“How do you stop nausea after general anesthesia?”

Nausea is a common side effect of GA. There are certain surgeries which are more prone such as GYN, breast, gastric bypass, inner ear and eye muscle surgery. There are very good anti-emetic drugs that can be used and there are anesthetic techniques that can be used for most, but not all surgeries, to minimize post op nausea.

Here are some tips…
- don’t eat too much too fast and keep it light (BRAT diet) till you know you can tolerate foods
- if you’re really nauseous it might be the narcotic pain medicine. If you can and your doctor is ok with it consider substitutes like Tylenol or ibuprofen (definitely clear ibuprofen with your surgeon before taking it as it can increase bleeding)
- bubbly water
- medication called zofran or ondansetron that many surgeons prescribe
- Benadryl if you don’t mind the sleepiness… caution when mixing with pain medicines that make you sleepy.
- rest and time
- if it’s severe contact your surgeon

Once it happens you are behind the 8th ball and have to treat the symptoms. Prophylaxis begore general is key but still not a guarantee.

There are many different classes of anti-nausea medications. If you have had nausea in the past be sure to tell your anesthesia provider. They should give you many of these medications for prevention and give you a relatively nausea sparring technique. Having said that, many types of surgery are way more prone to nausea than others, for example intestinal surgery, eye or ear surgery. Post operatively, narcotic medications are culprits in causing nausea unrelated to the anesthesia. Despite best efforts, there are rare cases where nothing works against the nausea.

Barbara Watanabe MD