Hello doctor, My question is about a septoplasty operation for anesthesia. Doctor says I need this operation but I am scared of the anesthesia. Mostly scared about awareness and being paralyzed. Can someone give me a brief summary of drugs used during general anesthesia for a septoplasty? Is it possible to not be given a muscle relaxant, or paralyizng drug? If I were to be given a paralyzing drug how long would it last?
Hello. First of all, you need not get scared about getting general anesthesia for your surgery (septoplasty). For your surgery, general anesthesia is the best option for anesthetizing you. One more point is that you need not be afraid about awareness and being paralyzed since your anesthetist will administer drugs at the correct dose which will prevent you from having awareness during surgery. While administering general anesthesia, the anesthesiologist would be administering drugs (eg. Propofol) which will first put you into a deep sleep, further he may also administer opioids (eg. Morphine) so that you would not be having pain during and after surgery. Thirdly, he would also add an inhalational agent (eg. Sevoflurane) to keep you in deep sleep (anesthesia) so that you will not be aware during the whole period of surgery. For septoplasty, administering muscle relaxants for putting an endotracheal tube into your trachea for administering anesthesia is one of the safe options for administering anesthesia. I would advise you to have less anxiety about muscle relaxants since it is best to have it for our surgery. most of the anesthesiologists are experts in using muscle relaxants for administering general anesthesia so the complications due to muscle relaxants are very less in experienced hands. There are different muscle relaxants based on their duration of action. Your anesthesiologist would be using the right muscle relaxant (usually drug will of short duration) for you. Once the surgery is over, the effect of muscle relaxant will also be over based on its duration of action. The anesthesiologist will administer an antidote type of drug to reverse the effect of muscle relaxant. Relax before you go for surgery, do not worry about the complications due to anesthesia like awareness and muscle relaxant. Your anesthesiologist will administer safe general anesthesia for you.