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The Curious Bag
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A hernia surgery is a procedure done to repair a hernia, which is when a weakened area of a muscle allows tissue to break through. This most often happens in the abdominal wall. An epidural is a type of anesthesia most often used in women giving birth, but is often used in hernia surgery as well.
Anesthetic
An anesthetic is a drug that is administered to a patient to prevent the patient from experiencing pain, discomfort or distress during a medical procedure.
Epidural
An epidural is a form of anesthesia that includes injecting an anesthetic drug into the area around the spine in the lower back. This is intended to block pain from being felt in the lower half of the body.
Headaches
One common side effect of an epidural is a headache when it has been administered. It has also been known to cause chronic headaches for months after the procedure.
Back Pain
In a study of 9,000 patients given epidural for surgery, 1 in 50 complained of a backache after the surgery.
Narcotics
If the drug administered is a narcotic, this has been known to lead to itching, difficulty urinating, nausea and vomiting.
Other Options
Other choices for hernia surgery include general anesthesia, which means making the patient unconscious, or a local anesthetic, which is an injection that numbs the area directly around the surgery site.
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