Anesthesia

Anesthesia is an action that affects the operation of the nervous system, whether if generally   – the entire body – and whether local or regional. Anesthetics in fact affect the action of the nerves and prevent them from sending pain signals to the brain, and when those signals aren’t sent, the pain isn’t felt. Anesthesia can be administered via injection of anesthetics to the vein, spreading gel or ointment, dripping an anesthetic over mucous tissues and even spraying the area intended for anesthesia.

The common methods of anesthesia today

There are 4 main methods of anesthesia:

General Anesthesia:

During which you’ll remain unconscious and won’t be aware of your surroundings at all. This is anesthesia that’s usually done in big surgeries involving several important areas or systems, and in children – when it’s important to ensure they don’t move or panic.

Regional Anesthesia:

Anesthesia during which the patient remains fully aware, but a certain area of his body is “sedated”. This anesthesia is used in high frequency in childbirth (epidural sedation) or in C-sections (spinal sedation).

Local Anesthesia:

This anesthesia also leaves the patient fully aware, and it ‘sedates’ a very specific part of the body: a certain part of the mouth, part of the palm, a toe and so on. This anesthesia is common in dental care, for example.

Deep numbing:

Also called sedation. Under this anesthesia, the patient remains with foggy awareness. He isn’t unconscious, and might hear what is taking place and be aware of his surrounding in some degree, but would usually not remember anything from the procedure afterward. The sedation is very common during gastroscopy.

The substances used for anesthesia

The substances used for general anesthesia are narcotics of some type or opioids.  These are drugs that affect the body’s sensation of pain to some degree, according to the dosage and substance type. Alongside those, numbing substances are used, among which lidocaine and even cocaine (although it’s less common in this context today).

Fear of anesthesia is an understandable and common reaction in many patients.
Sometimes, the future fear of surgery and anesthesia is so substantial as to avoiding medical consultation, an action that could harm the health and quality of life.
The anesthesia, performed by an expert at the hospital, is an important and central part of the treatment’s success.
Comprehensive information about the various types of anesthesia and the procedure is presented for you, from the belief that the more you know, the calmer you’ll be and feel your anxiety decreasing.