Anesthesia and Shivering
Question: I had a procedure to replace a heart valve. I warned them ahead of time about polio survivors needing to be careful and showed my Anesthesia Warning Card. When in the operating room they started something intravenously. I began trembling violently, before they gave me something else to put me out. While recovering later that day, I was in a lot of pain and started trembling violently again.
Dr. Bruno’s Response: “Trembling” (shivering) is one of the most commonly recognized problems associated with anesthesia. Shivering doesn’t mean that any drug you were given is off limits for polio survivors. The drugs are standard for your surgery and for many procedures requiring anesthesia.
If you are concerned about shivering before or after surgery, talk to the surgeon and anesthesiologist and ask for pre-op and post-op warming with a "Bair Hugger" to get warm and stay warm. https://www.bairhugger.com/3M/en_US/bair-hugger-us/