Anaesthesia is an important part of any surgery. It is a routine part of a surgery to keep the patient safe and comfortable before, during and after the surgery procedure. Anaesthesia enables doctors to perform painless procedure. An Anaesthetist will perform it on the patient considering various factors including the patient’s medical history and other variants.

 

What is Anaesthesia ?

 

Anaesthesia or Anaesthesiology is a field of medicine which focuses on operative pain prevention and helps in painless post operative relief for patients. The scope of Anaesthesia is now a days extended to other Intensive care instances for inducing sedation, unconsciousness, etc. 

 

What are the types of Anaesthesia ?

 

•   Monitored Anaesthesia Care

•   Intra Venous Sedation

•   Local Anaesthesia

•   Regional Anaesthesia

•   General Anaesthesia 

 

Monitored Anaesthesia : Monitored Anaesthesia Care is a procedure in which the Anaesthesia is superficial. For instances, Anaesthesia is applied of the skin, locally injected to number a local area of surgery. This will be combined with sleep dosages and pain killers. In this type, the patient will be conscious and interacting. 

 

Sedation : Sedation is done using a combination of medicines and will help you relax and to block pain. During this you will probably be awake and still speak. In case of deep sedation, you may be in deep sleep.

 

Local Anaesthesia : Local Anaesthesia is done either with conscious or unconscious. This is when anaesthesia is applied locally or injected to a local area with or without conscious which is done by a nerve block anaesthesia. This is performed during a minor local surgery or dental surgery in order to do the procedure painless. 

 

Regional Anaesthesia : Regional Anaesthesia technique is used to numb a certain part of the body during the surgery. During the entire procedure, the patient will be awake and can interact with that surgeon during the procedure. For instance, a nerve block in the spine will induce numbness in the lower pelvic or lower limbs for surgeries related to the region.

 

What is the old of Anaesthesiologist ?

 

Anaesthesiologists play a very vital role in surgery. They ensure that the correct dosage is provided to the patient. They will interact with the patient before deciding the dosage and type of drug. This is to get hold of the patient history and allergies if any before choosing the dosage and drug. This is very critical for a patient during the surgery and post surgery.  During the surgery they keep on monitor the various vitals of the patient. They measure various parameters like blood pressure, blood oxygen, temperature, heart function, etc. By taking consideration any variations in vital signs, drugs are to be administered at regular intervals to keep the patient comfortable and safe throughout the surgery and post operative recovery time. 

 

How do you get ready ?

 

Before the surgery day, you will be meeting the Anaesthetist and the surgeon to discuss about your medical history and allergies. you will be asked to stop certain drugs like blood thinners and certain foods in order to have a safer surgery. Invest more time in activities which will make you more relaxed and peaceful before the surgery as this will have great impact on the sedated period and the post op recovery period. 

 

When to stop food intake?

 

If you are getting a General Anaesthesia, the doctor will advise you to stop the intake before 8 hours. This will avoid nausea which may be a side effect of anaesthesia with certain patients. 

 

How long will I be off?

 

It depends on the length the surgery. The anaesthetist will be with you in the operating room to ensure you are safely unconscious. The anaesthesia dosage is stopped once the surgery is done. You will be off depending on the dosage went inside. 

 

Anaesthesia : What to expect ?

 

Anaesthesia is often a patient’s biggest reason for nervousness. Patients fear that they may awake with pain or will they take long time to get consciousness. But in fact anaesthesia makes a surgery more safer. there are few facts about anaesthesia which sometimes may occur as after effect to certain people.

 

Anaesthesia can cause temporary memory loss to certain people. But this is nothing to worry as this is just temporary. Also sometime some patients may feel chill and shiver during the post operative stage. General Anaesthesia can sometime cause dizziness and nausea which will be alright once the time passes. Some people may have some allergic reaction to anaesthesia. To avoid this a detailed interaction with your anaesthetist about your medical history and allergies will help in this regard.

 

Myths about Anaesthesia - Busted

 

1.     It is believed that Anaesthesiologists leave the theatre after surgery begins. But it is not at all true. An anaesthesiologist is as equally important as the surgeon. they closely monitor the vitals of the patient and act upon as and when required.

 

2.     There is a myth that if anaesthesia dosage is miscalculated, anaesthesia wears off before the surgery is over. The truth is that there is no actual method of calculation of dosage and anaesthesia can never wear off. Moreover anaesthetist will be monitoring the patient and will increase the dosage as and when required.

 

3.     It is said that adverse events during surgery are due to Anaesthesia. But this is an ambiguous statement as there can be many reasons for adverse effects during surgery like the patient’s general condition, poor response of the body to the surgery, etc.

 

4.     It is believed that during C section delivery, spinal anaesthesia can cause back pain post delivery. But as a matter of fact, spinal anaesthesia is the safest option at the time of cesarean.

 

As an end note, it is really important to understand how Anaesthesia works and what is the important of anaesthesia in a surgery. This will help you wear of the fears and myths running around anaesthesia. There will be some mild and temporary side effects of anaesthesia which will wear off completely once the requisite time is over. Overall, anaesthesia is a part of medicine which ensures a stress free surgery procedure both for the patient and for the doctor.