Table of contents:
- Why do nausea and vomiting often occur after surgery?
- Overcoming nausea and vomiting after surgery
- 1. Adequate fluid intake
- 2. Talk to the anesthetist
- 3. Eat slowly and gradually
- 4. Effect of temperature
- 5. Eating ginger
- 6. Prevention is better than cure
Nausea and vomiting are problems that are often complained of by almost all patients after surgery. Some patients claim to experience nausea and vomiting after awakening from surgery. However, there are also patients who just feel nauseous when they get home.
Nausea after surgery will cause discomfort, not infrequently it also affects your appetite. Especially if the nausea you feel is also accompanied by vomiting. Of course, this will cause pain in the area of the surgical incision, especially if you have surgery on the abdomen.
So, why does this nausea and vomiting often appear after surgery? What are the causes and how to fix them? Find out the answer in this article.
Why do nausea and vomiting often occur after surgery?
In fact, the biggest cause of the nausea and vomiting you feel after surgery is a side effect of anesthesia or anesthetic. This condition may be less common in patients undergoing outpatient surgery than in patients undergoing inpatient surgery. This is because outpatients are usually only given a small amount of anesthetic (local anesthesia). Meanwhile, those who perform major operations generally use general anesthesia.
Although nausea can go away on its own, this condition will make the patient feel discomfort and can cause several complications. For example, experiencing dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, tension in the area of the surgical suture or even the opening of the edges of the stitch marks, bleeding, and shortness of breath.
Overcoming nausea and vomiting after surgery
Here are some ways you can deal with nausea after surgery.
1. Adequate fluid intake
One way to prevent nausea after surgery is to have adequate fluid intake to avoid dehydration. Usually the anesthetist will advise the patient to drink more water before surgery. Remember, only water. Not food or drink that has a taste.
2. Talk to the anesthetist
Some procedures require discussion with an anesthetist first to minimize nausea and vomiting after surgery. If the problem is known, the anesthetist will prescribe an anti-nausea medication in a sequence of actions after surgery to reduce the problem. Some of the drugs commonly used to prevent nausea after surgery are ondansetron (Zofran), promethazine (Phenergan) or diphenhydramine (Benadryl).
3. Eat slowly and gradually
After surgery, patients generally can only eat and drink after they have successfully farted. Now, when the patient is able to fart, the doctor will usually advise the patient to drink water for a few hours to ensure that they are not nauseous or vomiting. If water can be tolerated, then other drinks such as juice, tea, and milk can be consumed.
Then, if some types of food can also be tolerated, then soft foods such as porridge or pudding can also be consumed. So in essence, eating slowly and gradually is one of the keys to success to minimize nausea after surgery. Especially after the patient has had major surgery.
4. Effect of temperature
Some patients are very sensitive to fluid temperature. They may tolerate room temperature fluids or warm liquids well, but they cannot tolerate cold drinks. Even so, there are also the opposite. Not only the temperature of the liquid, in fact room temperature can also be one that can affect the onset of nausea after surgery.
If you are doing outpatient care at home, it may be better to be in a cool place to rest than in a hot room or outdoors. The reason is that in some cases, this is able to provide a soothing and calming effect for some people.
5. Eating ginger
There is no doubt about the efficacy of ginger in this herbal medicine for health. So, don't be surprised that ginger can also be used as a natural remedy to soothe the stomach and nausea after surgery. You can consume ginger candy and other ginger foods to reduce nausea, as long as they contain real ginger, not ginger flavor. Some people even mix tea with fresh ginger and drink it either hot or using ice cubes to relieve pain.
6. Prevention is better than cure
Prevention is very important in reducing nausea and vomiting after surgery. So, if you do have a history of nausea after surgery, it's good to tell your anesthetist. before it gets worse, it is better to prevent the onset of nausea so as not to interfere with the recovery period after surgery.
