Before Receiving This Medicine

In deciding to use a medicine, the risks of using the medicine must be weighed against the good it will do. For desflurane, the following should be considered:

Allergies—Tell your doctor if you have ever had any unusual or allergic reaction to an anesthetic. Also tell your doctor if you are allergic to any other substances, such as foods, preservatives, or dyes.

Pregnancy—Desflurane has not been studied in pregnant women. It did not cause birth defects in animal studies. However, desflurane caused other unwanted effects in the animal fetus when given for many days in a row in amounts that were large enough to cause harmful effects in the mother.

Breast-feeding—Small amounts of desflurane may pass into the breast milk. Your doctor may want you to stop breast-feeding for about 24 hours after receiving the medicine.

Children—Desflurane has been tested in children. It is not used to start anesthesia in children who are awake because it causes irritation and other unwanted effects. However, when it is used to continue general anesthesia that has been started with another anesthetic, desflurane does not cause different side effects or problems in children than it does in adults.

Older adults—Desflurane has been tested and has not been shown to cause different side effects or problems in older people than it does in younger adults. However, older people usually need smaller amounts of an anesthetic than younger people. Your doctor will take your age into account when deciding on the right amount of desflurane for you.

Other medicines—Although certain medicines should not be used together at all, in other cases two different medicines may be used together even if an interaction might occur. In these cases, your doctor may want to change the dose, or other precautions may be necessary. When you are receiving a general anesthetic, it is especially important that your doctor know if you are taking any other prescription or nonprescription (over-the-counter [OTC]) medicine or any of the following:

• “Street” drugs, such as amphetamines (“uppers”), barbiturates (“downers”), cocaine, marijuana, phencyclidine (PCP or “angel dust”), and heroin or other narcotics—Serious, possibly fatal, side effects may occur if your doctor gives you an anesthetic without knowing that you have taken another medicine

Other medical problems—The presence of other medical problems may affect the use of desflurane. Make sure you tell your doctor if you have any other medical problems, especially:

• Diseases that can cause muscle weakness, such as familial periodic paralysis, muscular dystrophy, myasthenia gravis, or Eaton-Lambert syndrome, or
• Heart or blood vessel disease—The chance of side effects may be increased, but serious problems can be prevented if your doctor knows that these conditions are present before giving you an anesthetic

• Malignant hyperthermia, during or shortly after receiving an anesthetic (history of, or family history of). Signs of malignant hyperthermia include very high fever, fast and irregular heartbeat, muscle spasms or tightness, and breathing problems—This side effect may occur again