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General anaesthesia is a common method used to prevent pain during surgeries and other invasive procedures. It involves the use of medications called anaesthetics to induce a temporary state of unconsciousness, allowing patients to remain comfortable and unaware of their surroundings. While general anaesthesia is generally safe, it can cause various side effects, including muscle pain and aches. This paragraph will discuss the potential risks and complications associated with general anaesthesia and explore whether it can cause muscle pain.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Muscle pain cause | The drugs used to relax muscles during surgery can cause muscle pain afterward. A common cause is a medicine called succinylcholine, which relaxes your muscles and paralyzes you for a few minutes while under anesthesia. |
| Muscle pain prevention | Anesthesiologists are medical doctors who specialize in anesthesia, pain management, and critical care medicine. Meeting with an anesthesiologist before surgery to discuss your medical history, health habits, and lifestyle can help lower your risk of side effects. |
| Muscle pain treatment | Muscle pain after general anesthesia is usually unpleasant but not dangerous, and can be treated with medication or proper care. |
| Muscle pain complications | In rare cases, general anesthesia can cause malignant hyperthermia, a potentially deadly reaction that can lead to organ failure if not treated quickly. |
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What You'll Learn
Muscle relaxants
Muscle spasticity, on the other hand, is a continuous muscle spasm that causes stiffness, rigidity, or tightness that can interfere with normal walking, talking, or movement. It is caused by injury to parts of the brain or spinal cord involved with movement. Conditions that can cause muscle spasticity include multiple sclerosis (MS), cerebral palsy, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Prescription drugs can help relieve the pain and discomfort from muscle spasms or spasticity.
The term "muscle relaxant" refers to two major drug classes: antispastics and antispasmodics. These two classes differ in their uses, mechanisms of action, and side effects. Antispastic drugs reduce muscle tightness through various mechanisms in the brain and directly within the muscle tissue. Antispasmodic drugs prevent the spontaneous or involuntary contraction of muscles (such as jerks, twitches, or cramps) that cause spasms. It is important to note that antispastics should not be used to treat muscle spasms.
Some commonly prescribed muscle relaxants include:
- Baclofen (Lioresal)
- Dantrolene (Dantrium)
- Tizanidine (Zanaflex)
- Diazepam (Valium)
- Carisoprodol (Soma, Vanadom)
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Breathing tubes
When a patient receives general anaesthesia, the anaesthesia team often inserts a breathing tube into their windpipe (trachea) to help them breathe during surgery. This is because the muscles used to breathe are temporarily paralysed by a paralytic medication, so a breathing tube is inserted into the throat and hooked up to a machine (ventilator) that breathes for the patient while they are under anaesthesia.
The breathing tube may cause a sore throat or a hoarse voice after surgery. The longer the surgery, the more likely this is to occur. Throat problems can be treated with sore throat sprays, lozenges, and other medications. However, these throat issues usually cannot be prevented.
In rare cases, a breathing tube can also cause a collapsed lung. This rare condition, called atelectasis, occurs when the air sacs in the lung deflate or fill with fluid.
Before surgery, it is important to meet with an anaesthesiologist to discuss medical history, health habits, and lifestyle. This helps the anaesthesiologist understand how the patient might react to anaesthesia and take steps to lower the risk of side effects.
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Malignant hyperthermia
The signs of MH include a dangerously high body temperature, rigid muscles or spasms, a rapid heart rate, increased carbon dioxide production, increased oxygen consumption, acidosis, and rhabdomyolysis. These symptoms can develop at any time during the administration of the anesthetic triggering agents or, rarely, up to 40 minutes after anesthesia ends. Without prompt treatment, the complications caused by malignant hyperthermia can be fatal.
The "gold standard" for diagnosing MH is the in vitro contracture test (IVCT), which is based on contracture of muscle fibres in the presence of halothane or caffeine. If you have a family history of MH or a relative with problems with anesthesia, it is important to inform your healthcare provider and anesthesiologist before any procedure requiring anesthesia.
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Nerve damage
Although nerve damage is rare, it can occur as a result of general anaesthesia. Anaesthesia uses drugs called anaesthetics to prevent patients from feeling pain during medical procedures. General anaesthesia causes patients to lose consciousness, allowing for more invasive surgeries.
Neurological complications related to anaesthesia are infrequent but can be serious. When neurological complications do occur, neurologists must determine whether they were caused by the anaesthetic drug, the procedure, or other postoperative factors.
The nerves most commonly affected by anaesthesia are the ulnar, common peroneal, femoral, and sciatic nerves, as well as the brachial and lumbosacral plexi. The risk of nerve damage is higher in men, smokers, obese and very thin patients, and those with diabetes and hypertension.
The causes of nerve damage can include mechanical trauma, such as direct injury from a needle or catheter, or indirect injury due to a compressing hematoma. Local anaesthetic toxicity is another possible cause, with risk increasing with dose and concentration. The use of epinephrine can also lead to nerve damage, either by a direct ischemic mechanism or an indirect pharmacokinetic effect on local anaesthetic clearance.
In some cases, nerve damage can result in temporary or permanent neuropathic pain, numbness, or weakness.
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Postoperative delirium
POD can occur anywhere from 10 minutes to up to 7 days after anesthesia, and sometimes even until discharge from the hospital. It is commonly recognised in the post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) as a sudden, fluctuating, and usually reversible disturbance of mental status with some degree of inattention. Symptoms include confusion, disorientation, persistent sleepiness, hallucinations, agitation, or aggression. POD symptoms are often mistaken for signs of dementia, but it is important to note that delirium is not the same as dementia and can be prevented in about 40% of cases.
There is currently no medication to treat POD, and prevention is key. Antipsychotic drugs to control hallucinations or agitation can interrupt the brain's natural healing processes, potentially delaying recovery and worsening the condition. The only intraoperative delirium-reducing interventions with strong recommendations are the avoidance of predisposing drugs and adequate pain control, with non-opioid medications and regional anaesthesia being considered when possible or appropriate. Dexmedetomidine has emerged as a useful adjunct to general anaesthesia, reducing the incidence of POD in high-risk elderly populations.
To manage POD, it is important to identify the underlying cause of the symptoms, which can often be traced back to unmanaged pain, an infection, a reaction to medication, or lack of sleep. While working to resolve the underlying issue, general comfort and support should be provided to the patient, including encouragement with proper eating, exercising, and sleeping.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, muscle pain is a common side effect of general anesthesia. This is caused by the medication used to relax the muscles during surgery.
Other common side effects of general anesthesia include nausea, vomiting, sore throat, chills, shivering, confusion, itching, and bladder problems.
Rarely, general anesthesia can cause serious complications such as malignant hyperthermia, a rare condition that can lead to organ failure if not treated quickly. Other serious side effects include postoperative delirium, cognitive dysfunction, and nerve damage.
It is important to meet with an anesthesiologist before your surgery to discuss your medical history, health habits, and lifestyle. This will help the anesthesiologist understand your risks and take steps to reduce potential side effects. Following pre-surgery instructions can also help minimize side effects.
General anesthesia is a type of medication that is used to keep you unconscious and comfortable during surgery, so you don't feel pain. It is usually given as an inhaled gas or through an IV (into the vein).
