“How do you clear your lungs after anesthesia?”
I will have surgery under general anesthesia. How do you clear your lungs after anesthesia?
6 Answers
Deep breathing and coughing. You could use incentive spirometer for deep breathing.
Dr. Arundathi Rao
Sarasota, FL
Using an incentive spirometer (IS) and ambulating (walking) are probably the biggest things you can do. If you are using the IS appropriately, expect that it will make you cough. That is the equivalent of clearing those lungs. I recommend 10 times an hour while you are awake after surgery. Depending on the length of the surgery, you should continue to use your IS for 7-10 days. Good luck with your upcoming surgery.
Deep breathing, coughing, walking, and spending little time lying down.
The best thing to do is to take long slow deep breaths, they may have provided you with an incentive spirometer to use and it helps you to do this, use it every waking hour about six times for the first week and that should help get your lungs re-expanded.
Walking and Incentive Spirometer.
Using an incentive spirometer helps to reexpand areas of collapse from surgery. Coughing and deep breathing if you don’t get sent home with a spirometer. Getting up and walking helps as well.
