Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 4/26/2007

Question
My husband had surgery yesterday and the doctor had told me that they would give him something to relax him before they took him to surgery. I was with him while he was waiting with an IV in him for about 45 minutes and then several nurses came in said they were going to take him to surgery. I said, "They were supposed to give him something to relax him." and a nurse held up her hand and it looked like she was holding two shots. I left then and later my husband told me the nurse had given him the shot or shots in his IV and they had wheeled him down the hall towards the operating room, he said that they had just opened the door to go into the operating room and he went out and doesn't remember anything else until he came to in recovery. Can you tell me what the nurse gave him that knocked him out that quickly?

Answer
They didn't "knock him out" but they probably gave him Versed and Fentanyl. Versed is like Valium and other than relaxing you, it makes you amnestic (so that is why he didn't remember anything else). The Fentanyl is a narcotic (primarily for pain but also for sedation).

Hope this helps,

Ronald Levy, MD
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston