Lithotripsy gone bad?

[KC Nurse 2 Be]

I am a soon to be nursing student (starting this fall!!! :). And have been a relatively long reader of the forums here, I absolutely love this site. But here is my question, have any of you ever seen a patient not be able to stand a lithotripsy? So much so that it could not be finished? Yesterday I went to have one performed, my first, although not my first kidney stone by far. I could not hold still, every time I was shocked, my body would involuntarily jump from the pain, I swear I was not moving on purpose, although the dr didn't think so... That is a different story. I was in tears, not so much from the pain of the treatment, but from the rude way I was being treated, I really could not control the moving. After the dr stormed out one of the nurses suggested that I could come back and do the procedure under general anesthesia. That it does happen occassionally. Have any of you ever seen it happen that way? I feel so awful today, like I did something wrong. It was a horrible experience all around.

[GIJay, BSN, RN]

Did they give you anything for sedation? When i worked in OP surgery we did litho's 2 days a week and i never heard of anyone not be able to tolerate the procedure. They were all done under conscious sedation. I would write a complaint to the admin about how you were treated.

[EnergizerNurse]

A friend of mine had a lithotripsy done earlier this year. He went under general anesthesia for it. He was at first reluctant to go under general, but the doctor explained that it was critical he remained absolutely still while the machine distributed shock waves. Otherwise, the waves could hit other organs.

Another reason for going under general is that the lithotripsy machine is incredibly loud.

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

We only do ours under general. I have not seen anything bad.

[KC Nurse 2 Be]

Thank you all so much for your answers. It made me feel a little better knowing that lithotripsy's are in some places done under general anesthesia. Today I was able to see a new dr, and explained the entire situation. He was very understanding, and said that he too has had patients htat involuntarily spasm during the procedure, and if the dr had been more patient he could have possibly sedated me more or even laid an xray jacket over me, so if I did jump, I wouldn't come quite as high off the table since those are heavy. This dr made me feel much better, and he was even able to schedule another procedure tomorrow, but the kind where he has to go in with the scope and break it with a laser. But at least I know that this ordeal will soon be over. Thank you all again, you made me feel like I wasn't to blame.