When will I wake up at the end of surgery?
Most patients wake up within a matter of minutes following the end of surgery. When you wake up will depend on a number of factors including your age, your operation and your medical conditions. Typically, the anesthesia medications are stopped right as surgery is finishing or bandages are being applied. In the next few minutes, you will emerge, or "wake up" from the anesthesia. Frequently, as part of a general anesthetic, a breathing tube will be in place during the operation. You may remember waking up with this tube in your mouth, which may be uncomfortable. As soon as your breathing is normal, the breathing tube should be removed, and then you will be taken to the recovery area.
After some operations, your anesthesia professional and surgeon may decide to care for you in the intensive care unit for very close observation. If the breathing tube needs to remain after surgery, additional sedation medicine is typically given.
How will I feel after my surgery?
Although anesthesia is very safe, the combination of a surgical procedure and the use of anesthesia medications may result in common side-effects. The most common side effects after anesthesia include feeling sick and vomiting, a sore throat, and dizziness or headache. Your anesthesia professional, as well as the nurses in the recovery area, will do their best to minimize these side effects as you fully awaken from anesthesia.
Pain is also common after surgery. Your anesthesia professional and your surgeon will work hard to minimize the discomfort after an operation – including the use of local anesthetics at the surgical site, as well intravenous and oral pain medications. Patients who go home after their operation are typically given an oral pain medicine to use for the first few days after surgery. If you are admitted to the hospital, more options for your pain control are available including pain medication on demand (referred to as PCA – patient-controlled analgesia) and continuous regional anesthesia like an epidural.
In addition to pain at the site of your operation, you may have additional aches and pains at other places on your body. Although you may be "asleep" during your operation, the operating room bed is not as comfortable as the bed you sleep on at home. In addition, in order to facilitate the surgical operation, you may be positioned in such a way that your body feels uncomfortable following the operation.
You may also notice bruising after surgery. Although the surgical incision may be quite small, a larger area of your body may be disrupted beneath the incision, and a bruise would not be uncommon.
Although general anesthesia is frequently referred to as "being asleep", you may find it more difficult to wake up than from a full night of normal sleep. You may feel tired for a number of hours – even a day – after your anesthetic, and your vision may not be normal for several hours. You might feel confused or have trouble with your memory after a general anesthetic. Occasionally, you may need help with urination after an operation, particularly if you are an older man.
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