General Anesthesia: An Ultra-Brief Overview

By LEO CHUN

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Anesthesia is the use of medicines known as anesthetics to prevent pain during surgery and other procedures.

During the surgery, patients under anesthesia will lose awareness and “go to sleep.” After surgery, the patients will still feel a little drowsy but there will still be no pain. Generally, pain as a result of the surgery emerges as the anesthetics’ effect wears off.  

Types of Anesthesia

General Anesthesia: This is the type of anesthesia we all think of when we hear the word “anesthesia”—mask over mouth/nose, completely knocked out, no consciousness and no sensations whatsoever. General Anesthesia is typically used for huge operations like open-heart surgery or limb replacements. General Anesthesia also has the most side effects, which we’ll be talking about later on the blog.

Regional Anesthesia: Being more common than General Anesthesia, you probably were or will be sedated with regional anesthesia at some point in your life. It numbs a part of the body, but you are still aware (Being “aware” is similar to dreaming while asleep, but you can’t feel any external sensations). This type of anesthesia is used for joint replacement procedures and internal fixations of bones.

Local Anesthesia: This type of anesthesia is not as nearly as big as the other two. It numbs a small area of your body, and is used for procedures such as stitching and removal of moles. You were probably sedated with local anesthesia when you were getting your loose tooth pulled out by your dentist.

How does Anesthesia work?

In super duper simple words, anesthetic compounds block neurotransmitters from getting to Neuron B (Postsynaptic cell) from Neuron A (Presynaptic cell). They do this by binding to postsynaptic receptors, which are attached to Neuron B. An image is probably better at explaining it than me, so here are a couple pictures that give good depictions of how anesthetics block neurotransmitters.

Khan Academy

Are there any side effects?

Yes! There are tons of side effects you get from Anesthesia. Some common ones include nausea and vomiting, sore throat, postoperative delirium, muscle aches, itching and chills and shivering. Some more serious and rare symptoms include postoperative cognitive dysfunction, and Malignant Hyperthermia.

What can I do to avoid these side effects? You can’t really control the potential of these side effects, but what you can control is your readiness in emergency scenarios. Studies have shown encouraging open communication about anesthetics can help patients go through the process of surgery easier, making it less intimidating overall.

Sources:

https://medlineplus.gov/anesthesia.html

https://www.asahq.org/madeforthismoment/anesthesia-101/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/anesthesia/about/pac-20384568

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180426102856.htm

https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/rt1584