Anesthesia: What It Is And How It Works
Before the invention of anesthesia, surgery was painful and traumatizing. Many suffered psychological trauma even if they survived. Before the 1840s there were only three options for pain relief: alcohol, opium and weak herbal remedies. There are many effective forms of anesthesia available today, but it all depends on what surgery is being done. A typical anesthetic procedure uses one or more of the following drugs: a dissociative medicine, which blocks the signals from the nervous system from reaching your brain and causes memory Office based anesthesia impairment; a sedative which induces sleeplike or paralysis depending on the dosage; an analgesic also known as a painkiller. To counter side effects of anesthesia, other drugs can also be used. Analgesics like lidocaine can cause blood vessels to enlarge and increase bleeding. Therefore, vasoconstrictors such as epinephrine are often combined with pain-relief medication to contract the vessels. Depending on the com