@A MyCOPDTeam Member 🙇🏼‍♀️ I had a total hip replacement 2 1/2 years ago and the anesthesiologist and I agreed that I would do much better with an epidural. He used lidocaine topical and then the needle. Honestly I felt nothing. And the minute he injected the medication I had no more pain in my hip. I remember saying Hallelujah and praising God for it. The discomfort afterwards was from them giving me Morphine for pain without asking me if I had any pain. And I had an allergic reaction to it.
Make sure you feel comfortable with the course of action before and after.
Praying you have a great response with the all of it.
God Bless you and Breathe Easy

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A MyCOPDT...

Possible to medical info, NIH, etc, do a Google search:
I did this one and got useful results:
<< COPD patient operation epidural or general anesthesia >>

https://www.google.nl/search?q=COPD+patient+ope...

If you have general anesthesia you will be intubated as a matter of course. People with COPD often are quite frightened of being intubated and think their chances of coming off the ventilator aren't very good, so they resist having general anesthesia. My suggestion is that you talk with both the surgeon and the anesthesiologist to find out what experience they've had working with people with COPD and what would they recommend given their experience. If you're not comfortable with their answers, find docs for the surgery you do feel comfortable with. Don't rule out any options before you know exactly what the advantages and disadvantages of all the options are.

Hi! When I had my hip replacement at the hospital I had an epidural. to my surprise, they gave me a quick painless local anesthetic where the epidural would go, so I didnt even feel the epidural! So dont worry! Also a general anesthetic is dangerous for COPD patients… it affects the lung function they said. Good luck with your operation

Thanks. Very helpful sight.