I know it must seem odd to have me post my reactions to  the most recent Atlantic Monthly’s article about the oddities of anesthesia, but most of my readers are women and we often get a smile and a nod at doctor’s offices. I have on this topic, anyway. I thought forewarned=armed=safe, so… here. Enjoy.

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When I was younger (and my hair was less inclined toward greying), if I were to go out into the sun for any length of time, the red highlights would appear. Auburn hair, green eyes. I got the recessive genes on both sides (duh) but along with those genes came another issue—weirdness with pain killers.

They don’t work.

They don’t work to the point where, while watching HOUSE, MD with my husband I would routinely growl, “lightweight” when he popped two Vicodin. They do nothing to me. They don’t even make me loopy. And they certainly don’t kill any pain.

Not even a little.

Which is why this article rocked my world.

I’m not a junkie. I’m not weak. I’m not anything except someone with reddish hair and a pre-disposition to be stronger than medicinal painkillers.  (That would be me putting a positive spin on it. The negative is that things can REALLY HURT and there’s not a flipping thing I can do about it!)

Here:

…Redheads are known to feel pain especially acutely. This confused researchers, until someone realized that the same genetic mutation that causes red hair also increases sensitivity to pain. One study found that redheaded patients require about 20  percent more general anesthesia than brunettes. Like redheads, children also require stronger anesthesia; their youthful livers clear drugs from the system much more quickly than adults’ livers do. Patients with drug or alcohol problems, on the other hand, may be desensitized to anesthesia and require more—unless the patient is intoxicated at that moment, in which case less drug is needed.

So…

First, when it comes to the kid stuff, it makes me that much happier to know that my son’s surgeon was (a) very good and (b) that he very highly recommended our anesthesiologist. It also made me happy to have had the time given to us to really (really!) talk with our surgeon and anesthesiologist about my son—which included me mentioning the redhead thing. I was taken seriously. But then, the good people at Cedars-Sinai in LA were nothing but wonderful all the way around. And they never shirked giving us that all-important time to talk and process and ask. It was  not, “Hi, I’m going to do the anesthesia. Sign here… and here… and thank you. Bye!”

When talking to doctors about  me it’s more often been the latter and not the former. And I’ve required not just 20%, but up to 60% more injected painkiller for dental and other work. Watching the face of the poor doc injecting me should be an America’s Funniest moment… except that it’s rawther unnerving. You can see the brain ticking over, “she can’t  possibly  need more… oh good grief, she actually does  need  more…!”  

It can’t be fun to watch your training controverted like that.

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So I’m printing this article out. I’m highlighting the important parts. Hell, I may even put this weblink on my MedicAlert ID!  Because this stuff is fascinating, sure, but it’s also something we don’t seem to be able to come back from—a kid (or adult) who wakes up under the knife? Yeah. That’s gonna require some therapy).  I’ve woken up badly from anesthesia—not during the cutting, but I’ve woken up post-surgery, paralyzed, and freezing, and scared and that’s pretty bad, too… I mean, not as bad as being cut, but for a kid, that’s pretty darn scary.

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So. there it is. Now you can at least have a common language with your anesthesiologist if you or your child have to have surgery… oh, and ignore the comments on the Atlantic Monthly site. They pretty rapidly descend into the snark-fest we see on the Internet outside of our genteel knitting blogs (that’s stupid, they’re all lying, that can’t happen, oh yeah? screw you…blah blah blah). Much like the 9/11 comments they got on that USA Today interview I did.

Le sigh…

Just makes me wish the world were all knitters.

a different kind of pain-killer–GF apple cider donuts