General anesthesia features the administration of anesthetic that causes the patients to fall asleep such that they cannot feel anything all through the surgery period. These medications may be administered either intravenously or through the nasal route (some exist in the form of gases and are administered through a tube with oxygen or through a breathing mask). General anesthesia has side effects namely sore throat, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, confusion and shivering. General anesthesia is commonly administered in most surgery procedures by someone like anesthesiologist Robert St, Thomas.
Side effects of general anesthesia include:
- Nausea and vomiting
- Shivering and a cold feeling
- Sire throat due to the breathing tube used
- Soreness or bruising from the intravenous tube
- Difficulty in urinating
- Dizziness
- Confusion and temporary memory loss. This is more common in elderly patients.
Any risks?
General anesthesia is very safe overall. It is so safe that even extremely ill patients can be anesthetized. What offers the greater risk is the surgery itself and not the anesthesia.
Nevertheless, the elderly patients and those undergoing prolonged surgeries have a higher risk of negative outcomes. Such outcomes may include heart attack, stroke, postoperative confusion and pneumonia.
Conditions that raises the risk of the patient during general anesthesia include:
- Obstructive sleep apnea
- Heart, lung or kidney infections
- High blood pressure
- Seizures
- Smoking
- Alcoholism
- History of reactions to anesthesia
- Allergies to drugs
- Diabetes
- Overweight or obesity
- Medications that can increase the bleeding rate.
Some deaths do occur due to general anesthesia. However, it is very rare, maybe 1 in every 100, 000 to 200,000
