How can you detoxify general anesthesia?

Answer 1

As with many complex biological questions, this sounds like a straightforward question on first examination, and as we examine it more closely, it becomes a can of worms. Even the simplest biological change, and attempts to "detoxify" from it can get you in trouble. This is true even for the most healthy of individuals. Needless to say, most folks undergoing surgery and general anesthesia are not in the best of health, or they would not be needing the surgery or anesthesia. Example of a simple adjustment gone awry: say you consumed too much salty food and know your electrolyte balance is wacky. Since salt is a water soluable, you rationally decide to just dilute it with sufficient water (by drinking) to bring it to the same molarity as normal blood or tissue salt molarity or concentrations. Ah, but those 5 Kg of nasty nachos you knocked back with salt on them will require you to drink 10 gallons of water to get to that concentration. 10 gallons of water will KILL YOU. Well guess simple dilution is not the key, eh? Now imagine we have someone with various solvents in their system, various drugs, recovering from frank trauma of surgery and with their systems and physiological / chemical systems all in flux, and you want to tinker with their stability to "detoxify" them? In biological systems, rate process, ratios, and scale are everything. Belladona in a small dose can open open small passages and allow fluid to move or save your inner ear from over presurization ... but in larger dosages can kill. From water to toxic metals, from salt to spice, to drugs, it is all about those critical ratios and scale etc. So my advice is - DONT DO ANYTHING TO DETOXIFY FROM GENERAL ANESTHESIA ! Let the staff do their job, and do it well. Once you are able, increasing fluid intake moderately (say from 3 liters of water a day to 5 liters) and increasing exercise where safe to do so in moderation, will all help purge remaining substances from your body. Massage, where not contraindicated, is safe and does no harm, and might help get substances from interstitial fluids and tissues that dont otherwise flush quickly or easily. However, be aware that if you are on antibiotics or for that matter, taking ANY medication post procedure, changing your diet, even by increasing water intake much, can change the effective dosage of the medicines. Many medicines have minimum threasholds to be effective and if you take the pill with ... say 3 liters of water, rather than 1/3 of a liter of water, the outcome may be much different, as will the delivered dosage. Taking medicines with some substances like grapefruit juice (which can help flush substances from your system) also has the risk of disolving drugs you take into your system in such a way as to deliver more immediate and higher dosages that can be damaging or even lethal. In short, talk with your doctor, stick with moderation, and let the medical staff you have chosen do their job, do it well, and help you recover in a controlled and predictable manner. Modern medicine is far from perfect, but changing flawed but predictable for "who the hell knows what might happen" is not a good tradeoff.