General Anesthesia Side Effects

The fact that general anesthesia affects the entire body means that the chances of its side effects are significantly higher compared to the side effects of local anesthesia or regional anesthesia. The common risks associated with this process may range from some simple side effects, such as headache or sore throat, to much more severe complications, such as nerve damage and organ failure, which may eventually result in death. The good news is that the most of these side effects are minor, and thus can be managed easily.

What is General Anesthesia?

General anesthesia is the state of unconsciousness induced upon an individual with the help of certain anesthetic drugs, while performing a range of medical and surgical procedures. Administration of these drugs during the surgery ensures that the person loses sensation of the entire body, and thus undergoes these medical procedures involving intense pain without any trouble. The overall procedure involved here in quite sophisticated, and involves a range of activities, right from preanaesthetic assessments to postoperative pain relief.

What are its Side Effects?

The range of side effects associated with general anesthesia rarely occur in healthy individuals. The occurrence of these side effects is determined by several factors, including which surgery is performed, type of anesthetic drug administered, the individuals tolerance to the anesthetic drug, the duration of the surgery, etc. Anesthetic drugs stop the relaying of messages from the nerves to the brain, and hence the individual experiences loss of sensation. This hindrance in the transfer of messages from the nerves to the brain can result in a series of side effects on the body, including headache, sore throat, dizziness etc.

The entire body, including the brain of the individual, is affected by anesthetic drugs administered to the individual. As a result of this, the individual can experience a headache, ranging between slight to moderate, after the surgery. At times, this headache is accompanied by dizziness and shivering. The person is barred from eating or drinking anything for a few hours before the surgery. This in turn cause dryness in the mouth, and eventually results in sore throat. The individual is also bound to feel sick and nauseous, as the digestion process in brought to a halt. The fact that the transmission of messages from the nerves to the brain is hampered may also result in vision problems, such as blurred vision and double vision, for sometime after the surgery. The individual might also complain of muscle pain and tiredness, depending on what surgery he was subjected to and the duration of the surgery. In rare cases, the individual may also be subjected to hallucination as a result of the anesthetic drugs.

It is not something like all the individuals who are administered general anesthetic drugs should experience these side effects. An individual may experience a range of side effects mentioned here, while others may experience just one or two of them. People with underlying serious medical conditions are most often prone to the risks of general anesthesia, while a healthy individual is less likely to experience any such side effects or complications of the same. At times, an individual may be subjected to much more severe dangers, such as nerve damage, organ failure, aspiration, or suffocation, which may result in death of the individual. The mortality rate for general anesthesia is as low as about three to five deaths per million cases. In most of these cases, deaths are caused due to some complications related to a preexisting medical condition.