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Anesthesia Recovery?

A

Anon1234

Junior member
Joined
Jan 20, 2018
Messages
12
How long after the IV is removed, will it take for me to be NOT dopey (so long as no post operation medications such as Benzos have been administered)? Like...is it within a few minutes? Or will I be a YouTube-video-Esc embarrassment fest for hours? I just like to be in control and i DO know it impacts everyone differently...so I’m just looking for some ballparks or some of your stories? How long did it take for any of you to regain a semi—alert state (at least enough to not be acting a fool)? Thanks for any replies!
 
I have had IV sedation about 10 times (dental procedures and colonoscopies and such), and am usually completely back to normal within minutes. My body metabolizes anaesthetics of all kinds far too quickly though, so I "recover" much more quickly than most. If you're lucky though, you'll be like me!
 
I have had IV sedation about 10 times (dental procedures and colonoscopies and such), and am usually completely back to normal within minutes. My body metabolizes anaesthetics of all kinds far too quickly though, so I "recover" much more quickly than most. If you're lucky though, you'll be like me!

One can only hope ?. Thank you ?
 
I find it also depends a lot on the protocol the office follows for letting people leave the office. The dentist office I go to as a nurse that works in the recovery room and she usually waits that I'm stable and aware enough before letting me in the hands of the person taking care of me after the appointment. Usually, I notice the only thing that would still stay is the memory loss. For example, from my last time getting sedation, I remember leaving the dental office, I remember being at the pharmacy and waiting for my prescription. I don't remember paying at the dental office or at the pharmacy, but I do have the receipts for both and I don't remember most parts of the driving.
 
In my case, it isn't that at all. Even with a general anaesthetic, I'm awake and very alert as soon as they stop administering the drugs. I always shock the orderly who is wheeling me into the recovery room, because they say that nobody else wakes up until much later.

I also require more drugs than most people (they can't sedate me with a regular dose), so that may be a factor too. I'm not obese, btw, so my weight isn't what causes my need for a large amount of the anaesthetic, or my ability to defend against unconsciousness, and recover so quickly. I have never had memory lapses either, afterward, and get annoyed because I always have to bring a driver, even though I'm more than capable of doing that myself (I know almost no-one else is though, so I get their rules).

I really think that it such a personal difference, and some people will be at one end of the spectrum like me, and others will find themselves on youtube. Most people, however, are somewhere in the middle.
 
I think it depends on the sedative agent used - with propofol, you're back to normal pretty much straight away, with midazolam it will take a while to wear off. In the UK, midazolam is used in dental practices, as propofol doesn't demonstrate the margin of safety required to satisfy the General Dental Council definition of a sedative agent suitable for use by dentists (it can be used in a hospital environment though).
 
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