“What is a bad reaction to anesthesia?”

Commonly, it's known as nausea or vomiting afterwards. That is the main reason we ask you to come on an empty stomach.

Depends what you mean by "a bad reaction". Modern anesthetics are extremely safe and virtually all patients do well (excluding patients who are seriously ill to begin with). The most common "bad reaction" is related to postoperative nausea and vomiting, which is time-limited and generally does not last beyond 24 hrs. In very rare occasions patients may be allergic to one of the anesthetic agents, and may develop wheezing or low blood pressure, but as mentioned above, this is exceedingly rare, and anesthesiologists know how to handle this.


Arthur Lam M.D.