We are prepared to help you and your family better understand what modern anesthesia is and to help patients better choose a particular type of anesthesia before undergoing anesthesia treatment. When you talk with your anesthesiologist, ask him any questions you may have about your concerns, such as the choice of anesthesia and how to relieve pain after surgery.
I. The site of anesthesia action
There is a whole set of nerve system in the human body that transmits information. It is composed of millions of nerve cells, so that the brain, spinal cord and nerve endings are interconnected into a network system that transmits information including internal organs, skin, bones, muscles and so on. This system constantly transmits information from inside and outside to the brain. These signals are first transmitted from the nerve endings to the spinal cord and then up to different areas of the brain, where they are processed by the brain to form emotions, sensations, thinking and movement.
Second, how to choose anesthesia methods: modern anesthesia is mainly divided into local anesthesia, regional block and general anesthesia, which block the transmission of pain in different parts of each of them have many forms and uses. The nervous system is like a telephone system, the brain is the switchboard, the nerves are the telephone lines, the painful parts of the body are the telephone sets, general anesthesia mainly acts on the brain, regional block acts on the telephone lines, and local anesthesia acts on the telephone sets.
1, your foot to do a very small range of surgery, the doctor decided to do local anesthesia so that the nerves at the site of surgery blocked, can not be transmitted to the nervous system, usually applied to very small surgery.
2, If the patient needs abdominal or extremity surgery, such as a thigh fracture requires a regional nerve block, commonly used intravertebral anesthesia, which is used to eliminate pain by temporarily blocking a large number of nerve plexuses so that nociceptive signals cannot be transmitted up to the spinal cord and brain to achieve a wide range of pain. It is like the telephone line is temporarily blocked, the telephone in this area can not reach the switchboard.
3, if it is a special site or major surgery, the anesthesiologist will think that general anesthesia is the best. General anesthesia will temporarily make you lose consciousness, do not notice the pain signals transmitted by the nervous system, can not form consciousness, pain, emotions, as if the switchboard operator temporarily rest, all calls can be called but temporarily can not be connected. When general anesthesia is performed for complex surgery, anesthesiologists will choose multiple drugs in order to achieve different purposes. They use inhalation anesthetics, intravenous anesthetics to make loss of consciousness; muscle relaxation drugs to make muscle relaxation; analgesics to eliminate pain; other drugs (non-narcotic drugs) to maintain basic vital functions, anesthesiologists should coordinate the application of a variety of drugs, according to individual differences in the rational use of drugs.
3. Can I choose the anesthesiologist? Can the patient request what kind of anesthesia to use?
The answer is yes. Many people are referred by others or other doctors, but of course you can choose your own anesthesiologist. However, you must contact your desired anesthesiologist in advance in order to make arrangements. If the patient does not make prior contact, the anesthesiology department will arrange for a particular doctor to give you anesthesia.
The choice of anesthesia for surgery depends on the surgical approach, the surgical site, the patient’s condition, and the anesthesiologist’s own technical expertise, and different anesthesia can be used for the same surgery; the same anesthesia can also be used for different surgeries.
Some surgeries can use multiple anesthesia methods. After understanding the situation, the anesthesiologist will tell you what kind of anesthesia method to take, how to perform the anesthesia, and how it affects you. If you have your own opinion about a certain kind of anesthesia, you can discuss it with the doctor, although the doctor’s opinion is professional, he will still consider the patient’s opinion in order to make the plan that makes you most satisfied.
Fourth, why does the anesthesiologist ask many questions?
In addition to relieving you of pain and comfort during surgery, the anesthesiologist is overwhelmingly responsible for the maintenance of important life functions, so it is very important to understand the patient’s medical condition, which includes past disease history, recent medications, allergy history, and past anesthesia history. Because surgery and anesthesia will largely affect the human body, the anesthesiologist must be very familiar with your health condition in order to provide the best anesthetic treatment during surgery.
V. Can I continue treatment before surgery if I have a chronic disease? Why can’t a patient eat or drink before anesthesia?
There are some patients who undergo surgery with chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma, bronchitis, and heart disease. When the anesthesiologist visits the patient before surgery, you should inform the doctor of your past medical history so that the anesthesiologist can be prepared for some diseases that also need to be treated before and during the anesthesia process to avoid affecting life safety.
Fasting is very important in most anesthesia patients to make the chances of vomiting and accidental aspiration much lower. Because some anesthetic drugs weaken the body’s normal protective reflexes, these reflexes disappear after anesthesia, and stomach acid is very irritating to the lungs, often triggering aspiration pneumonia leading to life-threatening respiratory failure. Therefore, for your safety, you should follow the doctor’s instructions and fast before surgery.
VI. What are the risks of anesthesia?
All surgeries and anesthesia have certain risks, determined by a variety of factors such as the way the surgery is performed and the patient’s physical condition. Fortunately there are fewer real negative effects and the surgeon will take steps to prevent and avoid the risks. To ensure safe and effective anesthesia appropriate quality control standards for anesthesia have been established, including the examination and preparation to be done before anesthesia, basic anesthesia monitoring, and monitoring treatment during recovery from anesthesia. Some people think that anesthesia has an effect on the body and are afraid of anesthesia, which is very one-sided. Without anesthesia tens of millions of patients around the world would not be able to have their pain surgically relieved each year, and without anesthesia an average gastrectomy could die on the operating table. It is because the anesthesiologist monitors the patient’s vital signs and maintains the stability of vital functions at all times after relieving the patient’s pain, that the patient recovers safely and comfortably.
Although cars have disadvantages such as pollution, noise and serious car accidents, no woman in labor would walk from a long distance to the hospital and refuse to take a car. The reasoning is the same; the positive effects of anesthesia on the treatment of pain and the assurance of the patient’s vital functions far outweigh the possible adverse effects of anesthesia itself. Anesthesia is not perfect, but it is far less likely to be life-threatening than a car accident.
7.What do I need to do before anesthesia?
1.Training to urinate and defecate in bed and deep breathing. Effective deep breathing and appropriate coughing can reduce the occurrence of postoperative complications, so preventive exercises should be done first.
If you are nervous, ask the ward for sedation before going to bed.
3.Change the hospital gown in the morning before surgery. It is better to wear the top backwards to cover the body during anesthesia, especially for women.
4. Remove necklaces, rings, dentures and all other objects outside the body to avoid damage or loss.
5. Do not apply any color or nail polish on fingernails to avoid affecting the monitoring of oxygen saturation.
6. Men shave to avoid affecting the paste catheter.
7. Some people have frequent urination due to nervousness, go to the toilet once before getting into the car.
8. Then wait in bed for the operating room workers to pick you up in the operating room.
8. How to effectively stop the pain after surgery?
Post-operative pain stimulation can cause adverse effects on all systems in the body and slow down the body’s recovery, and post-operative pain relief can improve such situations. At present, the more advanced ones are epidural injection and patient-controlled pain relief method.
The epidural pain relief method is to install an indwelling catheter in the epidural cavity and give morphine analgesic after surgery, which acts near the central nerve and requires a small dose.
2.Patient-controlled pain relief, also known as “bedside button” method, is administered intravenously, and all pain medication is given through a programmed machine, and the pain is relieved by pushing the button when the pain is felt, and the machine can control the total amount and time of drug entry under the physician’s setting, and leave a record of drug administration.
3. Children need good pain relief after surgery. Since children are mostly undergoing small abdominal surgery, postoperative pain relief for children is mostly provided by sacral nerve block anesthesia, which injects long-acting anesthetics into the epidural cavity for 2-6 hours. Local anesthesia can also be used for pain relief in very small incisions, which is a very safe way to relieve pain.
9. What are the common problems after anesthesia?
1. Is general anesthesia more dangerous than semi-anesthesia? No. General anesthesia uses a large amount of drugs, which will suppress cardiopulmonary function and affect the normal physiology to a large extent, so we must be well prepared and monitored.
2.Will anesthesia in the spine cause sequelae of back pain in the future? The hemianesthesia needle is inserted into the spinal space, that is, between the two lumbar vertebrae, mainly some soft tissues, such as muscles, ligaments, fat, etc. There may be a slight local swelling and pain similar to that of intramuscular injection. Because the needle is very small, it can recover in 1 or 2 days and will not cause after-effects of back pain.