Sorry, not trying to rub it in...

[r2cagle]

I keep saying that to my husband.

I had outpatient surgery today. Nothing too major and not even alot of pain. But I knew I'd be sleeping off the anesthesia today and tomorrow.

What irks my husband?... he gets sick as a dog from anesthesia, even with anti-nausea medicine. As soon as I rolled into recovery, I woke right up, no pain, no dizziness, no nausea. In fact, I told the nurse right off that I needed three things: to pee, my glasses and something to drink.

My husband is having outpatient surgery tomorrow also under general anesthesia. He developed cellulitis last week and it's finally localized enough that the surgeon said draining it would help it heal faster.

So hubby is not looking forward to the anesthesia part. Even though we'll be telling all the nurses and doctors to make sure he gets anti-nausea, hubby will still be feeling like a 18-wheeler ran him over, and he's so worried that he'll be sick. I keep telling him it'll be fine, but he's looking at me bouncing back so quickly and I know he's jealous and it'll be worse tomorrow. :sigh: If I could have the surgery for you, I would honey.

Anyone have any advice for something he can put in his system before midnight that might last until surgery time? I plan on taking some real ginger ale to the hospital, but I told him maybe taking dramamine before going to bed might help.

[KiaKat]

You want them to put an anti-nausea patch on him before he even gets a DROP of anesthesia. There have been studies that show relationship between motion sickness and post-anesthesia nausea. Unfortunately, that's really the only thing that helps.

Also, it might not be a good idea for him to take anything that hasn't been specifically prescribed by a doctor, even if it's before the Midnight mark, because you never know how it'll interact with the other medications.

[Solumina]

I'd stay away from any meds as KiaKat said but give him as much ginger as he likes, you may want to keep some candies ginger around for him to munch on as that has more ginger to it than ginger ale, though it can be a bit hard to find (I know, my mom loves the stuff but doesn't have a place near her that has any so whenever I visit I always bring her a bunch as I can get it at the Trader Joe's near where I work), you could also try some ginger tea as it also packs in more ginger-y goodness than the ginger ale so you can kind of get him all dosed up on ginger (and from personal experience yes ginger does help up to about 12 hours in advance, I used to get terrible motion sickness and ginger before bed was the only way that I was able to get on a boat or plane). As for once things happen and he is in need of recovery that is when the ginger ale is going to work best since the carbonation will help ease his stomach and will help the ginger to work faster.

[draggar]

You want them to put an anti-nausea patch on him before he even gets a DROP of anesthesia. There have been studies that show relationship between motion sickness and post-anesthesia nausea. Unfortunately, that's really the only thing that helps.

Also tell him to keep thinking (and believing) that he won't get sick and that his recovery will be smooth. Many times the "illness" is actually mental - sadly it's nearly impossible to test to see if it is real or not.

[KiaKat]

Also tell him to keep thinking (and believing) that he won't get sick and that his recovery will be smooth. Many times the "illness" is actually mental - sadly it's nearly impossible to test to see if it is real or not.

This is the one case where I'll disagree, and do so strongly.

There is a lot of evidence to support the assertion that anesthesia causes motion sickness/nausea in some people. It's more pronounced in people who have a history of either vertigo or motion sickness, but it has been known to show up in people with no personal history, especially if family history of some sort presents with one of the three (vertigo, motion sickness, post-anesthesia nausea). They're not sure of the mechanism of action, but there does seem to be some alteration to the balance centres of the inner ear.

Found all of this out when my mom had surgery last year. My sister brought all sorts of studies to the outpatient clinic, only to find out that they already knew about them and planned on slapping a patch on mom, due to history

[r2cagle]

Yes, Hubby suffers from motion sickness, and him being sick will actually feed into itself, making it get worse if there is nothing to intervene. Most people can vomit once or twice and settle down... hubby just increasingly gets worse.

We plan on making sure he gets something, maybe double of something since he's a big guy before he goes under. But I didn't know if anyone had luck with natural stuff such as ginger tea ahead of time, or vanilla or even magnets. (I've heard these can help with vertigo/nausea), obviously nothing stays in the system a long time, but something gentle and non-invasive is worth trying.

The nurses put massaging boots on me to prevent blood clots... and it was so relaxing, I fell asleep before they even gave me any medicine! I hope that they do the same for hubby.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I would call the doctor's office and ask them if there's anything he can take. I agree, though, don't take anything with an OK from the doc. You never know what might cause a problem.

[Lady Legira]

Last time I had surgery I ended up having THREE different anti nausea drugs they couldn't give me any more. Thankfully the third one worked. Sympathy to the hubby!

[Amusement Gal]

I'm not really sure what you can do medicine-wise for the nausea, since I'm not a doctor and all that, but the ginger ale will probably help a bunch. A good brand to get is the Red Rock stuff. I swear, every time I drink it, it's like a punch to the throat the ginger is so strong. Best of luck to your hubby! You could also try making your own ginger tea ahead of time and putting it in a big bottle; if you need a lot of ginger to soothe the stomach, it's a lot cheaper to make some tea instead of some (really yummy!) real ginger ale.

[r2cagle]

Well, good news! Hubby ended up not having to have surgery... so the nausea is a moot point! He's pretty happy about that too.

The surgeon came in and took a leg at his leg and said he was surprised at how much it had improved in two days so he'd rather stick to the antibiotics and see him in a week. So Yay!

[Amusement Gal]

Congrats! I say you buy the ginger ale anyway. For, y'know, the...not nausea?

[Der Cute]

The nurses put massaging boots on me to prevent blood clots... and it was so relaxing, I fell asleep before they even gave me any medicine! I hope that they do the same for hubby.

Hey Sheldon! New toys, vibrator boots!! (tbh that sounds divine. Now I need a pedi, a mani, and Hugh Jackman slathered in chocolate.)

[Solumina]

I don't know, he has a lot of body hair, I'm not sure that would go well with chocolate, maybe just him and a box of chocolates?

[AccountingDrone]

I'd stay away from any meds as KiaKat said but give him as much ginger as he likes, you may want to keep some candies ginger around for him to munch on as that has more ginger to it than ginger ale, though it can be a bit hard to find (I know, my mom loves the stuff but doesn't have a place near her that has any so whenever I visit I always bring her a bunch as I can get it at the Trader Joe's near where I work), you could also try some ginger tea as it also packs in more ginger-y goodness than the ginger ale so you can kind of get him all dosed up on ginger (and from personal experience yes ginger does help up to about 12 hours in advance, I used to get terrible motion sickness and ginger before bed was the only way that I was able to get on a boat or plane). As for once things happen and he is in need of recovery that is when the ginger ale is going to work best since the carbonation will help ease his stomach and will help the ginger to work faster.

penzeys.com sells the best cubed candied ginger. i buy it by the pound =)