Complications

Complications are new medical issues or problems that make your health situation more complex than it was. Some complications are minor and are more inconvenient than anything. But complications can also be more serious, disrupting your life or your recovery from an illness, medication or procedure. And some complications are severe enough that they can cause permanent damage or even death.

What causes complications?

Complications can happen because of:

• Health conditions or diseases: Much like a finely tuned mechanical watch, your body works best when everything works in proper sync. But if one thing starts working differently or works incorrectly, that can cause malfunctions in other parts.
• Procedures/treatments: Complications can happen because of medical procedures like surgeries or biopsies. They can also happen because of medications you take.
• Unrelated reasons: Sometimes, complications happen for reasons that aren’t related to either your health or medical history. An example would be lab tests for a health condition finding evidence of a disease you didn’t know you had (experts call these incidental findings).
• Unknown reasons: In some cases, experts can’t detect a cause for a complication or explain how it happened.

Types of complications

Some types of complications are easier to organize into groups by how and when they happen. Some examples include:

• Anesthesia complications
• Disease complications
• Medication complications
• Pregnancy or birth complications
• Surgery complications

Anesthesia complications

Anesthesia complications aren’t as common as they used to be, but they can still happen. Some examples of anesthesia complications include:

• Anesthetic awareness
• Collapsed lung
• Malignant hyperthermia

In extremely rare cases, death is a possible complication from anesthesia. This happens in about 1 in 100,000 to 1 in 200,000 cases. But in people who are generally healthy and having routine procedures, it’s even lower: about 1 in 1 million.

Disease complications

Disease complications happen when one disease causes other complications. Some examples include:

• Aging-related complications like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease or falls causing bone fractures
• Cardiovascular disease complications like heart attacks, strokes or heart failure
• Complications of infections like sepsis or organ failure
• Diabetes-related complications like nerve damage (neuropathy), retina damage (retinopathy), foot conditions, kidney failure, heart attacks, heart failure or strokes
• High blood pressure complications like kidney failure, heart failure, heart attack, vision loss, dementia and strokes

Medication complications

Complications with medications are fairly common, but they’re usually minor. They include:

• Allergic reactions like hives or difficulty breathing
• Drug interactions, especially certain types or those that are severe
• Medications no longer working to treat a condition
• Side effects, especially when severe, such as drowsiness, changes in your thinking (altered mental status), or kidney or liver damage

Pregnancy or birth complications

Pregnancy complications are common overall and affect nearly half of all pregnant people. But they’re also usually manageable.

Some examples of birth complications include:

• Blood clots
• Breech baby
• Caput succedaneum
• Fetal distress
• Precipitous labor
• Placental abruption
• Postpartum depression and anxiety
• Preterm birth
• Prolonged labor

Surgery complications

Several potential complications can happen with all surgeries. They include:

• Bleeding
• Blood clot formation
• Infections
• Pain
• Scarring
• Unsuccessful outcomes (where surgery doesn’t work or do enough to resolve the issue)

Is there anything I can do to reduce my risk of complications?

Complications can happen unpredictably or for reasons you can’t control. But there are several things you can do to help you and your provider lower the odds of them happening:

• Share your questions and concerns with your healthcare provider. They can tell you more about what to expect and what you can do.
• Tell your provider about all medications, herbs and supplements you’re taking. Even those available over the counter can cause drug interactions or affect medical procedures.
• Follow treatment plans as closely as you can. That includes taking medications exactly as prescribed. Not taking medications or following a treatment plan can increase the odds of developing complications.
• If you’re having trouble following your treatment plan for any reason, tell your provider. They might be able to recommend changes that could help you.
• Don’t hesitate to tell your provider about unexpected health changes. That goes for those that seem unconnected, too. Many complications are easier to treat early on.