Anesthesia

Sulfa allergy and general anesthesia

01/18/2007 03:04PM

Question:

I have many allergies to antibx. One that I am concerned about with my upcoming pacemaker/AICD surgery (under general anesthesia) is sulfa. I heard that sulfa is in one of the general anesthesia meds. Is this true? I won`t be talking with my anesthesiologist until the morning of my surgery so just wanted to know if this is a concern. Also, after a D&C many yrs ago I had severe body muscle aches so much so that I developed pneumonia post-op from not breathing correctly (b/c it hurt to take a deep breath). Could the general anesthetic have had anything to do with this? Thank you so much for your time.

Answer:

No, sulfa is not a general anesthesia medication. The term sulfa refers usually to the sulphonamide (or sulfonamide) antibiotics, developed more than fifty years ago. It can also refer to any drug containing a sulphur molecule. The sulfonamides were very successful early antibiotics, before penicillin arrived. A large number of related compounds were produced. Among the related drugs are the thiazide diuretics, and the sulfonylureas which are blood sugar-lowering agents used to treat diabetes. Allergy to a particular sulfa drug increases the risk that you will react to another sulfa drug.

There are no anesthetics in common use that would pose a particular risk to you if you have a "sulfa allergy". The aches and pains you experienced so many years ago were probably due to the muscle relaxant drug called succinylcholine. For more information about this unpleasant reaction please read a previous answer: SEVERE Muscle and Joint Pain after Surgery

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Response by:

Gareth S Kantor, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Anesthesiology
University Hospitals
School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University