Expert: Ronald Levy, M.D. - 3/24/2008

Question
Hi,
It looks like I will be having surgery soon to remove a thyroid nodule on my neck. Aside from my growing fears of anesthesia awareness, what I am fearing most is the after effects of the vomiting and nausea alot of people suffer from the anesthesia given for surgery. Just about every female I am related to has suffered from terrible vomiting and sickness for days after their surgeries, then again none of them can tolerate anti-emetics such as zofran, they seem to just make them sicker. I on the other hand have taken zofran, phenergan, etc. for past stomach viruses, nausea from middle ear infections, etc. and I tolerate them just fine. In your opinion do you think this would mean I could have some of this medicine either before or during surgery to prevent the vomiting, and would these medicines interact negatively with the anesthesia making it less effective?
Thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
Nicki

Answer
We routinely give Zofran intraoperative so there would be no problem giving you that. Regarding anesthesia awareness, despite the senational stories on the news, it is an extremely rare event and not something you should worry about.

Ronald Levy, MD
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology
UTMB-Galveston