Anesthesia is a fainting condition that is artificially caused by special drugs. It is used to block pain during surgery, painful procedures. Due to the unusual impact, the question: “how does anesthesia affect the human body” has been and remains relevant.

Types of anesthesia

According to the degree of influence, the principle of administration and exposure, two types of anesthesia are distinguished:

1. General anesthesia, also called anesthesia. It is used to turn off pain, relax muscles, ensure the immobility of a person during operations. It is carried out in two ways - through a vein, a mask into which a gaseous anesthetic is supplied. The depth of consciousness blackout directly depends on the amount of anesthetic supply. If a major operation is planned, the anesthesiologist increases the amount of the substance through a dropper or mask;
2. Local anesthesia. This is the introduction of an anesthetic to the place where the manipulations will be performed. For example, if a person has broken a finger, the doctor injects the substance there. The place injected with the drug becomes numb, the patient feels the touch weakly, remains fully conscious.

The danger of anesthesia

People often worry that they can wake up right during the operation. Unfortunately, there is such a possibility. Anesthetics work and keep a person's consciousness in 99% of cases under control, but there is always 1% when something can go wrong.

This is due to individual characteristics, which may have a peculiar effect on the effect. During the operation, the patient's condition is monitored - heart rate, pressure, breathing - down to the smallest detail, so if the doctor feels something is wrong, he will have time to take action.

Is there a risk of dying from anesthesia? Alas, yes, but with the development of technology, changes in the composition of the anesthetic substance, it has decreased by 6 times. The risk of death from it is several times lower than dying in a car accident. Youth, the absence of chronic diseases reduces the possibility of dying several times more.

How can anesthesia affect a child?

Experienced anesthesia affects, first of all, the work of the brain:

• speed of thought;
• memory impairment;
• Decreased concentration level;
• hyperactivity;
• Willingness and ability to learn.

The risk of destruction of neural connections, brain cells in a child is due to the fact that at a young age it is only developing.

Scientists suggest that anesthesia given before the age of two can seriously affect the development of the baby. While the study is open, a safe, time frame for a child not to be mentally affected by anesthesia has not yet been established.

The danger of anesthesia for memory?

The first thing that general anesthesia affects is the brain. The most terrible consequence is asthenic syndrome, characterized by disorders of the central nervous system.

The manifestation of asthenic syndrome should be divided into two categories - primary symptoms, secondary (mild)

The primary ones are:

• Sleep disorder - insomnia or restless sleep;
• Decreased performance. Many complain of rapid fatigue;
• Apathy, mood swings.

Secondary:

• A person becomes distracted, it is difficult for him to concentrate on one thing;
• Bad memory is the result of poor concentration;
• Deterioration in learning ability.

The syndrome makes itself felt in the first three months from the day the anesthetic enters the body. So far, there are only theories regarding the cause of the syndrome:

1. Painkillers lower blood pressure. A short-term critical condition provokes a microstroke, which can be almost invisible;
2. An imbalance between neurotransmitters and molecules in the brain causes the death of nerve cells;
3. The collision of the immune system and inflammation. This phenomenon is observed when the patient in the postoperative period refuses antispasmodics.

What increases the risk of developing asthenic syndrome:

• Age - children, elderly;
• The presence of chronic diseases;
• Poorly developed intellectual abilities;
• Prolonged presence of an anesthetic in the body;
• Large dose of anesthetic;
• Serious postoperative trauma.

How does anesthesia affect the body, namely the heart. For example, if a person already suffers from serious pathologies - atrial fibrillation, coronary disease, cardiac asthma, tachycardia.

The doctor will send you for a full diagnosis, based on the results of which he will set a risk score for surgery, and also determine which type of painkiller, which type is right for you.

The effect of anesthesia on the heart is a purely individual matter. Some feel fine and recover quickly, while others fall prey to asthenic syndrome.

If you have a constricting feeling in the chest, colitis, pain, bakes, becomes very frequent, your heartbeat slows down, you should immediately talk to your doctor.

The effect of anesthesia on the body of a woman?

The female body is unique, it can be in a variety of states - puberty, the menstrual cycle, pregnancy. Therefore, it is easiest to judge the consequences based on the state of the body at the time of the operation.

If you are in a position anesthesia is not at all desirable. Any type of painkiller is toxic, it can adversely affect the health of the child, the expectant mother.

It is not recommended to use anesthesia in the first, second trimester, the most dangerous period from the 2nd to the 10th week, when the baby's vital organs are still being formed. The ingestion of an anesthetic slows down the process of development, nutrition, which can lead to external / internal anomalies.

The middle of the third trimester is also not the right time for anesthesia. During this period, the placenta, the uterus shrink even more, the peritoneal organs are in a tense state, the anesthetic substance can provoke a miscarriage, premature birth, and cause bleeding. Also do not forget about, you can read on our portal.

Cesarean section with anesthesia gives consequences in the form of symptoms:

• Headache attacks;
• dizziness;
• nausea;
• muscle spasms;
• Concentration disorders and clouding of consciousness;
• Spasms of the back muscles.

A woman outside of these states with an established menstrual cycle may experience its violation. It is called:

• Overvoltage. Any anesthetic substance is a burden on the human body, and the female one is no exception, the whole process slows down, all forces go to stabilize the work of organs;
• Diet change. Some types of surgical interventions require a therapeutic diet, which affects the number, frequency of menstruation;
• Operation on the pelvic organs. Any gynecological operation temporarily upsets the work of the genital organs, it is required to wait until they are restored again;
• Infection. The operation is associated with risks, including infection. This can happen not only during the operation, but also after, when the body is weakened.

How can anesthesia affect the body?

General anesthesia strongly affects the entire organ system, so the risk of complications cannot be completely ruled out.

How anesthesia can negatively affect the body:

1. Suffocation, swelling of the lumen of the respiratory tract;
2. Vomit. In pregnant women, the gag reflex may begin during surgery, there is a risk of dying from ingestion of vomit into the respiratory tract;
3. arrhythmia;
4. swelling of the brain;
5. Diseases of the respiratory apparatus, respiratory failure;
6. Inflammation;
7. kidney failure;
8. Deterioration of cerebral circulation;
9. Asthenic syndrome.

Video: what is anesthesia (shock)

Anesthesia is a condition that is compared with loss of consciousness. With the help of his person, they relieve the sensation of physical pain during any surgical intervention.

Harm of general anesthesia for the body

The debate about how common it is has not subsided for a long time. It is definitely difficult to answer this question. After all, to a greater extent, everything depends on the body of a particular patient and the skill of the anesthesiologist.

Specifically, one thing can be said: anesthesia is more harmful than useful.

In general, one can only speak about how anesthesia is after the fact. If during the "sleep" the heart and lungs worked normally, no complications were noticed, it is believed that the anesthesia was successful.

A well-conducted anesthesia is indicated by how quickly and easily the patient came out of artificial sleep.

Even if performed at the highest level, it cannot be said that it is not. After all, after such a procedure, people begin to lose hair strongly, memory and sleep disturbances are possible. All this may not appear immediately, but after some time.

General anesthesia is especially dangerous for children. Scientists have found that it has a bad effect on the development of the nervous system, in some cases it can even cause the death of brain cells. There are children who, after anesthesia, noticeably lag behind their peers in development.

Possible complications of anesthesia

Speaking about the dangers of general anesthesia, it is worth talking about the common complications that can occur after anesthetics. Most often, after anesthesia, such ailments are recorded as: nausea, dizziness, sore throat, itching, fainting, headache, discomfort in the muscles, confusion. Less common complications include trauma to the teeth and tongue, postoperative lung infection.

The most severe, but fortunately rare complications are: damage to the eyes, cerebral cortex, nerves, anaphylaxis, that is, severe allergic reactions.

In general, the harm of anesthesia can be minimized if you trust good professionals who will carefully study the characteristics of the patient's body and, based on this, select the optimal dose of suitable anesthetics.

In conclusion, I would like to sum up - anesthesia is not harmless and can leave a trace in the human body for a long time. But in some cases, you have to choose which is better, the possible effects of anesthesia or severe physical pain during surgery.

Is general anesthesia harmful? Does anesthesia affect a person? Does anesthesia shorten life? These and many other questions are often asked by my patients. All these questions are, of course, very important and interesting, but, alas, there is no unambiguous answer to them. Only one thing is true: anesthesia is more harmful than helpful; anesthesia shortens the patient's life rather than prolongs it.

After the fact, any anesthesiologist can always determine for himself how anesthesia went for the patient: good or bad. Well, this is when everything went as usual and without any excesses: the heart and lungs worked satisfactorily, and no complications of anesthesia developed. The anesthesia went badly - this is when something went wrong - either obvious anesthesia complications developed, or during anesthesia there were serious changes in the work of the heart or lungs, which went unnoticed by the surgeon and the patient, but remained noticed by the anesthesiologist.

If the anesthesia went “well”, then we can conclude with great certainty that such anesthesia will not affect life expectancy in any way, although other harmful effects of anesthesia on the patient’s health, for example, etc., cannot be ruled out. ”, it is not possible to exclude its negative impact on the patient's life expectancy.

It is interesting that the anesthesiologist can judge the success of the anesthesia he performed only from the standpoint of the obvious, and then only in a specific time period, limited by the period of the patient's stay in the clinic. That is, the anesthesiologist can judge the past anesthesia only here and now, the anesthesiologist can accurately and unambiguously only say that the patient remained alive after anesthesia or that no obvious complications of anesthesia developed. Unfortunately, scientific studies are not yet able to give an unambiguous conclusion about whether Is anesthesia harmful or not?. Although some recent work demonstrates the potential, and this makes you think very much about whether anesthesia is so harmless?

My personal opinion boils down to the fact that anesthesia is still not harmless and not safe. At the same time, it should be clearly understood that the potential harm of anesthesia is hundreds and thousands of times less than the danger that the disease is fraught with in case of refusal of its surgical treatment. Another thing is that the probable harm and danger of anesthesia can always be leveled as much as possible - for this you just need to trust an anesthesiologist who knows his business.

Our expert is the Head of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Therapy of the Moscow Research Institute of Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Andrey Lekmanov.

1. You can see "the other world."

Anesthesia has nothing to do with clinical death.

2. You can wake up in the midst of the operation.

This topic is discussed with bated breath by anxious patients. In principle, the anesthesiologist can wake the patient on purpose, but he will never do this. He has a different task. And the patient himself cannot wake up ahead of schedule.

3. You can become mentally retarded from anesthesia.

Special tests show that memory, attention, ability to memorize ... after any general anesthesia are reduced. This effect lasts from two weeks to several months, but only a specialist can catch a decrease, since these violations are minimal.

4. Each anesthesia takes 5 years of life.

Some children have already received 15 or more anesthesias before the year. Now they are adults. Count yourself.

5. The body pays for anesthesia for the rest of its life.

Like any drug therapy, anesthesia works for a certain period of time. There are no long-term effects.

6. With each new operation, an increasing dose of anesthesia will have to be applied.

No. For severe burns, some children are given anesthesia up to 15 times in 2-3 months. And the dose is not increased.

7. With anesthesia, you can fall asleep and not wake up.

In the foreseeable past, and even more so in the present, all patients woke up.

8. You can become a drug addict from anesthesia.

In 40 years of work, I have seen only one case where a child with persistent pain was mindlessly drugged for three months in a row and made him addicted. I have never seen such patients.

9. After anesthesia, a person will be inhibited for a long time.

No. In the US, 70% of surgeries are performed in a one-day hospital (the patient arrives for surgery in the morning and leaves home in the afternoon). The next day, the adult goes to work, the child begins to study. Without any concessions.

10. After anesthesia, you can fall into a short-term rampage.

Can. But this is an individual reaction, which is extremely rare with modern anesthesia. Once upon a time, about 30 years ago, when ether anesthesia was still used, excitement was a normal reaction both to entering and exiting it.

Especially a lot of excitement is caused by the need to use anesthesia, if we are talking not about adult patients, but about a child.

I woke up and I don't remember anything

Formally, patients have every right to take part in the choice of anesthesia. But in reality, if they are not specialists, it is difficult for them to exercise this right. We have to trust the clinic. Although it is useful to understand what doctors offer you.

If we talk about children, today it is considered the norm (in Russia - in theory, in Europe and in the USA - in practice) that any surgical intervention should be performed under general anesthesia. It consists of three components. The first is anesthesia or sleep. In the West they say "hypnotic component". The child does not have to attend their own operation. He must be in a state of deep medical sleep.

The next component is analgesia. That is actually anesthesia.

The third component is amnesia. The child should not remember what immediately preceded the operation and, of course, what happened during it. He should wake up in the ward without any negative memories. Abroad, by the way, patients can sue doctors and win the case without any problems if they received a mental trauma as a result of the operation, despite the fact that it could have been prevented. This is not a whim, since we are talking about obsessive fears, sleep disturbances, attacks of hypertension and chills. There should not be any painful impressions!

Sometimes an additional fourth component of modern anesthesia is required - myoplegia, relaxation of all muscles during "major" operations on the lungs, abdominal organs, intestines ... But since the respiratory muscles also relax, the patient has to do artificial respiration. Contrary to idle fears, artificial respiration during surgery is not a harm, but a blessing, since it allows you to dose anesthesia more accurately and avoid many complications.

And here it is appropriate to talk about the types of modern anesthesia.

Prick or mask?

If you want to relax the muscles, you have to do artificial respiration. And with artificial respiration, it is reasonable to apply anesthesia to the lungs in the form of gas, either through an endotracheal tube or through a mask. Mask anesthesia requires more art and experience from the anesthetist, while endotracheal anesthesia allows for more accurate dosing of the drug and better prediction of the body's response.

An intravenous anesthetic may be given. The American school insists on inhalation, the European, including Russian, on intravenous. But children are still more often given inhalation anesthesia. Just because inserting a needle into a baby's vein is quite troublesome. Often, the child is first put to sleep with a mask, and then a vein is punctured under anesthesia.

To the delight of pediatricians, superficial anesthesia is increasingly being introduced into our practice. A cream is applied to the site of the upcoming injection of a dropper or syringe needle, after 45 minutes this place becomes insensitive. The injection is painless, the little patient does not cry and does not beat in the doctor's hands. Local anesthesia as an independent type for children is rarely used today, only as an auxiliary component during large operations, to enhance pain relief. Although earlier under it even appendicitis was operated on.

Today, regional anesthesia is very common, when an anesthetic is injected into the region of the nerve and provides complete anesthesia of the limb, hand or foot, and the patient's consciousness is turned off by small doses of hypnotic drugs. This type of anesthesia is convenient for injuries.

There are also other types of anesthesia, but some of them are outdated, some are used extremely rarely, so it is not necessary for patients to delve into these subtleties. The choice of anesthetic is the prerogative of the doctor. If only because a modern anesthesiologist uses at least a dozen drugs during an operation. And each drug has several analogues. But you do not need to bring your ampoules to the doctor. The law forbids it.

According to polls, anesthesia scares a person more than the operation itself. Patients experience an overwhelming fear of having to fall asleep during surgery, but they are even more afraid of not recovering after it is completed. And even understanding the need for the introduction of anesthetics, patients still have many questions for the anesthesiologist. In this article, we will talk about the sensations that patients experience under anesthesia, and find out - is anesthesia harmful?

Why anesthesia is needed

The vast majority of surgeries are performed under anesthesia. It is necessary for a person to anesthetize the body, and therefore to prevent pain shock. In addition, the introduction of an anesthetic helps to monitor the patient's heartbeat and pressure changes. Moreover, thanks to anesthesia, a person simply does not remember the details of the operation, which saves his body from stress. And postoperative recovery in this case is much faster.

Anesthesia Options

Broadly speaking, anesthesia can be divided into two types:

1. Local anesthesia
During this procedure, a special solution is introduced into the operated tissues, due to which the passage of nerve impulses is inhibited. At the same time, the patient feels numbness in a certain part of the body and does not feel interference in the tissues at all. Such anesthesia is considered the safest, although it is suitable only for simple operations, for example, in dentistry.

2. General anesthesia
The most dangerous is general anesthesia, because with it, for a certain time, the patient's consciousness is completely turned off and he falls asleep. There is no need to worry about general anesthesia. After its introduction, the patient does not feel anything at all, quickly and easily falling into a deep sleep, and also calmly coming out of it.

Can anesthesia be harmful?

It is unlikely that anesthesia can be called a boon for the body, but it is a conscious need to avoid death and other consequences of pain shock. Moreover, if the patient's vital organs and systems worked normally during the operation, and the patient himself did not see unpleasant hallucinations, it can be concluded that anesthesia did not harm the body. Usually, after waking up, patients experience not the most pleasant sensations. As a rule, this is:

• dizziness and sore throat;
• severe weakness;
• nausea and vomiting;
• muscle, back or lower back pain;
• confusion;
• trembling in the limbs;

A qualified anesthesiologist is responsible for the safety of the patient during the operation. Its primary task is to assess the readiness of a person for an operation. To do this, the specialist must study the patient's card, check the cardiogram, find out if there are any inflammatory processes in the body, a tendency to bleed, and allergies to the injected anesthetic. The consequences of the introduction of anesthesia largely depend on this test. If the doctor has doubts about the safety of anesthesia, he is obliged to postpone the operation, even against the wishes of the surgeon and the patient. Otherwise, serious consequences of anesthesia cannot be ruled out:

• trauma to the teeth, lips and tongue;
• nerve damage;
• eye damage;
• anaphylactic shock;
• damage to the cerebral cortex;
• fatal outcome.

Considering that anesthesia temporarily inhibits the functioning of the nervous system, it is impossible to exclude harmful ones that may appear after the patient is discharged from the clinic. Most often, persons who have undergone surgery complain of hair loss, sleep disturbance, as well as memory impairment, which can be both mild and pronounced.

Having figured out whether anesthesia is harmful, one has only to understand that the likelihood of the above symptoms increases significantly in cases where a child is operated on. Health to you and your children!