Myths about anesthesia

Anesthesia is used during the most major surgical interventions. And many patients are afraid less the operation itself than the impact of anesthesia. Let's consider the 7 popular myths about anesthesia.

1. The anesthesia effect can disappear during a surgery

The nature of this myth arose more than a hundred years ago when the medical science was still very far from modern one. At that time, the anesthesia was given by means of a gauze mask, which was applied to the nose and mouth of the patient and wetted with ether. Any narcosis was considered completed when the patient fell asleep. Such a technique did not allow a precise calculation of the dosage, and as a result the patient could suddenly wake up. Modern technologies suggest individual calculation of dosage, taking into account the age, weight, sex of the patient and the nature of the operation. Dosage can be calculated in automatic mode using a dosing system, which completely eliminates the errors.

2. Anesthesia shortens lifetime

This myth also comes from the past, when a mixture of chloroform and diethyl alcohol was widely used for anesthesia. Chloroform has a negative effect on the liver, and diethyl alcohol - on the lungs and the heart. Modern mixtures do not contain such components and therefore cannot lead to deterioration of the patient's health.

3. Anesthesia causes hallucinations

There is information that the patient can observe the surgery carrying out from the outside or travel while being in a dream. This is unconfirmed information, which the experienced surgeons know nothing about. This myth is most likely a fiction of the media or it is just an opinion of impressionable people who expected similar effects before receiving anesthesia. The use of anesthesia causes a deep sleep that has nothing to do with consciousness change.

4. Decrease in memory, occurring headaches

Partly this information is correct. Memory impairment is possible, but often they occur after a long, lasting many hours exposure to the drug. Also, a similar effect is possible in case when this kind of anesthesia is carried out more than 1-2 times for a long period.

Headaches are possible with the availability of contributing factors, which include vegetative-vascular dystonia, hypotension, and liability to bilious headache.

5. General anesthesia can be replaced by local anesthesia

Local anesthesia is practiced with simple interventions and often with emotionally stable patients. It is also used when the risk of using general anesthesia is too high.

But in general, the person's dropping-off to sleep before a complicated medical operation is the mandatory requirement. First, it is aimed at the patient's psychological comfort, because many manipulations can negatively affect the state of mind. Secondly, an acute sense of pain affects the functioning of almost all body systems. As a result, the heart rhythm is broken, the release of stress hormones and spasm of peripheral vessels occur. The combination of these factors significantly complicates the intervention performing and adversely affects the further state of health.

6. After anesthesia it is possible to run into violence

With the use of modern drugs, this phenomenon is possible only in rare cases, connected with the individual characteristics of the patient. This myth was widely spread by virtue of the drugs that were used about 30 years ago. Then the active substance was the ethers, which could cause emotional arousal upon postanesthetic recovery.

7. After anesthesia there is a prolonged loginess

There are a number of surgeries that take place within one day. In other words the patient leaves the medical facility on the same day when the surgery was carried out. It means that after emergence all the psychoemotional processes are completely restored.

The keys to the successful procedure and avoiding the negative impact of general anesthesia are the correct choice of the clinic. An experienced anesthesiologist will be able to select the right type of drug, to calculate correctly the dosage and set the time of dropping-off the patient to fall asleep and bring out of it.