Real questions.
Real answers.

Awareness during anesthesia - being conscious but unable to move - occurs in approximately 1 in 20,000 cases. When it does occur it is almost never painful. Modern monitoring tracks your depth of anesthesia continuously throughout. Your anesthesiologist adjusts medications in real time. Statistically you are far more likely to be harmed in the car journey to the hospital than by awareness during surgery. This fear is completely understandable - and completely manageable.

Not necessarily impossible - but it requires careful planning. Blood thinners like apixaban, rivaroxaban, and warfarin require specific waiting periods before spinal or epidural anesthesia can safely be performed. Your anesthesiologist will calculate the safe window for your specific medication and dose. This is exactly the kind of information you must disclose - it directly affects whether spinal anesthesia is safe for you and when it can be performed.

Always tell them. Always. A full stomach during general anesthesia creates a risk of aspiration - stomach contents entering the lungs - which is life-threatening. If you tell the team, they can delay the surgery to a safe time, use a rapid sequence technique, or choose regional anesthesia instead. The team will not punish you - they will make the safest possible plan. Silence is the only dangerous choice here.

Most patients describe it as one of the most peaceful experiences of their life. Within seconds of the medication entering your IV you feel a warm spreading sensation, perhaps slight dizziness, and then nothing. You close your eyes and open them in recovery - the surgery feels as though it took zero seconds from your perspective. Waking up can feel disorienting for a few minutes. The vast majority of patients say it was far less frightening than they expected.

It depends on what the reaction was. The most important hereditary condition is malignant hyperthermia - a rare but life-threatening reaction to certain anesthetic gases and succinylcholine. It runs strongly in families. If your mother had suspected malignant hyperthermia, disclose this immediately. Your anesthesiologist can avoid the triggering agents entirely and use a completely safe alternative technique. Always mention any family history of anesthesia problems - let the anesthesiologist determine its significance.

Yes, significantly. Smoking affects your airways and lungs in several ways. Your airways produce more mucus and are more reactive - meaning you are more likely to have breathing complications. Your oxygen-carrying capacity is reduced due to carbon monoxide. Stopping smoking even 8 hours before surgery improves your oxygen levels measurably. Stopping 4-8 weeks before significantly reduces respiratory complications. Always disclose smoking to your anesthesiologist - there is no judgment, only clinical planning for your safety.

Postoperative nausea and vomiting is one of the most common side effects after general anesthesia - affecting around 30% of patients. It is very manageable. If you have had nausea after anesthesia before, or if you are prone to motion sickness, tell your anesthesiologist before surgery. They can give preventive anti-nausea medication during the procedure. Certain anesthesia techniques like TIVA using propofol are also associated with significantly less nausea than inhaled gas.

It depends on the medication - which is why you must ask your surgical team specifically. As a general rule: blood pressure medications are usually continued with a small sip of water. Blood thinners often need to be stopped days before. Diabetes medications require specific instructions - some must be stopped, some adjusted. Herbal supplements should be stopped 2 weeks before. Never assume - always ask your team which medications to take and which to hold on the morning of surgery.