Anesthesia

Anesthesia is the use of a gas or liquid that is injected during surgeries or other medical procedures to keep the patient in a comfortable state while being operated on. Anesthesia has had a great impact on medical procedures throughout history because it has allowed us to operate on patients without them acknowledging the pain that is being inflicted. Anesthesia has come along way in the past 160 years. Anesthesiologists have come up with different types of anesthetics procedures for the patients to reduce the effects of surgery. Each type of anesthesia that has been invented has a different effect on the body and or mind. It has given us the ability to shut out the painful experiences of surgery in the past.
Anesthesia is the use of medication and close monitoring of the patients heart rate, heart rhythm, blood pressure, respiratory rate and also their oxygen saturation. Depending on the patient's medical past and the procedure they are going in for, they may have more monitoring that they do for this patient. During operating procedures there are three different categories of anesthesia. The three types are Local, Regional and General Anesthesia. Local Anesthesia blocks pain and feeling from one part of the body, and allows a procedure to be preformed. By injecting a Local Anesthetic the nerves where the incision is to be made are numbed and the patient is unable to feel any pain. They use a cream before the injection is given which is a mixture of lidocaine, cocaine and cutectic which numbs the surface prior to the injection being given. Unlike local anesthesia, regional anesthesia numbs and blocks a large amount of the nerves in one specific part of the body. This type of anesthetic does not affect your level of consciousness. For example Regional Anesthesia consists of spinal and epidural anesthetics. It is called regional because it is a "region" of the body being anesthetized. General Anesthesia affects the brain cells. You lose consciousness and all feeling throughout your body is gone. You become completely unaware and pain free during surgeries. This causes forgetfulness and muscle relaxation. It can be administered as an inhaled gas such as nitrous oxide also known now as "laughing gas" other gases they use could be sevoflurane, desflurane, isoflurane and halothane. These gases may affect your vitals for example your heart rate or blood pressure. To of the injected liquids that Doctors use would be propofol or etomidate. An anesthetic gas can make its way to the brain by being inhaled into the lungs, the blood then travels through the lungs and the blood is then carrying the anesthetic gas that makes its way to the central nervous system cells. Common side effects of anesthesia may be nausea, vomiting, mild drop in body temperature or hypothermia. Right after the operation you will have reduced sensation muscle control and coordination may also be effected.
When going in for an operation that involves the use of anesthetics the Doctor's and Nurses will usually tell you not to eat or drink for up to eight hours before your operation. Making sure that you follow these guidelines is important because when under the anesthetic you lose the ability to control what you are inhaling into your lungs. While you are conscious the swallowing mechanisms reflex is fully functioning so your lungs get covered when you are swallowing but while you are unconscious this reflex's ability to work is not there. Therefore the solids or liquids in your stomach can enter your mouth and go down into your lungs which then can cause sever lung damage. Medical conditions also increase you risk of complications during surgery.