I'm 19 and I got all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed on april 10th, this year. I did go under general anesthesia and I had very little pain after getting out of surgery. Where things went wrong was saturday, the 11th but I'm assuming that there were a few mistakes I made before the 11th that caused what happened. The 9th, the night before my surgery I took a senna laxative because I didn't want to be constipated knowing I would need to fast the morning of my surgery which makes it more difficult for my body to have a bowel movement, I was already self conscious of my body dealing with bloating. I was doing my best to stay hydrated because of how laxatives tend to dehydrate you, but I don't think I was able to drink enough water before I had to start fasting.
Fast forward to getting out of surgery, I was feeling fine but I assumed that there would be more pain later, so I took 1 capsule of the ibuprofen my doctor gave me at 7pm that night, then I took 1 capsule of the hydrocodone acetamin that was prescribed, the bottle said it was 325mg and that you can take it every 4-6 hours. I felt fine and went to bed, btw I took these medications with food and water. The morning of the 11th from what I remember I felt fine, maybe a little more sore/tired than normal. I thought that I had to keep taking pain medications to prevent pain so I took 1 capsule of the hydrocodone acetamin at 9am with my breakfast and 1 capsule of ibuprofen which was 800 mg. At 2pm the last pain medication I took was 1 capsule of the hydrocodone acetamin. This is when I started to feel very nauseous and I was trying everything not to throw up because it's one of my worst fears and it makes me very anxious. I was smelling alcohol wipes, I was trying my best to drink water, and eventually I took a bath. I was feeling okay in the bath but as soon as I got out the feeling got worse, and I thought maybe my body needed more food because I didn't eat very much that day, so I made plain oatmeal and did my best to eat. I also wanted to mention all I ate before this was a smoothie bowl and ow sodium mushroom soup with a little ice cream.
At this point I don't remember the times or anything but I remember shortly after I took a few bites of oatmeal I threw up into my toilet and passed out. My family told me everything because I don't remember. My dad found me in my room faced down and called the ambulance. I was taken to the er, than transferred into another hospital for overnight stay. I was unconscious for 3 days, in the icu breathing on a ventilator. I don't know the exact date I woke up, when I first realized I was in the hospital I thought it was a dream and I couldn't remember anything. I didn't go on my phone until the 15th, I'm guessing I woke up and was able breath on my own the 13th or the 14th but was sleeping/napping majority of the time. When I started to have more energy and strength I was able to learn more about what happened when why it did. My doctors told me it was hyponatremia, but they weren't exactly sure why, they were telling me it could be from the supplements I was taking and the dehydration from the laxatives and throwing up.
The only supplements I was taking at that time was maca root and bromelain. I was taking maca once a day to help with fertility to get my period back, had just started taking it for the past 2-3 months consistently. The last time I was taking it consistently was summer of 2025 and I was able to get my cycle back in july but never had any side effects nearly severe as this. I was only taking bromelain for a week before my surgery to help prevent swelling and also was never feeling off or had any nausea or other symptoms. From what I learned I feel like the main cause is the dehydration from the laxative paired with me throwing up from the pain medications and not have been able to eat enough sodium that day.
I just wanted to share my story in case anyone has had a similar experience, and also to help people not make the same mistakes I did that may have caused this severe reaction. Could this have also had to with the anesthesia? This was my first time being put on anesthesia and undergoing a surgery.