Are people “stupid” after general anesthesia? 4 truths about anesthesia everyone should know

Anesthesia is an essential first step in surgery.

Without anesthesia, the patient will suffer extreme pain in a conscious state, and the operation will be difficult to carry out smoothly.

But when it comes to anesthesia, some people always have a fear:

“Anesthesia hurts the brain!”

“You will wake up halfway through anesthesia!”

“Children will become stupid under anesthesia!”

These rumors about anesthesia Always one after another, many people have a “pimple” about anesthesia in their hearts.

And do anesthesia really have these side effects? Let’s chat today!

In addition to general anesthesia, local anesthesia, and semi-anesthesia

·General anesthesia

It means that after anesthetics enter the body through respiratory inhalation, intravenous injection, intramuscular injection, etc., they act on the central nervous system, causing loss of technology of perception.

·Local anesthesia

It mainly uses drugs to make a certain part or local area of ​​the body lose consciousness, but people are conscious and conscious.

·Semi-anesthesia

Semi-anesthesia is an enhanced version of local anesthesia. Also stay awake.

4 Truths About Anesthesia

1. “Being stupid” is a pot of anesthesia.

Compared with local anesthesia and semi-anesthesia, which do not affect the brain, people Questions about anesthesia are mainly focused on general anesthesia.

When the general anesthesia person regains consciousness, his mind is dizzy, his speech is slurred, his mouth is forgotten, his memory is blurred…

Therefore, many people one-sidedly think: “The anesthesia made my brain go stupid!”

“Allegations” like this to be placed on anesthesia are pure injustice.

Usually, general anesthesia drugs will be completely metabolized in the body for several days or even hours before waking up due to the influence of drug residues, which is why they appear “stupid”.

But this situation is not persistent, and the brain will return to normal after a period of time.

The concern that the brain will become stupid after general anesthesia has no scientific basis.

2. It’s the disease that makes the child stupid, not the “numbness”

The authoritative medical journal “Anesthesiology” A study in , the cognitive decline of children is not related to anesthesia and surgery, but is related to the low preoperative cognitive ability of children due to disease.

In other words, disease, not anesthesia, is the main culprit behind a child’s decline in IQ.

However, children under the age of 3 have immature brains, and anesthesia may indeed affect the brain.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns that children under the age of 3 who have undergone more than 3 operations, each lasting more than 3 hours, may affect children’s memory and cognition.

So if it is not an emergency or a limited period of surgery, the anesthesiologist will recommend that the child be operated after the age of 3.

3. Waking up during general anesthesia is a rare case

It is possible to wake up during general anesthesia, a rare phenomenon called “anesthesia awakening”, also known as “intraoperative awareness”.

Although the patient was given anesthesia during the operation, the patient did not completely lose consciousness and retained the memory of the operation.

The body can’t move, but the consciousness is awake – this situation is somewhat similar to the “ghost press”.

The reason why intraoperative awareness occurs is mostly related to individual differences, anesthesia drugs, and anesthesia equipment.

However, anesthesiologists can avoid the occurrence of intraoperative awareness by monitoring the depth of anesthesia and allow patients to spend the surgery safely and comfortably.

4. Do not pour dirty water on painless back pain

Painless is popular in my country The rate is not high, and such rumors are the “first credit”.

Obviously, after the beating, it will make the mother’s delivery safer and smoother, but she will suffer unnecessary pain because of false information.

It is painless during childbirth. The needle is inserted into the waist, and then the anesthetic is pushed into the body. At this time, the needle hole left in the waist will make the mother feel dull pain, but once the needle hole disappears, the pain will also disappear. It will subside, usually in about 2 weeks.

Postpartum low back pain is a complex symptom with unknown etiology, but existing studies suggest that it is related to changes in hormones during pregnancy, changes in weight-bearing stress and insufficient core muscle strength.

The postpartum chronic low back pain has nothing to do with painlessness.

[Reference]

1. Can anesthesia damage the brain? Is local anesthesia better than general anesthesia? The doctor told the truth…. Popular Science China. 2022-05-11

2. Will painless childbirth cause postpartum back pain? is this real? .Reproductive Medicine Space.2021-03-29

3. Is general anesthesia a “ghost gate”? What happens to the body during anesthesia? .Tencent Medical Code.2021-12-05