Can the anesthetic fail??

[Shezza84uk]

Hi Girls,

I had my consultant appointment on Thursday and they sent off all the forms to get a date for my Csection. I am not entirely scared of surgery its more fear of the anesthetic not working and leaving me feeling everything! This would be my worst nightmare and im getting anxiety at the thought.

Please tell me im being silly or is this possible

 

[JJS2012]

Please take note that what happened to me only happens to about 2% of the population.

With my son, yes it did fail. I felt it and they put me to sleep.

I missed his birth and woke up two hours later.

With my daughter when my VBAC failed they gave me the spinal AND the epidural. It did work and I was awake that time.

It CAN happen but it's rare, it really is.

 

[Arisa]

oh wow JJS that is rare.
I was worried of that too and they told me before my procedure when I signed the consent that it CAN happen but its extremely rare and the anesthetist has not had a failed spinal yet and if you start to feel even the slightest twinge they will put you under General anesthetic

 

[Shezza84uk]

Ahh I think I'll be asking a bit more questions at my 36 week appointment surely they check to see if your numb before proceeding?

JJS im sorry you went through that hoping it dosnt happen to me I don't know how I'd cope with that trauma postpartum.

 

[purple_kiwi]

I had it happen during my 2nd c-section. They check before starting and I never felt anything until after she was out. It failed to numb all the layers or somthing the doctor said. It did hurt but to be honest I only remeber telling them to stop because it hurt but they just gave me shots of morphine 5 to be exact. I kinda just passed out and woke up in recovery like 20 mins later. But TBH I would do it again and have another c-section as its just kind of one of those things that sometimes happen and I can't even remember what the pain felt like now and it was only around 10 weeks ago lol

 

[Leanne27]

Sorry to say but you did ask, so I will be honest, mine also failed.

I had a spinal and because it was an EMCS they didn't take quite as long testing everything as they maybe should have. At the time it was horrendous but looking back I would rather they took less time sorting me out and got her out quickly, if they had spent longer on me testing the spinal block the ending might have been different. Who knows?

I had a birth reflection afterwards as I wanted to know it was recorded that my spinal had failed, for some reason that was important to me. I wanted my experience to be recorded and it was.

 

[christinas06]

Well, let me give you a positive... Mine did not fail. I had a spinal and epidural combo. He said by doing both there was more of a chance for it all to be numb. Once I was done with the c-section he left the epidural in for 12 hours for pain control. I recovered really quickly.

 

[Liesje]

Don't worry, if it does fail, they can give you stuff so you don't even care that you can feel it. With mine it started to wear off after I was in recovery (as its supposed to) and I started to feel pain get progressively worse within about 5 minutes another 2 minuts and I would have been screaming if it continued... I yelled for the nurse who brought a nice big needle, she popped it into my IV and within seconds the pain was gone and I was more relaxed than I ever have been in my life. I can honestly say if I go for anoth section, I wouldn't worry about it not working.

 

[jenjeep7]

I had mine fail, but they had me knocked out within seconds of saying I can feel something. I woke up 2 hours later to see hubby holding our lil buy and telling him stories. It was an EMCS and I usually have problems with epidurals and such. I wouldn't worry too much. No matter what happens, the hospital will take care of you!

 

[disneyleanne]

Yes unfortunately mine did fail with my first son. They had to put me to sleep straightaway after that.
But even though that happened I didnt give it a second thought when I had to have a second emcs 2 years later.

Although it can happen, its pretty rare so dont go worrying yourself.

 

[BoBo14]

Mine didn't fail and I didn't even feel the sensation of washing in my tummy when they pull baby out so they must have numbed me out good and proper. I'm not orbited about my planned one- if I feel something like others say, they will know by you screaming blue murder and they will increase the meds. Remember labour is painful so im guessing probably on a par if you feel something during surgery?

 

[BoBo14]

Orbited?? I meant worried