Regional Anesthesia Side Effects and Warnings

Possible Complications

Complications are rare, but no procedure is completely free of risk. If you are planning to have anesthesia, your doctor will review a list of possible complications, which may include:

• Pain and tenderness around the injection site
• Bruising, infection, or bleeding of the injection site
• Headache
• Decrease in blood pressure
• Nerve damage
• Medicine mistakenly injected into a vein or artery
• Damage to organs

Some factors that may increase the risk of complications include:

• Current or past health problems
• Taking medicines, supplements, herbal remedies, or blood thinners
• Allergies
• Smoking
• Drinking alcohol
• Using recreational drugs
• History of adverse reactions to anesthesia

Call Your Doctor

After arriving home, contact your doctor if any of the following occurs:

• Signs of infection, including fever and chills
• Redness, swelling, increasing pain, or discharge from the injection site
• Tingling, numbness, or trouble moving the affected area that lasts longer than expected
• Pain that you cannot control with the medicines you have been given
• Headache
• Persistent coughing
• Shortness of breath or chest pain
• Dizziness
• Heartbeat abnormalities
• Funny taste or numbness of the mouth
• Other worrisome symptoms

In case of an emergency, CALL 911.