my sister needs help!

[ourdream]

My sister had a baby 10 years ago and the muscle relaxer they gave her before the anaesthesia did some thing to her and she did not wake up for 2 days. This is not the right spelling but it sounds like succinyleholine. Anyway when it happened it was no ones fault . The anaesthesia guy sent my sister to a doctor that said she would get side affects that we may not see for years and when they started he could treat her.
Well 5 years ago my sister started haveing muscle spasims,blured speach and memory laspes.  We have taken her to a neurologist. He cant find any thing. He sent her to a epilepsey doctor and he dont have a clue.
The troble is we dont know what kind of MD the anesthesia man sent her to. 5 years and and no one can find any thing wrong with her. I was hoping some one may have a idea where I can turn.

Randolph

[gasman]

This sounds like a case of "sux apnea". Succinylcholine is a muscle relaxant used most commonly for non-elective surgery. In the vast majority of people, the "sux" is metabolised within minutes and is then inactivated.

A very small percentage of people (about 1 in 2500) lack the enzyme to metabolise it and therefore the sux continues to work for many hours afterwards. During that time, it is best to keep the patient asleep to prevent the distress of feeling paralysed. Obviously, the patient needs to be artificially ventilated during that period. Once the sux is metabolised using other enzymes (after several hours), the anaesthetic can be turned off, the patient awakes and no harm done.

Sux apnea is not dangerous as long as it is recongnised. She will need to notify her anaesthtist about this condition for all future anaesthetics, and it would be advisable to wear a "medicalert" bracelet so that the condition is known even if she is not able to tell people (such as after an accident).

As sux apnea is a genetic condition, it would also be advisable to test direct family members - the patient's father and mother may also have the same condition, but it is more likely that they are "carriers" without actually being affected.

Now, sux apnea does not cause long-term effects, so the muscle spasms, and other symptoms would not be related to the exposure to sux. It is possible she has something quite different, such as a muscular dystrophy - more common in boys. Even then, the sux would not cause the long-term effects.

A muscle biopsy would be the test to do.

[ourdream]

Which type of MD to see if this could be from the succinylcholine combined with the anesthesia.

[frontier]

hi,
  i think your sister is having psuedocholinesterase deficiency that is needed to metabolise succinylcholine .it has nothing to do with muscle weakness she is suffering from as succinylcholine' side effects are transient one.better take her to a neurologist & in future be cautious succinylcholine not to be used again in future if anaesthesia needed in case of any surgery?

[gasman]

Which type of MD to see if this could be from the succinylcholine combined with the anesthesia.

The current muscle weakness is very UNLIKELY to be related to exposure to sux. She needs to see a neurologist for these new symptoms.

The prolonged weakness from sux is almost certainly sux apnea (more properly known as pseudocholinesterase deficiency). There is no treatment for it, and does not have any symptoms until patient is given sux. All she needs to do as far as this is concerned is tell all future anaesthetists about it.

[Alireza]

Hi,dear Ourdream!
succinylcholin defiency,have not any late complication,and i agree with comments of gasman.

[koorosh]

My sister had a baby 10 years ago and the muscle relaxer they gave her before the anaesthesia did some thing to her and she did not wake up for 2 days. This is not the right spelling but it sounds like succinyleholine. Anyway when it happened it was no ones fault . The anaesthesia guy sent my sister to a doctor that said she would get side affects that we may not see for years and when they started he could treat her.
Well 5 years ago my sister started haveing muscle spasims,blured speach and memory laspes.  We have taken her to a neurologist. He cant find any thing. He sent her to a epilepsey doctor and he dont have a clue.
The troble is we dont know what kind of MD the anesthesia man sent her to. 5 years and and no one can find any thing wrong with her. I was hoping some one may have a idea where I can turn.

Randolph