You might need to have a general anaesthetic before having an operation, so that you don’t feel any pain while the surgeons do their work.

The drugs that are in general anaesthetics stop you feeling anything in all of your body – which means they also send you to sleep. They work by blocking the signals that your nerves normally pass on to your brain, so your brain doesn’t get any messages telling it that your body feels pain. When you have a general anaesthetic you don’t even remember the operation happening, then when the effects of the drugs wear off, you start to feel everything again, just like you normally do.

You might have to stay in hospital for at least one night, before and/or after your operation. You can’t have anything to eat for a few hours before a general anaesthetic, because if you are sick or choke while you are asleep, you could find it hard to breath. You might get a bit hungry, but you can eat again when you wake up after the anaesthetic has worn off.

You may get a ‘premed’. This is short for pre-medication. A premed is a small dose of medicine that relaxes you before the operation. You usually get it 1-2 hours beforehand. Then, when it’s time for the general anaesthetic you’ll go to see the anaesthetist. The anaesthetist will check your blood pressure and make sure you’re ready, then take you to the operating room or a different room nearby. You can sometimes ask one of your parents or whoever brought you to the hospital to come with you.

The anaesthetist gives you the anaesthetic either as a gas you breathe into your lungs or as a liquid that goes into your blood. If it’s a gas, the anaesthetist will put a mask over your mouth and nose and ask you to breathe normally. If it’s a liquid, they’ll gently put a tube called a canula into one of your veins through your skin, then inject the liquid through the canula.

The anaesthetic works very quickly, and you’ll fall asleep in no time.
The anaesthetist stays with you throughout the whole operation, making sure you stay sound asleep and can’t feel anything.

If you have the general anaesthetic through a canula, you might feel a bit of pain as the drugs are injected, but this will soon pass.

By the time you wake up everything will be over, but the nurses and doctors will keep an eye on you for a while to make sure you’re okay. You may feel quite sleepy for the rest of the day, but this is nothing to worry about. If the place of your body where the surgeon was operating is sore, you can have some ordinary pain relievers to help.

Depending on what the operation was for, you might be able to go home when you have recovered from the effects of the anaesthetic.

Like with all medicines, there are some side effects that you could get from the drugs used in general anaesthetics. These include:

• Feeling sick and being sick after your operation (you can have anti-emetics to help with this)
• A sore throat if you have had a tube in your airway to help you breathe
• Feeling dizzy and like you want to faint (the anaesthetic might lower your blood pressure) – you can be given medicine to help with this
• Dehydration – you will be given liquids to get your fluid levels back to normal
• Shivering
• Headache
• Itching
• Aches and pains (including backache)
• If you have had a canula put in, you might get bruising and soreness around the area

Some less likely side effects that you could get from a general anaesthetic include:

• Breathing problems – these can be treated with other medicines
• Damage to your teeth, lips or tongue – this could happen if a breathing tube is put in your airway
• Worsening of a medical condition that you already have, like diabetes. Your anaesthetist will be on the look out for this though.
• Being aware of what is going on – this can happen if you don’t get enough general anaesthetic.

Very, very rarely your eyes could be damaged (although this usually doesn’t last long) or you could have a serious allergic reaction to the drugs used in the general anaesthetic. An allergic reaction will be treated very quickly though.

You could also get damage to your nerves, although again, this doesn’t usually last long, and on very, very rare occasions you could die.

If you are taking any medicines, including vitamins and herbal remedies, it would be useful if you make a list of them and give this list to the anaesthetist. It will also be helpful if you tell your anaesthetist about any allergies you have.