Expert: JM Starkman, MD - 7/11/2009

Question
2 days ago, I went through tendon repair surgery on my right hand.
I'm a 39 year old male.
General An. was used, and a couple things have happened since.
1.  Within 2 hours of release, I  began getting severe hiccups.  (I've had 2 cheeseburgers in the last 2 days to eat.)
2.  Surgeon prescribed thorazine later that night for the hiccups.  I still have them.
3.  throat pain.  (I've not mentioned these others to my surgeon yet.)
4. Left chest pain.  About 8 inches left of my left nipple.  This is most recent, and I've had it for about an hour now.

Thanks in advance for any advise with this.

Scott

Answer
1. I've heard of patients who have hiccups after surgery--but they're usually children.  It's fairly rare and always time-limited. I'd try to ignore them, as difficult as it can be to ignore them(!).

2.  Throat pain is related to the use of breathing tubes (endotracheal tubes) and in-mouth airway devices used to provide oxygen and maintaining breathing while under the effects of general anesthesia (GA always depresses breathing and protective mechanisms like coughing).  The utilization of warm salt water gargles should alleviate the symptoms over a couple of days.  Make sure that if this is anything more than mild and time-limited that your anesthesiologist is aware of it.

3. Left-sided chest pain can be many, many things irrelevant and serious.  In your case, if you received a muscle relexant called succinylcholine---that can cause skeletal muscles to contract strongly and briefly often leaving assorted muscle pains post-operatively.......but I do not know why that would occur selectively in your left chest or chest wall.  A heart attack precipitated by the stress of surgery and a general anesthetic in an "at risk" individual would be a serious matter and if you have reason or symptoms or risk factors making you believe that your chest pain is anything more than minor call your doctor for advice ASAP.