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How long does the effects of anesthesia take to wear off?

I had surgery the 29 of May and I've been feeling funny ever since. I've been getting headaches, nausea, and dizziness. A friend of mine told me that it takes a long time for the effects of anesthesia to wear off. How long does it take. I seem to having side effects from the anesthesia. At least that's what I think. Somebody please let me know if I'm wrong.

Public Comments

1. Sounds like you had a bad reaction. It's been what, three weeks now? That's waaay too long. Call your doctor.
2. Anesthetic agents typically last only 24-48 hours in the body. It depends on the amount of body fat you have, and how well your kidneys are functioning. This long after your surgery, I sincerely doubt your symptoms are due to anesthetic agents. You don't mention what the surgery was for, and whether you were sent home with a prescription for anything for pain, or your problem, afterwards. Pain medications containing narcotics (Vicodin, Percocet, etc.) can cause dizziness, nausea and headaches. You should be following up with your primary care doctor after your surgery anyway, so make a call.
3. I personally have never had severe anestesia for surgery, but my mother and brother both have (mother had a knee replacement, and brother had a ligament re-attached to his knee). Neither had any of those effects, and I even asked the doctor what to watch out for in the following weeks out of concern. He said nothing about anything concerning the anestesia. I cannot say for certain whether the effects you are experiencing are due to the anesthesia or not, but I would definitely see a doctor about it, voice your concern, and see what they say. I wish you the best, and good luck :)
4. the anesthesia should have been out of your system completely within 48 hours of the surgery. if you feel that you've felt this way ever since you came out of surgery then you need to contact your dr cuz this indicates a severe reaction that may require medication to reverse the affects. so please call your dr first thing in the morning.
5. It depends entirely on what you got, but the drugs are long gone by now. Your friend is wrong. The effects of some long acting drugs may be around for a day or two, but no longer. The effects of the stress of surgery (which anesthesia attempts to mitigate, but cannot eliminate) hang around for a long time. It's common to feel weak and tire easily for a few weeks. There are other things, like anemia, which is common after surgery, that can make you feel like you do. You don't say what surgery you had, so there could be effects from certain surgeries that could cause those problems. If you had spinal or epidural anesthesia (with a dural puncture), those might be the symptoms of a post-dural puncture headache, but even that should be getting better by now. Contact your surgeon, or if you really think there is some unusual reaction to the anesthetic, the anesthesia department where you had your surgery.
6. Within a few days after surgery, any side effects from the anesthesia should be gone. If you are taking pain medication, that may be causing some of your symptoms, as someone else mentioned. However, considering that your surgery was 3 weeks ago, and you are still having these symptoms, you should definitely call your doctor. He or she should be able to help you figure out exactly what is causing the symptoms, and treat the problem. I hope you feel better soon!
7. Anesthesia has proved to be a boon for medicine sector and is used in almost every major or minor surgery, be it a small tooth extraction surgery or a large by pass heart surgery. Sometimes using anesthesia has also been harmfull, but constant research is being carried out to improve the tools and techniques of anesthesia. http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Mystery-Of-Modern-Anesthesia