Therapy

Blood pressure can be raised with so-called sympathomimetics, such as adrenaline. There are many ways to lower blood pressure, for example ß-blockers, ACE inhibitors or alpha-receptor blockers. There are also numerous options for treating pain, the most commonly used being opioids (pain relievers), the best-known of which is morphine.

Alternatively, antipyretic (antipyretic) or anti-inflammatory drugs can be given, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen. For nausea you can use Fortecortin or Vomex, for example. The delirium is often treated with cholinesterase inhibitors (drug against Alzheimer’s disease) or psychotropic drugs.Ask your doctor if necessary.

Prognosis

All described after-effects are temporary and will pass in the foreseeable future, usually after a few hours or days. The postoperative delirium also has a good prognosis, it will pass as soon as the cause is eliminated. However, another organic cause (such as poisoning) should be excluded.

The duration of the after-effects after anesthesia varies greatly and depends mainly on the patient and the duration and type of surgery. Especially female patients who do not smoke and who often suffer from nausea when travelling are affected by after-effects after an anaesthesia and in these patients the duration of the after-effect of the anaesthesia is often longer than in male patients who smoke a lot. The reason for this is the fact that patients who smoke are better accustomed to certain ingredients contained in cigarettes and also in the anaesthetic gas, which is why their body and especially the brain already knows the substances.

This means that the duration of the after-effects after anaesthesia is only short, whereas patients who do not smoke and who generally get sick quickly suffer a longer period of time from the after-effects of anaesthesia. However, the duration of the after-effects of the anaesthesia depends not only on the patient but also on the type and duration of the operation. A longer operation leads to the fact that the duration of the after-effects of the anaesthesia is also longer because the body was exposed to the anaesthetic gases for a much longer period of time and therefore has a higher concentration of the gas still in the body.

The type and course of the operation also play an important role in the duration of the after-effects of anesthesia. If, for example, problems occur during the operation, such as the patient not sleeping deeply enough or moving his or her muscles slightly without knowing it, the anesthesiologist may have to increase the dosage of some drugs to ensure optimal anesthesia and thus optimal sleep for the patient. However, this also leads to the fact that the duration of the after-effects after an anesthesia is prolonged and that the patient feels sick or sleepy or not fully oriented for a longer time after the anesthesia.

However, the patient often does not notice the longest duration of the after-effects after an anaesthetic, because he is awake, but is not really aware of this because of the medication. During this time the patient is in the so-called recovery room and is monitored with the help of various devices until he is awake and oriented enough to be transferred to a normal ward. In general, the duration of the after-effects of anesthesia is usually several hours.

It takes about a day before the patient feels no more after-effects at all. In very rare cases, however, the brain may react very sensitively to the anaesthetic gases and small after-effects of the anaesthesia may occur even after weeks. This can manifest itself in the form of nausea or increased drowsiness. In general, however, the duration of the after-effects of the anaesthesia is about one day, after which the patient should be fit again, even if the nausea may still partially persist.