General Anaesthesia
There is a lot of information about anaesthesia on the internet.
I recommend looking at the Royal College of Anaesthetists website where you will find a number of information leaflets relating to anaesthesia:
www.rcoa.ac.uk/patient-information
Do take a look at a new resource within this website - The Fitter Better Sooner toolkit. The College has developed this toolkit that offers patients information needed to prepare for surgery, including the important steps you can take to improve health and speed up recovery after an operation:
General anaesthesia
General anaesthesia is a state of controlled unconsciousness during which you feel nothing. You will have no memory of what happens while you are anaesthetised. Anaesthetic unconsciousness is different from a natural sleep. You cannot be woken from an anaesthetic until the drugs are stopped and their effects wear off. While you are unconscious, we look after you with great care and stay with you all the time.
Side effects/risks:
More common: Nausea + vomiting, sore throat (1 in 5), dizziness + feeling faint, shivering, post-operative pain, minor injury to lips or tongue, bruising at cannula site, temporary memory loss (10% of people have post operative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) three months after anaesthesia)
Rare: Damage to teeth (1 in 4,500), permenant nerve injury (1:1,000), chest infection. POCD (1% at one year)
Very rare:
Permenant nerve injury (1:1,000)
Corneal abrasion (superficial eye injury) (1:2,800)
Serious allergy or anaphylaxis (1:10,000)
Awareness (1 in 20,000)
Visual loss (1:100,000)
Death (1:100,000)
General anaesthetics can affect memory and judgement for up to 24 hours (avoid driving, operating machinery, signing important documents or making important decisions for 24 hours)
Depending on the surgery you are having we may advise that you have a spinal anaesthetic (with or without a general anaesthetic) or a shoulder nerve block (in addition to general anaesthetic) to help with post operative pain relief.