Will Anesthesia Make Me Worse?

I have a surgery coming up next Monday (unrelated to my vertigo), and I’m really nervous. I’m afraid the anesthesia might worsen my already horrible vertigo. Have any of you had experience with this? Did anesthesia make you worse, or did it have no affect on your symptoms?
Thank you, everyone.

Anesthesia has definitely caused vertigo for me, but it went away very quickly. When I had my neck fused, I woke up, looked at the clock, and noted it appeared to be swinging back and forth. This was gone within about a minute.

The other time, I was placed face down looking through a hole in the table, kind of like the face cradle on a massage table. When the nurse pushed the drug (light, conscious sedation), I was amazed that the items on the floor below me were spinning around vertically in a circle head to toe, like when you’re watching slot machines going around. It was so strange and happened within seconds of her giving me the sedating drug. When I became alert again, it was gone, and I felt normal vertigo-wise.

Not sure if my experience helps, but I wish you all the best during your upcoming procedure. I know you’ve had such a tough time. Let us know how you do…

Hi,

I had surgery last year and was petrified of the anesthesia making my vertigo worse, so I posted a similar question to yours on another vertigo board. Most everyone who replied said they never had any probem with vertigo after anesthesia. I so wanted the surgery under local only with a good dose of valium (which always helps my vertigo) but the doctor insisted I be put out.

I did not have vertigo afterwards but did have double vision for a good hour or two and I found it very hard to wake up. I hated that feeling so much. We all react different to this stuff but I have found that the general concensus is that anesthesia does not provoke vertigo. Be sure to let the anesthesiologist know of your concerns. They can give you something before hand to help with this. I had a good shot of meclizine as well as the scolpomane patch (not sure if I spelled that right) and a shot of something for nausea.

Good wishes coming your way.

Thank you, KennedyLane and Bookworm.

I have really been stressing about things, and I understand asking your doctor to just lightly sedate you. My surgery isn’t major, so I asked if I could just be sedated, but my surgeon said it was a no go. Oh well. But I do feel better now, knowing that you two—and from the sounds of it, others—haven’t experienced anything too terrible. At this point, I’m doing so incredibly bad, I don’t even know that I’d notice an increase in my symptoms.

Thank you again, both of you. As always, you’re all so amazing and supportive. I’ll check in after surgery.
Big Hugs!

I had minor surgery (biopsies) 3 weeks ago, chose local anaesthesia. Was badly performed or maybe I was extra-sensitive, and the 16 punctures were about as painful as anything I’ve experienced.

Still, no affect on the MAV. (And pain rapidly diminished, gone the next day. And good news from pathology lab–no CA growth.)

Hi Guinevere,
I have BPPV and an operation coming up that requires general anesthesia. This is similar to what you described in your post from 2014. Can you share your experience so I can be a little more prepared as to what to expect for my upcoming operation?
Thank you in advance.