt like a dog going to the pound to be put to sleep I'm not doing good at all!

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Are you worried about the surgery or anesthesia? If your worried about the anesthesia when I told my doctors I had POTS the last time I went under they went through all the precautions and monitored me very closely and everything went fine. The IV saline they gave me actually made me feel more like myself than I had felt in a while! :) I hope you feel better and your surgery goes well on Friday!

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Hannah its okay :) I will be having a hysterectomy in 2 days.

Prayers to you, Lissy. Post when you can & let us know how you are!

Oh dear- I just saw your second post. How awful to postpone your trepidation for a few more days. Yeah, a fever in us autonomic folks doesn't necessarily mean much :blink: Checking your white count might have been a better idea....

More prayers that it's perfectly uneventful & you feel MUCH better (& lighter :D )afterwards.

Hugs-

Julie

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