Managing medical conditions
Managing medical conditions
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Some medical conditions can affect recovery from surgery. It is important to make sure known conditions are controlled as well as possible ahead of your surgery. When you have your pre-operative assessment by the Anaesthetic Assessment Clinic you will be asked about your health and they may also test for new medical conditions that could have an impact on your surgery. In some cases, if the surgeon or anaesthetic doctor is very worried about your medical conditions, it might be necessary to delay surgery to give you more time to work with your GP or specialist medical team.
Diabetes
Good control of your blood sugar is really important to reduce your risk of infections after surgery. If you need to get better control of your diabetes for surgery, you can do this by making changes to your diet or your diabetes medications. If you have Type 2 diabetes, increasing how much you exercise can help. Your GP or diabetes team will help you make these changes.
High blood pressure
Blood pressure should be controlled to safe levels to reduce your risk of heart disease or stroke. If you have had high blood pressure before or are currently taking medication to manage your blood pressure, your GP clinic can check your blood pressure to make sure it is well controlled before your surgery.
Chronic lung disease
Chronic lung disease means a long-term breathing condition, like emphysema, COPD and bronchiectasis. Someone with chronic lung disease might feel short of breath with gentle activity, cough up phlegm or mucous even when well, and might often get unwell with chest infections. In New Zealand, one of the most common causes of chronic lung diseases is smoking.
If you have chronic lung disease, you are at higher risk of having breathing complications during and after surgery. There are several ways to reduce this risk:
- Reduce or stop smoking.
- Do regular activity to improve the strength of your breathing muscles.
- Learn and practice breathing exercises that you can do after your surgery. Click here for more information.
- See your GP to make sure you are on the right medical treatment, like inhalers.
- See your GP early if you have any new worries about your breathing, or if you think you are developing a chest infection. Things to watch out for include having a fever or high temperature, feeling more short of breath than normal, making more phlegm or mucous, or the colour of your phlegm changing from clear to brown or green. It’s important to get checked out early and on the right treatment plan to be as well as possible before an operation.
Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA)
Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) is a medical condition where a person will stop breathing for short periods of time while they are asleep. A person with OSA might be a loud snorer, and others may see and hear them snore, then struggle to breathe or even have a pause, then appear to wake suddenly. This may happen many times through the night. The person might not remember these episodes, but instead notice other effects from having OSA. This includes feeling tired or sleepy through the day, or having headaches or trouble thinking clearly. If OSA is not treated, it can lead to other problems like high blood pressure and heart disease.
There are ways to treat or manage OSA. If you think you might be affected, please see your GP to be screened and to consider testing.
People with untreated OSA are more likely to have complications after surgery. Getting diagnosed and started on treatment will help reduced the chance of a person having complications.
If you have already been diagnosed with OSA and you have been given a mask to help your breathing at night, please bring this with you to hospital when you have surgery so it can be used during your hospital stay.
Anaemia
You might be asked to have a blood test to check your red blood cell count. If you are found to have anaemia (a low red blood cell count), the hospital’s Patient Blood Management team might offer you treatment, or ask you to see your GP. Treating your anaemia before surgery reduces the chance of you needing a blood transfusion. It will also help your recovery and you will feel less tired after your surgery.
For more information about managing your blood, click here.
Dental health
If you have loose teeth or crowns you may want to see a dentist to reduce the risk of damage to your teeth during your surgery.