“Can anesthesia have long term effects?”

On her body? Not really, unless there are complications.

Yes and no. Or, perhaps we don’t know. Depression is common after anesthesia. Susceptible persons might develop a substance use disorder. The physical organ effects may not last long, but the physical stress, trauma may have long lasting effects. If you can have surgery without general anesthesia that is best, at least that’s my opinion. Still, billions of people have had general anesthesia and it is safer than it was decades ago. A condition specific to anesthesia is malignant hyperthermia, which if unrecognized and untreated is usually fatal. It is genetic, but not everyone knows about it. It is rare, but I treated a case last year.

That is currently being studied. If any long-term effects occur, it would take multiple exposures over a long period of time.

We would rarely expect to see any long term effects from anesthesia most of the medications and anesthetic agents are typically wearing off while in the recovery room. Some people experience some nausea and are tired for several hours after the procedure. If you have any further questions please feel free to discuss them with your anesthesiologist.

Marc A Morales MD