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Not medical advice. Possible anaphylaxis: use epinephrine and call 911.Read the full note

Epitope Health teaches what published research and FDA labels say, and how strong that evidence is. It cannot know your situation, and nothing here is a diagnosis, a dose for one person, or a decision about whether a food, medicine or procedure suits one person. Those decisions belong with a licensed clinician who can examine you.

If a reaction is happening now, use epinephrine if it has been prescribed and call 911. After surgery, trouble breathing or chest pain needs 911. If you are thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988, any time.

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A child needs anesthesia?

What the brain-development research found, fasting for children, and sedation for dental work.

5 guides, about 13 minutes in all

Read this first

Children and anesthesia

What trials and studies show about anesthesia in young children, what the FDA labels say, and how children's sedation is kept safe.

Read the guideFor clinicians

Then, in this order

  1. Fasting before surgery

    Why the team asks for an empty stomach, what the guidelines say about clear fluids and solid food, and what trials found about shorter fasts and carbohydrate drinks.

    3 min read6 sourcesFor clinicians

  2. Types of anesthesia and sedation

    How the American Society of Anesthesiologists defines the levels of sedation, what monitored anesthesia care is, and what the research shows about spinal, epidural and nerve block anesthesia.

    4 min read10 sourcesFor clinicians

  3. Dental sedation

    What sedation levels mean in the dental chair, the safety system pediatric guidelines describe, and the drug label facts behind them.

    2 min read6 sourcesFor clinicians

  4. Nausea and vomiting after surgery

    The four risk factors teams look for, how much each preventive step helps, and what large trials found.

    2 min read4 sourcesFor clinicians

Questions for your anesthesia team

A printable list, with space to write the answers.

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Other places to start