hypocaffeinemia

As one who helped author a blog on this subject I would like to respond.

I never claimed any long term effects such as retrograde amnesia for myself. However I think such claims should be investigated. There seems to be a lot of variation in the way this drug works. Also, even if a bad experience is “just in someone’s head” it is no less real to them.

AS for me – My main complaint was not being told what I was being given, being spoken to in euphemisms, and the use of Versed to facilitate this manner of conduct.

I had expected to be told something like ‘I am going to put you to sleep now’. What I was told was ‘I am going to give you something to relax you’. I presumed that meant something to calm me before going to the operating room. What then ensued was a ride in a gurney feeling no effect until just about the time I was lifted onto the operating table. Suddenly I found myself getting dizzy and realizing that I was about to pass out, without having been told what to expect or when.

I can understand that some folks may not see what was upsetting about the above, however I found it extremely demeaning – the message to me was ‘this guy isn’t worth telling the truth to, so let’s give him this drug that will just get him off our hands’. I might add this all happened after I had asked a lot of questions of the Dr. beforehand, so it really was a case of him skillfully avoiding telling me the facts.

Finally for honesty’s sake – I want to state clearly that yes I am someone who does not like (for whatever reasons) being put to sleep. I of course realize that for some procedures (like mine) it cannot be avoided, but if there is another way to avoid pain and keep me still enough for the surgeon to do his work I want to know about it, and have it as a choice. I realize some feel just the opposite and when possible they should have a choice to be put out if they want.

Thats what they gave Gary when we went for our last round up ass-filming. We asked for whatever he had the last time to be sedated because the Versed cost a shitload more. They ONLY offered the Versed then tried to make me feel like a bad wife because apparently it’s much better for the patient. It was ’spensive and he still felt just as groggy the rest of the day.
To me, that is half the fun of getting something done..getting to escape reality for a day!

I’ve had Versed. More than once.

And if you plan to get near me with a scope up the backside, you had better damn well give me Versed.

Sheesh.

And for the record, I remember…wait….I forgot what I was going to say…. : )

Hey, cool tips. I’ll buy a bottle of beer to that person from that chat who told me to go to your blog

Hey Matt,

I am also one of those crazy midazolam haters. I hate it for me, but I don’t mind if other people love it. And yes, I was one of “those people” that was given it against my instructions. “I won’t have the procedure if I am going to be given Versed.” “No, we don’t have to give you Versed.” But then they gave it to me anyway, so here I am.

So you can say whatever you want about me, because it is probably true. Control freak – yep! Hates to be sedated – sure! Doesn’t trust medical staff – more than you could ever imagine! PTSD – definitely, with psychotic features too. A little nuts even before the midazolam – absolutely!

So you are probably thinking, “I don’t blame them for wanting to dope her up!” And maybe you are right, that this is what they were thinking. They “knew” what was best for me 2 minutes after meeting me. But the next time you find yourself on this train of thought, please consider why I did not want midazolam–I was drugged and raped as a child. So please tell me how I was better off with my own imagination/hallucination than the memory of a scope up my butt.

Good luck on your graduation. I hope you will do your best to care for your patients with compassion and understanding. Be willing to accept that there are plenty of things that you don’t know, and always be open to learning.

Funny isn’t it how all of us are having the same symptoms. HMMM. Could it be the drug? Sort of like Demerol causing hallucinations in many patients? Is it odd that people are given Versed against their will and without proper informed consent? So many patients are complaining about the non-informed consent these days, wonder why that would be? Do you even see how your own arguments are actually proving our point that this is a very bad drug for many people and that it is being administered without informed consent. Informed consent being that document which FULLY EXPLAINS the “conscious sedation” not the ubiquitous “something to relax you.” If you have amnesia please tell me how the patient would experience this “relaxation?”

I recently received 4mg of midazolam for endoscopy and the drug caused severe anxiety and hostility followed by depression and nightmares. I guess that this is the paradoxical reaction that so many patients seem to be reporting. I had little to no anxiety when the procedure started but within a few minutes of midazolam administration, the drug-induced anxiety was so bad that the procedure had to be cancelled. My endo doc said that she sees this reaction in way to many people, especially with colonoscopy. The exam was rescheduled and she told me that she wanted to use painkiller only (fentanyl), but I refused any drugs because of the midazolam debacle. The colonoscopy was easy without drugs. I have a Ph.D. in biochemistry and I assure you that I had an open mind regarfing midazolam (versed). I would never consent to this drug again.

I’m an airline pilot and don’t know much (if anything) about nursing, drugs or sedation. I recently had to have elbow/wrist surgery as an outpatient and I read the Wall Street Journal article about conscious sedation and how a lot of patients did not like it. My procedure was supposed to be done with a bier (sp) block with sedation, but after reading some of the comments about Versed, I asked the anesthesia doc if we could skip it. At age 54, I already have enough memory loss. My wife told me not to be a PIA patient, but I asked the anesthesia doc about the Versed issue and she told me that she didn’t use it and that a lot of people in the anesthesia community are “shying away” from using it as an adjunct. I asked her if she would consent to it and she said no; too many patients were reporting long-term problems and memory loss. She told me that if I wanted sedation, a far better choice was diprivan(sp); she said that the cuff for the block might become painful after a while. As a layman, I asked why use sedation for pain, why not use pain drugs and she said that this was perfectly fine, and that was a very good option. So we didn’t do sedation; it was painful but tolerable. My only reason for commenting here is that it seems that a lot of people have been hurt by Versed; my anesthesia doc said that it’s overused and that some people (not anesthesia practitioners) don’t warn the patients about the amnesia/memory loss and that the drug is indeed used much too often. One of my associated used to be a CRNA and told me that patients should be told that this drug is given “to make you forget” not “to relax you”….O.K. now I’ll shut up; now I know more than enough about Versed and sedation…..I will assure you that I will avoid both in the future.

Back again-great website, very informative. It’s great to get all of this information; but this scares me. I just had my annual physical and told my PCP that I would do the suggested colonoscopy but only if it could be done without sedation. I got a call to schedule the exam, which I did, but then the nurse told me that she had to check if they could do the exam without sedation. I quoted the Journal article stating that most patients who had the unsedated exam preferred it; the endo doc called me back and said no…Something about having to do too many exams in one day and doing one without sedation takes extra time..Wow. That was easy to get out of.