ANA Discussion Forum
General Category => AN Issues => Topic started by: CraftyOne on June 22, 2019, 01:55:42 pm
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Hi All,
I know this sounds very trivial and silly to normal people, but I have a question.....I have a severe phobia/fear of vomiting. I know people vomit after surgery, BUT I am wondering if anyone got through the surgery and recovery without vomiting?
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Hi there,
I have severe phobia of vomiting too and I brought this up to my doctors in pre-surgery meeting, my doctors told me they usually put anti-vomiting drugs into the IV and the nurse showed the bottles to me before they put me into sleep. I didn't know if they gave extra dosage on me but I woke up with ZERO vomiting after the surgery ;)
Wayne
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Thank you! That is great to know, I am so happy about that :)
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No phobias are silly - especially when you ask in advance vs suffering undue anxiety. As someone else pointed out, they have ways of reducing the likelihood of nausea getting the better of you these days. I think it is typical for the anesethologist(s) to meet you day of surgery, well before they start putting you out to verify allergies etc., so you can mention this concern to them - its reassuring to have the professionals actually administering the care tell you how they handle your concern.
Personally, I have never thrown up following surgery except the time I was given a painkiller that I now know I react badly to. (I've had a few other unrelated surgeries). So I make sure the guys knocking me out are aware of this and they always promise to use painkillers from a different class of drugs which has worked fine for me in the three surgeries I've had since learning about it.
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I did not vomit after my surgery either, so I guess it can be done! I will say for a day or two it was pretty nauseated and didn't want to eat. Good luck!
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We learned this trick from a nurse who took care of my husband after his thyroidectomy surgery. Being that his throat was the surgical site, we were very anxious that he not wretch and disrupt his stitches. When he felt a wave of nausea, the nurse would have him put an alcohol wipe (the kind they wipe your skin with when you get a shot) next to his nose and have him inhale. I don't know why it works, but I can tell you it really helps. We found it also helped prevent vomiting after his gall bladder surgery. He just kept the alcohol wipe near his nose until the nausea passed. I have used this little trick several times and it always seems to work. You can buy alcohol wipes most any where, but we found that cotton balls soaked in alcohol were cheaper and worked just as well. There is also a drug brand name Zofran (nor sure of the generic name) that greatly reduces nausea. When it first came out they restricted usage to chemotherapy patients, but now that it is available in generic form, it is routinely given to control nausea from any cause.