This morning I had surgery for a partially torn bicep tendon. It was a relatively minor procedure but was performed under general anesthesia and also with a nerve black community to totally numb the arm for pain avoidance.
It’s been about seven hours and it’s still such a strange feeling. My fingers are tingly but my arm is completely numb and feels as if it’s lifeless prosthesis.
It’s what I was told to expect so I’m not concerned. It’s just the weirdest feeling.
Has anyone else here been through this experience?
I have not, but after my knee surgery, the left side of my kneecap has no feeling. When I run a razor over it, it creeps me out, because for that moment, it feels like I’m shaving someone else’s knee. I was told it may take a year for sensation to come back, if ever.
I had a femoral nerve block for my knee surgery. It was about twelve hours before I could walk–I just had no muscular control on that knee–but after that I could feel everything…
I was told the nerve block will wear off in 12-24 hours but, like most men, I’m impatient. It’s been 10 hours and I feel as if there’s a 20 pound mannequin arm hanging off my shoulder. Arrgghhhh!
I had it for my rotator cuff surgery. Unfortunately, it wore off after about 8 hours. I don’t remember it feeling like you describe. It just didn’t hurt. The weird thing was when the anesthesiologist put the needle in my neck, my arm started jerking. Of course, he warned me first! Good luck with your recovery.
I had a nerve block prior to surgery on my Achilles’ tendon. It took about 16 - 18 hours to wear off. I went from zero pain to a searing pain that was enough to wake me up. I agree with @Marian - take some pain meds before the nerve block wears off.
Had bicep tendonesis/shoulder repair done. Nerve block lasted until the middle of the night. Pain caught up to me real fast. Best advice I have is to set your alarm through the night to take pain meds! Don’t wait for the pain to wake you or you’ll be chasing it for the next few hours.
My H was weirded out by it as well. He thought it was so odd to feel he just had this heavy arm hanging from his body. One warning about narcotics–they can cause constipation, which caused H to switch to aspirin and ibuprofen instead since he found the other side effect very uncomfortable.
He had the surgery Thursday and physical therapy started on Saturday. The surgeon and PT didn’t want him to lose any range of motion. His recovery has been slow but steady. Good luck to you!
OP again. I just reread the thread and am embarrassed by the “autocorrect” that occurred in my first post. It’s hard to imagine how my phone thought that when I typed “nerve block” it should be corrected to “nerve black community”. I’ve tried replicating the keystrokes that would produce the result but, alas, have failed. Sorry, CC.
I followed the wise advice of @Marian, @wustl93, and @shellz and took my pain Ned’s meds when I went to bed even though the block hadn’t worn off. I’m so glad I did. The numbness is gone, there’s no longer the sensation of a bag of sand hanging from my shoulder, and there is essentially no pain. Thanks, CC.
My kid had a nerve block for major surgery…he doctor very clearly told her when to start taking her pain meds…and for how long…and then what to do to wean off of the orescrotion ones to OTC. She adhered very specifically to his directions.
Even with that, she still had some significant pain when the nerve block wore off.