“What are the effects of anesthesia after surgery?”

Hello,

Effects after geta depend upon the procedure, its length, and patient condition. Common effects are sore throat, dizziness, disorientation, confusion, agitation, nausea, and vomiting.

Common effects of anesthesia include drowsiness, sore throat, and nausea.

Potential side affects of general anesthesia, depending on your age, comorbidities, and sensitivity to medications include:

-Short-term cognitive impairment
-Temporary shivering post-op
-Itching, post-op nausea, and constipation from narcotics

There are a lot of factors that will determine the effects and it is too in-depth to go into, but probably the most important is your age. The younger you are, the easier it will be. Mostly, you will be sedated for some short period of time due to the narcotics for pain control. The anesthetics wear off quickly. There may be nausea from the narcotics as well.

This generally depends on the type of anesthetic used. Most cases are done with a combination of IV anesthesia with sedation and pain control with supplementation if needed of anesthesia by gas. Some nausea may occur post anesthesia and general grogginess for a few hours. Nausea is generally controlled by medication. The effects vary per patient but are in general are transient and well controlled.

Good question; first and foremost all medications and gases used for general anesthesia are mood altering drugs. Meaning following surgery you may not feel normal. Your ability to make decisions may be altered. So, don’t make any life changing decisions until about 72 hours following surgery. Notice how you feel post operatively. You may be nauseous following neck surgery. You may have pain; remember pain is highly individualistic. The best advice I can give you following surgery is to consume an anti-inflammatory diet. Google it! Why? Because surgery and general anesthesia is an extreme stress to your body. Following surgery your body needs to repair itself, and it will as long as you feed it highly nutritious foods. You will do fantastic. Share your concerns with your anesthesiologist. Anesthesia is very safe today.