General Anesthesia + Xanax

[Boony]

Hi,

I have suffered from GAD for a decade and had previous operation whilst on SSRI and an SNRI medication.  Neither time did I require a benzo before it.

I have been off medication for a year although occassionaly use Xanax during stressful periods. 

I currently have a procedure being performed under a general anesthetic and am extremely anxious.  I am wondering if people have experience with being allowed

to have Xanax or any other benzo for that matter on the previous night and morning of the procedure.  I will 100% need it to make it to hospital. 

 

Thanks

 

[melissaw72]

Yes, I have had lots of procedures where they used anesthesia, and It was all fine.  No problems. They even told me to take the xanax (and klonopin) before the procedure/surgery so I wouldn't be so anxious.  I'd still run it by you DR, but IME, taking the benzos right before surgery was not a problem.

[San]

I've been under general 8 times (wisdom teeth, ECT x 6 and tubal ligation) and have been on all sorts of meds and you just talk to the anesthesiologist (they generally make an appointment close to the surgery date, or talk to you in pre-op) and let them know exactly what you take. They're the ones that will take care of that. Often, Xanax or Ativan are given in pre-op for people nervous about the surgery. 

For my tubal ligation, they told me to take my meds as rx'd before going to the hospital (with as little water as possible), one of them was Xanax. They told me I couldn't have pre-op anxiety meds because I took the Xanax, they didn't want me to be "too drowsy". For my wisdom teeth I was on Ativan, same deal. For ECT, you can't be taking a benzo, but that's a whole another story.

Discuss with everyone on the surgery team. They should know your meds. Anesthesiologists are going to know them best, and they want you to be calm, and if you request something for it, you'll most likely get it. It's pretty common. 

If you've never been under anesthesia before, well, my first time, my wisdom teeth, I was terrified. They got me into the OR, covered me in a heated blanket (ask for heated blankets in pre-op, for one, hospitals are cold, and for two, they relax me as much as Ativan does, which is amazing) and the anesthesiologist told me what he was doing, and he injected the anesthetic into my IV, and holy crap, I didn't have a care in the world. I started giggling and then I was out. 

[dilemma]

I have had quite a few procedures, and have taken Klonopin the night before.  I did make sure to mention it to the anethesiologist in pre-op.

I also have had them ask if I was nervous (of course I was!) and been given a benzo via the IV in the pre-op room.  I usually get really  anxious when they're wheeling me into the OR, and having to look up at the ceiling going by fast makes me nauseous, so it does help.

[dilemma]

I have had many surgeries.  The doctors have all had a pre-op appointment where we went over all the meds and vitamins that I take.  They tell you to stop taking things that thin your blood like aspirin and such for usually a week to 10 days before the surgery.  They also tell you what you can take the night before, and what you can take the morning of (with just a sip of water.)  If the doctor didn't tell me I could take something in the morning that I thought I'd really need, especially an antipsychotic, I would bring it up and usually they would let me take it. However most times when I told them that the med was for bipolar, they told me to definitely take it without my prompting.