Anesthesiologist just about did me in!
 

On May 13, the day before my 70th birthday, and on my 8238th day of sobriety, I was in the process of getting ready to have glucosteroid and long-lasting local anesthetic injections performed in the area of my sacroiliac joint in my lower back, where the spinal column passes through the pelvis. Some years earlier I had already had a colonoscopy, and a similar nerve block procedure done before back in December just before Christmas, so I was familiar with the routine that involves total anesthesia using propofol. Propofol is the same stuff implicated in the death of composer and singer Michael Jackson, if you recall. Propofol causes intense pain when it is first injected into a vein, so to prevent that, a local anesthetic is introduced first, lidocaine was used for me, and the last time on May 13, according to the anesthesiologist, an ethanol solution was also used in conjunction with the lidocaine. I don't know what the ethanol solution strength was, or how much ethanol was injected intravenously, but it was enough for me to have alcohol on my breath, which I noticed almost immediately, and told the anesthesiologist, which he confirmed. I never had a conversation with the anesthesiologist about it because in about fifteen seconds I was unconscious, and I never saw the anesthesiologist again.

Now, before anyone gets too excited, let me explain something for those of you who haven't had anatomy. The first place blood goes that is in veins (not arteries) is to the heart, where it gets pumped through the lungs to get oxygenated. The circulation of blood from my arm carrying a relatively and momentarily high concentration of ethanol to my lungs would be very noticeable on my breath for only a few seconds. Afterward, that blood would be gone from the lungs and mixed in with the general circulation before it got to my brain, so if I had been conscious, I never would have felt its intoxicating effects.

Well, I never thought I'd have alcohol injected into me! I know I get a little here and there in foods, like yeast-raised bread, a little from pure vanilla extract when I have cookies and cakes. I'm a chemist, and it is not true that alcohol "cooks out of food", Alcohol forms a constant boiling temperature mixture with water below the boiling point of water at 173ºF or 78ºC, and when all the alcohol is gone out of the soup, or whatever, all the water will be gone, too! I don't worry about small amounts of alcohol found in food because in reality, we can't avoid it, plus our own body makes the stuff as part of our metabolic processes, which is why we have the very specific enzyme in our liver to break it down and metabolize it.

But this was dirty pool, I had asked what all was going to be used for my procedure, and they wouldn't tell me!

I'm not going to start counting my days over for two reasons. First, I didn't go out and knowingly and intentionally obtain alcohol to consume it. Second, I saw the syringe that contained the ethanol and lidocaine solution, and it contained about 5 milliliters of solution (1/3 of a tablespoon) that was obviously not pure anhydrous ethanol that would have done serious damage in that form, and I probably get more ethanol when I have several pieces of vanilla cake with vanilla frosting with vanilla ice cream after eating some French cooking.

So, as of June 28, 2020, I've still got 8284 days, or 22 years 8 months and 5 days, but just barely.

I'm glad you suffered no lasting harm Lautca and hope you're feeling better now :)

D

I wouldn't restart your date nor worry.

You took a medicine as prescribed, for a serious condition. Similarly, people don't restart their date if they take an opiate as prescribed for severe pain, an injury, or surgery.

The local injection you got was most likely an intradermal injection. It's fairly common to use lidocaine or a saline solution with 0.9% benzyl alcohol (not ethanol) prior to IV placement to reduce pain at the IV site. I doubt very seriously the anesthesiologist injected an ethanol solution directly into your vein as I couldn't imagine what purpose that would serve. I don't doubt that you tasted it though as that has been reported in the past with intradermal injections. Patients have also reported their tongue going numb after getting an intradermal lidocaine injection.

***Note: I am not a doctor (although my brother in law is an anesthesiologist) and this is not medical advice. I'm just trying to ease your mind that IMO you didn't ingest ethanol alcohol from this procedure, thus your sobriety date was not in jeopardy.

Thank you for passing this along. Did it trigger you in any way?

Hi Silent Run, no it didn't trigger any desire to go get a drink, but I'll tell you, after 22 years I never thought I'd have alcohol on my breath again! What it did, though was make me angry because I'M THE ONE who is in control of any ethanol that goes into my body, not somebody else! I got the rug pulled out from under me!

As far as triggers go, I am fairly trigger-proof as far as physical substances go. I have used codeine for dental procedures and it hasn't caused any problems, the last time I used codeine was in January. To me, the way codeine feels is totally different from alcohol, so it doesn't act as a trigger. Same with propofol.

But what I can pass along to others is that despite my long sobriety, I know I can't slack off. Every once in awhile something crawls out of the woodwork and bites me in the behind that is a reminder from my past. This is why alcoholics MUST rebuild who they are while becoming sober. Becoming sober is just a small part of maintaining sobriety, and it is a lifetime job. However, it does become easier, you just have to keep an eye out for trouble. This one came out of left field, but did no harm.

As far as ethanol being in the lidocaine solution, the anesthesiologist verified it. A long time ago back in 1972, I had surgery done, and the anesthesiologist told me beforehand that the anesthetic he was going to use had a small amount of ethanol in it, and to be prepared for me to notice it on my breath. Now that was a totally different situation, but apparently it is used in some applications, and I intend to find out out more about it.

Congratulations on almost 23 years, Lautca. That’s awesome!
Interesting information about the anesthesia—-thanks for passing it on.
And thanks for the reminder to be ever vigilant in our quest for forever sobriety.
I hope the surgery worked and you are feeling better.

what i take from this is that it is a very good idea to discuss prior to surgery just what will be injected, so that we are prepared or can veto, if necessary.
don’t know how it is where you live, Lautca, but here we meet with the anesthesiologist a few weeks before surgery.
the other thing i take from it is that we are NOT always in control of what goes into our body, obviously.
and thirdly, yeah, wow, that would feel very bizarre, to have that taste in your mouth, but you certainly didn’t ingest it.