Could you feel your cath?

[Karlynn]

This is prompted by another thread.

Could you feel them doing your cath?

I could feel everywhere the wire was. I told the doctor I could and he didn't believe me, so I started telling him where the end was. He then believed me.

My Dad told me he didn't feel anything during his caths and he was not sedated at all. Wish I was like that.

But then I feel every blip and blurp of my heart and from what the doctors tell me, that's unusual. I guess I just have a finely-tuned nervous system.

I can't understand how my BIL is in constant a-fib and doesn't feel it.

 

[Ross]

Nope, didn't feel a thing any of the 2 times I've had them.

 

[geebee]

I felt every part of each of my caths (3) as well as the TEE and even a lot of the colonoscopy I had. Ouch and discomfort with all.

However, I no longer feel my constant a-fib although I used to. Not sure why that is but I am sure glad about it. I do feel it if I flip into a-flutter or if I have PVCs. Go figure.

 

[kodi]

Didn't feel a thing and I watched what I could on the screen. Usually the smallest amount of sedatives knock me out so I warned them. They gave me a lighter dose because they wanted me awake.

 

[dj/utvolsfan]

Have been too doped up or involved with watching the screen during my two caths and as a result didn't feel a thing. My second TEE on the other hand, felt it all and have developed quite a little fear of the particular procedure.
DJ

 

[sue943]

Just the sensation when they injected the dye, but nothing more. As for my TOE (TEE), I remember nothing beyond having my throat sprayed and being asked to swallow, I think they used an amnesia drug on me. The room was full of people watching the procedure as it was the first in the hospital in about four years so many people had never seen one!

 

[bvdr]

I felt my cath too but not in a bad way. Something triggered a cardio-vasospasm though, the doc thought it was either a reaction to the dye or from the catheter touching a sensitive area of a vessel. He asked me if I was having chest pain and when I said no he said, "you are about to". He could tell since the EKG was already showing changes of angina. He was right....It took a lot of nitroglycerine right in my heart before it started letting up. It doesn't make me want to have another cath anytime soon though.

Geebee, do you also find that pain meds don't work as well on you as you would expect them to? Once while researching I ran into some information about a genetic quirk that showed up in some people with rheumatic heart disease that caused reduced sites for pain drugs to act upon. I just remember it since at the time I thought it was so interesting because Aspirin has always worked better for me than so many of the heavier duty drugs. I was also told that I tried to wake up on the table during my OHS but I remember none of that!

During the cath though I loved watching the screen and seeing things for myself.

 

[Karlynn]

Geebee, do you also find that pain meds don't work as well on you as you would expect them to? Once while researching I ran into some information about a genetic quirk that showed up in some people with rheumatic heart disease that caused reduced sites for pain drugs to act upon. I just remember it since at the time I thought it was so interesting because Aspirin has always worked better for me than so many of the heavier duty drugs. I was also told that I tried to wake up on the table during my OHS but I remember none of that!

Very very interesting Betty. I've always been told I had non-rheumatic MVP with MVR. But Tylenol works as well on me as Tylenol w/ codeine or most other pain meds. And as I've said - I'm very hard to sedate. I was awake when they started to put in my central line in the OR. When I said "Ow!" I heard someone yell "Get her under! She's still awake!" Maybe I had rheumatic fever that went undiagnosed?????

 

[tobagotwo]

I was mostly awake for the procedure. I felt it all the way through, but it wasn't painful or particularly unpleasant. I had no incidents during the procedure, other than a very ticklish time when they were trying to put pressure on it to close it. What a place to get ticklish.

 

[ILoVeNY25]

I felt it all until they knocked me out. The dye sensation was weird, One thing I'll never forget is the rush of the dye and feeling it all the way to my earlobes, like that tingly feeling. I didn't even know I could feel anything in my earlobes. Very, very strange. As far as my TEE, I had my 1st when I was 13 and don't remember a thing, don't remember the 2nd one either. Maybe they knock the kids out, who knows!

 

[Karlynn]

I remember telling my Dad that that flushing hot sensation might have been enjoyable, had I not had a wire shoved from my groin into my heart!

I thought my Dad was going to have a stroke he laughed so hard. Then he had his first cath and commented that I wasn't too far off on the hot sensation. la la la Too much information for a daughter!!!!!

 

[mtkayak]

The first one I had when I was 14 and it was very discomforting. Not to mention having to lay still for long periods of time. I'm a very figity (sp) person, can barely sit still through movies Anyway, I still remember it 22 years ago, amazing how the mind remembers pain and discomfort. The seond time I made them dope me up really good. I was high as a kite and didn't have a care in the world In fact I didn't want to leave I was having so much fun

 

[geebee]

I felt my cath too but not in a bad way. Something triggered a cardio-vasospasm though, the doc thought it was either a reaction to the dye or from the catheter touching a sensitive area of a vessel. He asked me if I was having chest pain and when I said no he said, "you are about to". He could tell since the EKG was already showing changes of angina. He was right....It took a lot of nitroglycerine right in my heart before it started letting up. It doesn't make me want to have another cath anytime soon though.

Geebee, do you also find that pain meds don't work as well on you as you would expect them to? Once while researching I ran into some information about a genetic quirk that showed up in some people with rheumatic heart disease that caused reduced sites for pain drugs to act upon. I just remember it since at the time I thought it was so interesting because Aspirin has always worked better for me than so many of the heavier duty drugs. I was also told that I tried to wake up on the table during my OHS but I remember none of that!

During the cath though I loved watching the screen and seeing things for myself.

Interesting that you should bring up the waking up on the table thing. There was a brief moment, during my second OHS, where I believe I started to come to at the end of the surgery. I remember hearing the surgeon talking to someone about comparing suturing to stapling. I also remember a feeling of pressure in the sternum as if he were suturing. I did not feel any pain just the pressure and it only lasted a few seconds before I went out again. I never asked about it because I really didn't want to know but I do know that I woke up with sutures when the surgeon had discussed using staples prior to surgery. I think I did start to wake up and they "caught" it and put me back under. It was strange but it did not really freak me out and I still find it interesting rather than scary. Nothing like it happened during any of my other surgeries.

It takes a lot to put me under and I rarely benefit from the "amnesia" type drugs. Interestingly enough though, I am very sensitive to oral pain killers like percocet and darvocet. I can use 1/4 tablets and get relief.

I have a very fascinating medical history. I could write a book.

 

[JohnnyV_46]

I felt the cath too...no pain, I could just feel it moving up thru my body...
Being Conscious during surgery has got to be one of my worst fears now...I saw where about 4000 patients a year experience this...The one where the woman was conscious while they were removing a Cancerous Eye had to be the worst. Talking about a warm sensation....I had that with the dye for the cath too, but the weirdest was what ever they injected me with before the Cat Scan....the tech said it would feel like I wet myself...and it did, I didn't..

 

[OldManEmu]

I was very aware of the Cath being inserted in my groin. I was also very aware of the PICC line being inserted in my upper arm to treat the endocarditis. I must say I couldn't feel either anywhere other than at the site of insertion.

 

[aussigal]

I was scared stiff of being able to feel it so they gave me extra drugs to calm me down. I ended up feeling no pain , but I was wide awake and watched the whole lot on the screen. I did feel the weird burning and feeling like wetting your pants bit from the dye though.

 

[cam4est]

When I was 7yrs old and had a cut down cath at the NIH, I woke up in the middle of it while I was being cut and sewn on in the groin and right arm. I could see the blood and feel everything they were doing So when ,as an adult I had to have a cath, I was terrified. I kept jumping when I felt the needle touch my leg and they told me to be still. I told them, the only way I could be still was for them to help me. So they gave me so much anesthesia, that my sats dropped to 50 and they were yelling at me to TAKE A BREATH!!! Needless to say, I didnt feel a thing! When I had another one done in January, the nurse was saying, "you will feel a little stick". I told him that I didnt think he understood, but my goal was to feel NOTHING. My dr. intervened and I was singing when I returned to my room. i didnt feel anything then either.

 

[debster913]

I'm thinking this is prompted by my crazy thread!

As far as the TEE goes, I don't remember the first one, except afterwards when my cardio told my mom that I wouldn't need surgery "until robots do it." And that was only a year before I became symptomatic... Whoops, he spoke too soon. This year, as I was reflecting on how quickly everything progressed, I was wondering, didn't he take into account that my valve is myxomatous? I guess everything looked so good on that TEE that he didn't think my valve would get any worse for quite some time. Then when I saw him a couple weeks after my EP study this March, he casually mentioned that my valve might need surgery in one-three years (a far cry from "robots"!--And THAT was confusing). And then I started having symptoms two weeks later. I'd felt fine at the follow-up, so it came as quite a shock.

Then, this past April, when I had my pre-surgery diagnostic TEE (after my angio showed no more than moderate regurg), I remembered the WHOLE thing. I gagged on the probe the first time, so my cardio sprayed my throat again, the tube went down like butter, and I watched him look at my valves. I remember hearing him say, "Oh, good, it can be repaired," as he looked at my mitral. I think I did a thumbs-up sign with my left hand, because I was hoping we could just get this surgery over with, I'd felt so awful. He asked the nurse to raise my BP to see how my valve reacted under "stress," and it leaked more. After the test, my cardio told me to get a copy for the surgeon, but then shocked me again with, "Well, I want to do the pulmonary function test. If it's asthma, we'll treat that and forget about your valve for now." I remember thinking, well, crap. My valve is leaking, I'm having symptoms, and I don't think it's asthma. Thankfully, that test was negative, but it was still a pain in the butt to do. But right after the TEE, my cardio went over to the phone in the testing room and started dictating. He wanted to get all my tests done before I met with the surgeon the following week. I was so nicely stoned, and he was talking so fast, that I thought he was talking in his native Greek. That was sort of funny. I was wondering, "Is he talking to his mom? Why's he calling her after my test?" until I realized he was talking about my valve.

The funniest thing, though, was being in the recovery room after my TEE and being surrounded by old folks who'd just had colonoscopies. They were all "tooting their horns" but there was no smell. I still have no clue why Dr. V kept me there until 2:30 PM when my test was over at 8:15 AM!

 

[Gnusgal]

I remember my last cath (but have no memories of the other 3 I've had or my EP study). I had told the docs I wanted to be "out" as I didn't want to remember anything at all. Alas, whatever they gave me didn't work well enough to put me to sleep. But it did calm me enough that I didn't panic when I felt the wire moving through my body. And yes, I felt it. It didn't really hurt, just felt "strange." When I did start to panic, I asked for more drugs, and they gave me some. Again, didn't put me out, just calmed me. It was kind of neat watching the screen.

But I've found that sedation doesn't really work too well for me. If they plan on giving me the "hard" stuff like they do for most surgeries, then I seem to do okay (I don't remember anything from most of my 14 surgeries). However, the pacemaker replacement that I had when I was 20 is a different story. My card at the time decided (without telling me) that he would do the procedure himself in the cath lab and only give me sedation and a local. This completely freaked me out the day of, when I was finally told the plan. He said they would sedate me enough that I wouldn't be awake or wouldn't care, but that isn't how it worked out. Before the procedure started they gave me Vallium. Instead of calming me, I just got more agitated. The nurses, as they preped me for surgery kept asking me how I was doing. My response was always "I'm not out yet, give me more drugs." They would turn and look at my card questioningly and he'd say "Go ahead." I think they gave me more than a person my size (108 lbs at the time) should have needed. I may have dosed a couple of times throughout the procedure, but certainly not through most of it! I remember them injecting the local around the incision area, inserting the temp pacer wires, removing the old pacer, putting in the new one, and sewing me up. Thank goodness the only thing I DON'T remember is the actual cutting. I don't know if that's because I was actually asleep or if I've blocked it from memory. Either way, I'm grateful for some small miracles.

Anyway, now I put down on all paperwork that Vallium has an adverse effect on me. I ask for Versed by name. I don't care how awake I am for a procedure as long as I don't remember it come morning! I've had versed for all of my TEEs and don't remember anything beyond spraying my throat with the nasty bannana tasting stuff. I don't even remember swallowing the camera. Versed is my best friend! If it ever turns on me, I don't know how I'll survive some of these procedures they put me through...

 

[afraidofsurgery]

Cath funnies

Cath funnies

I had just gotten my meager dose of Versed before my doc and a very cute intern dove into my femoric artery and vein with the big-ass needle, and the nurse told me she would be 'shaving my groin'. Well, I was sure I heard her say 'shave my BRAIN' and I howled, 'NO, you're not shaving my brain!! I'm here for a cath!'

I looked up at my docs and they were bent in half laughing so hard they couldn't breathe.

I did feel that dang needle go into my artery/vein, didn't feel good at all. Once it was in though, I was OK. Also felt the dye give me a big warm and fuzzy feeling that yes, might have felt good if there weren't tubes in my veins and I could have bled to death if somebody goofed up.

And I asked my doc what % my valve was leaking and he casually told me 'it's wide open'. Gee, and I thought I had a little bittee weenie moderate to severe leak. Wow. That was far more entertaining than the surgery, I was asleep for that.

About drug effects - I've had problems w/ alcohol far in my past, so yes my tolerance towards most drugs is very high.

Patty