Everyone feels tired after the surgery and this is not a big issue. But you must know what makes you feel so tired after the surgery. So this will help you to take certain actions to reduce the tiredness.
Types of Fatigue
Generally, fatigue is of two types. One is normal fatigue and another one is abnormal. Let’s see these types in detail.
Normal fatigue
There is nothing to worry about being tired after the surgery. Once you recover from the surgery, you won’t feel tired anymore. It improves eventually after the surgery. This type of fatigue is known as Normal fatigue and it is not a serious issue.
Abnormal fatigue
As the name suggests, you have now guessed that it is just the opposite of normal fatigue. If you feel tired more than before in the recovery phase, then you will more likely to have abnormal fatigue. When you feel like this, immediately visit your doctor. So don’t delay it.
Why am I so tired after surgery?
Sleep deprivation
No matter whether you have surgery or not, sleep is something that you can not compromise in your life. Because If you don’t care much about sleep, it will affect your overall health. Before the surgery, we feel anxious which is normal. So people who feel anxious will find it hard to sleep after the surgery.
In some other cases, people worry about the surgery, especially If it is the first one. Probably they won’t sleep much. So this automatically makes a person tired even after the surgery.
You may think Anesthesia will take care of sleep deprivation. But the truth is No anesthesia can compensate for the sleep that you lost. So the only thing that you have to do now is to take a rest. You will feel automatically fresh after having a long sleep.
Anemia
Another common reason for a person to feel tired is because of Anemia. Anemic patients feel more fatigue than normal people. So it is normal to feel fatigued after the surgery for an anemic patient. Suddenly don’t think you’re an anemic patient just because you feel tired after the surgery. Even If you don’t have any anemic history, you will still feel tired because you have lost some blood during surgery.
People who lost blood during surgery feel weak and dizzy and find it difficult to stand and sit. Not only this, they even feel tired of breathing. Once they lose their blood, their body has only a few red blood cells which have a lower capacity to carry oxygen. So this is why they feel tired after the surgery.
Medications
You must consume some medicines which are prescribed by your doctor before and after the surgery. You can also be prescribed some medicines to alter your blood pressure level at the time of surgery. So these medications will make you feel tired. Especially medicines like metoprolol are used to reduce the blood pressure level. So the side effect of this drug is making the patient feel tired.
Depression
Nowadays, you can easily spot a person with depression. Our lifestyle is the major reason for depression. It is not uncommon to have depression before and after your surgery. It is common to be worried about health, hospital bills, your family, etc. These things will make you feel stressed so it makes you feel tired.
So just talk with your doctors and find a way to alleviate your depression.
Aging
When you are aging or have a disease you will feel more tired than usual. It makes your body heal slower than before. It eventually postpones your body’s fast healing process. So If you are aging or suffering from some other disease, understand that it is common for you to feel tired after the surgery.
Electrolyte and mineral loss
If you are planning to have surgery, the first thing your surgeon advises you is to not take any food before surgery. Sometimes even after surgery, you are asked to be without eating any food for a few hours to prevent any surgical complications. So this will make you lose electrolytes and minerals from your body.
Even though you take fluids, you still can not recover electrolytes and minerals. So this loss of electrolytes and minerals makes you feel weak after the surgery.
Physical activities
You should postpone your exercises and other hard physical activities right after your surgery. Because this will make you feel weak. So it is more important to take a rest until you feel completely alright.
Anesthesia
Anesthesia has a significant role in surgery. One cannot prevent anesthesia during surgery. You will feel tired after the surgery due to the usage of Anesthesia. If you take young and healthy people, they will recover from anesthesia quicker than older people. Once your body recovers from Anesthesia, you will automatically feel normal.
Lack of Oxygen
If you have undergone surgery, you may notice the difference in your breathing habits. It will hurt you whenever you cough or take a deep breath. It will make you feel tired and sometimes it leads to Pneumonia. So you must take care of this.
Infections
Sometimes your wounds after the surgery may cause you an infection. Your body will try to fight off the bacteria which cause infections. So this will eventually make you feel tired after the surgery.
How long will it take to feel normal?
It depends on the surgery that you have undergone. It will take a few weeks to cure fatigue after the surgery. Sometimes, general anesthesia takes 24 hours to wear off and after that, the person feels normal.
If a person undergoes cardiac surgery, he or she will feel tired for at least two to four weeks.
How to Improve your fatigue?
Fatigue will feel worse. You feel helpless but you can’t reduce the tiredness by incorporating some healthy habits. Make sure to hydrate and eat well after the surgery.
This will form a basic defense against fatigue. Make sure to reduce the medications you take because more medicines will make you feel tired. And finally, make sure to take a rest.
