HIGH & TOTAL SPINAL: THE EARLIEST SYMPTOMS YOU'LL NEED TO KNOW FOR BOARDS │ EP103

Welcome to the Atomic Anesthesia podcast hosted by CRNA professor Dr. Rhea Temmermand and Co-Founder Sachi Lord. On this show, you'll hear clear, clinically grounded discussions designed for nurse anesthesia residents and CRNAs who want to feel more confident in complex pharmacology, physiology, and real-world anesthesia decision-making.

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In this episode:

• The critical distinction between high spinal and total spinal that everyone can define but few can actually tell apart
• Why a negative aspiration on a labor epidural doesn't guarantee the catheter isn't sitting in CSF
• The board favorite scenario where a spinal stacked on a failed epidural top off becomes one of the highest risk setups for total spinal
• Why blood pressure stays normal in over half of total spinal cases and what the earliest reliable warning sign really is

💜 FREE DOWNLOADS: Grab your copy of customized study plans & worksheets.

• SEE/NCE Study Plan — a structured, week-by-week plan to pass your boards
• Non-Opioid Pharmacology Cheat Sheet — every non-opioid analgesic you need to know, one page
• GPCR Cheat Sheet — G-protein coupled receptors decoded for anesthesia

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