Types Of Anesthesia Used By Doctors During Surgical Procedure

By Krystal Branch


If you underwent any surgical procedure, you note that the process was not painful even if it took hours. This can be attributed to the different types of anesthesia used at the hospital. These are drugs administered into the body, or that particular part to numb the area so that you will not feel any sensation as the procedure is finished.

These procedures are not only used on humans but also on animals. The medicine stop sensations on that particular area where it has been injected. Once the patient has been treated with this medicine, they tend to sleep throughout the procedure. Once surgery or any other treatment procedure has been completed, the patient wake up from the deep sleep, and they remember feeling no pain. The anesthetic procedure that the doctor will depend on the area where they are going to be used as well as the time surgery is going not to mention the health history of the patient.

Local anesthetic drugs are administered to patients right at the very area where the surgical procedure is to be done. This is normally used particularly during extraction of a painful tooth. It is injected in the gums to kill the pain. These drugs are normally used on outpatients, and their effect normally lasts for a very short time. These drugs do not lead to the sleeping of the patient and the physician may administer it with sedative if need be.

When the surgery is taking long, the general anesthetic chemicals are used to help the patient sleep heavily. And while asleep, you cannot feel any sensation or know what is happening to you. It stops a person memory from working. Mostly it is administered as IV, whereby patients inhale them as gases. They are also applied for surgeries that need one to be in an uncomfortable state.

In some cases, the general anesthetics cause side effects to the persons health, but this can be managed. The complications as a result of these drugs will also depend on the person lifestyle, body condition, and type of medications to use, smoking and taking of alcohol or blood thinning chemicals. There are rare complications instances that have been seen when using them like lung, heart attacks and stroke. It is not common for patients to die after administration of these drugs.

Another category is the regional drugs. These drugs as suggested by the name, are applied to larger areas which require an operation especially where the local anesthetic will not work well. They are further subdivided into sections. They can be applied in the area surrounding nerves and it is preferred in parts around the limbs and face.

For those scheduled for C-section and abdomen operations, the spinal block is utilized in the injection process. They have a disadvantage of causing headaches and spinal aches. For those patients who have been injected on the face, they experience respiration difficulties.

When you visit a hospital for any procedure, the doctor will recommend the types of anesthesia they think will work well and bring about minimum side effects. However, you must always know that the body will respond to their usage in different ways such as feeling fatigued and memory loss for some periods.




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