In conscious sedation, does the patient lose touch with reality?

[Bala Shark]

One of my patients told me that the procedure lasted less than 30 seconds..But in reality it was like 15 minutes..He also did not remember the procedure and it was like only in the end that he recalled information..Is this normal?

[Kymmi]

That is totally normal and expected from procedures done under conscious sedation. That is the reason conscious sedation is used and it is a good thing that is the outcome. Could you imagine attempting to do any of the procedures we do under sedation and have the patient awake and remembering them....ouch!

[GalRN]

I recently had oral surgeon w/ IV concious sedation using fentanyl and versed. I also had nitrous. I remember the dentist putting in the IV, then I remember waking up. When I had more pain in one socket than the others I called to ask what was up. The covering doc said that since that tooth had been broken at the gum line the surgeon had to literally put his knee to my chest and yank several times. I'm glad I don't remember it!

[zenman]

I had a colonoscopy last year and I'm glad I lost touch with reality because the doc was like Captain Kirk...he went where no man has gone before, LOL!

[LilRedRN1973]

I had oral surgery twice and both times, had versed and fentanyl. I remember hearing the periodontist tell the nurse, "Give her 50 of fentanyl and 2 of versed", then I woke up on my living room couch!!! LOL. Apparently, I accompanied my husband to pick up the kids from school, fill my pain prescription, etc. but have no recall of any of it. Scary, eh? But whew, I'm glad. They pulled out my 4 front teeth, cut tissue from my hard palate and stitched it down below, then scraped away some of my gum tissue. God forbid I remember any of that!!

Melanie = )

[suzy253, RN]

Absolutely! Great stuff. I've had it with oral surgery and colonoscopies. I remember one time saying that they hadn't even done the procedure yet. Another time I told the nurse that I hadn't been put under at all.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

This is absolutely the outcome that you want. My patients have often asked, "are you going to start now?" when they come around. As others have posted, this brief disorientation is absolutely preferable to remembering the excrutiating details of tooth extractions, fracture reductions or complicated I&Ds.

I'm looking at some dental surgery in the next 6 months -- bring on the Versed!

[rach_nc_03]

I've had it for both oral surgeries and for a colonoscopy last year (yikes!). In that one, they lowballed the versed so much that i remember every moment, and I was in a LOT of pain (but couldn't move, which is probably a very good thing).

I kept saying, 'for the love of god, give me more versed!!' the nurse (who was a jerk) kept saying, 'we've given you plenty'. ok, now, don't you think that *maybe*, since i'm sentient enough to tell you i'm undermedicated while you're jamming a pipe through my intestines, i could use a little more?

with oral surgery, i remembered nothing between counting down from twenty and waking up in my own bed.

[pickledpepperRN]

Yes.

In 2004 I had a lumpectomy under Marcaine (local) and conscious sedation. I remember the CRNA starting to inject the medication into the IV.

The next think I knew I was talking - in the middle of a sentence! I was thanking the person who was covering me.

About two hours had passed.

Prior to the procedure I was quite calm because I knew the CRNA would not be distracted or called away.

[Pedi-ER-RN, RN]

Versed is a great med!! We use it all the time in conjunction with ketamine or fentanyl for otho reduction and other painful procedures. Try looking up the definitions of moderate and deep sedation and you will get a better understanding (ie: what reflexes the patient looses, which remain).

[lpnstudentin2010, LPN]

i think i had contious sedation a few years ago (i was only in like 6th or 7th grade so i dont know) I was haveing two teeth pulled and one had not erupted yet. I remember getting a shot in my butt...sitting down in the chair...i breifly remember them injecting local (then dreaming i was the local flowing over my teeth) and then coming round to the doc telling my mom who had planned to bring me to school afterward that i was to stay home that day...then walking through an ER (we had to do that to get back to the car) clamped to my moms side so that i did not look to drunk. lol

[cc08]

Yes, I work in an ASC, and Versed and Fentanyl is what we use for conscious sedation. The amnesic side-effect is desirable for these surgical situations, because you don't want the patient to remember hearing the saw or smelling the drill or the hyfercater burning their flesh! Sometimes these patients have full conversations with me and never remember! And the funniest ones are the ones who keep asking me the same questions over and over again in recovery! Too funny! Some guy had foot surgery and kept asking me if his foot was still there, even though he was looking right at it! And this older woman (about mid 70s) kept telling the surgeon that she LOVED him and would leave her husband for him! (she could barely look at the doctor when she returned for her office visits, she was so embarrassed...her daughter had told her later what she had said!)