Question:
Are you awake with epidural?

I've never had a baby, so I'm not clear on what an epidural is. Does this mean you can stay awake during surgery? Sandi    — goodgal (posted on August 16, 2002)

August 16, 2002
I would have loved to be awake during the RNY, because I hate general anesthesia and would do about anything to avoid it. No you CAN NOT be awake during the RNY. I had two epidurals in the past where I was awake. The one was for a urinary stricture and the other was for a knee. Those surgeries were low enough (below the belt) so I could be awake (with the epidural). However with the WLS your "guts" and what they are operating on are near your lungs. So if they numbed you to do the surgery there... your lungs would be parazed! I'm sure they could do the epidural with the general anesesia as I'm guessing you are on a ventalator during general anesesia anyway. But no, with WLS, you can not be awake with an epidural.
   — Danmark