Contents:
- Medical Video: How anesthesia affects your brain
- How long does the effect of the drug last after surgery?
- 1. Local anesthesia
- 2. Regional anesthesia
- 3. General anesthesia
Medical Video: How anesthesia affects your brain
Anesthetic will be given when someone undergoes surgery. There are many types of drugs and this has different side effects for each patient. The most common effects of anesthesia are nausea and vomiting and weakness. Maybe you are curious, how long will the effect of the anesthetic that you will experience after the surgery is successful. See the following explanation.
How long does the effect of the drug last after surgery?
Anesthetic is a drug that is used to calm patients, reduce pain, and reduce patient awareness during medical treatment. There are several types of anesthetic (anesthesia) that are usually used, and each anesthetic has side effects and different duration of influence. This is usually adjusted to the patient's condition, the type of medical action performed, and the disease that the patient is experiencing.
During surgery, the effects of anesthesia will be calculated so that you are less likely to get up in the middle of the operation, although this is still possible. Anesthetic is usually given by injection or by gas containing drugs.
Meanwhile, the influence of anesthesia after surgery usually depends on the type of anesthesia performed. There are several types of anesthesia that are usually done. More information can be seen below.
1. Local anesthesia
Local anesthesia, ie anesthesia, is performed only around the area of the body that will be given action. So, local anesthesia will only make one of the body parts numb. Medical procedures that use local anesthesia, usually a medical procedure that is mild and has a short duration.
Therefore, after the medical action has been completed, not long after the nervous system in the previously anesthetized body part will return to normal. Because it is quite light, you will not experience the effects of the anesthetic long after the medical procedure is complete.
2. Regional anesthesia
This regional anesthesia is divided into two, namely spinal anesthesia and epidural anesthesia. Both of these methods cause some areas of the body to experience numbness (numbness), so you can just wake up during the operation. Or, you can also be given sleeping pills during medical treatment. When this anesthesia is given, then half of your body will numb and begin to not feel any sensation.
The effect of this type of anesthesia is usually longer than local anesthetics. For spinal anesthesia, the effect can reach 2 to 6 hours. Meanwhile, the effects of epidural anesthesia can be for 2 to 3 days after surgery.
If you are given a spinal anesthesia or epidural, then before returning to the inpatient room, you will enter the recovery room first after the surgery takes place. This is to monitor your health condition after surgery and wait for the effects of the anesthetic to disappear.
3. General anesthesia
General anesthesia will usually be done if the operation performed is a fairly large operation and requires a long time. However, this also depends on the part of the body that will be operated on and the disease that the patient is suffering from.
General anesthesia is given in two ways, namely by entering the drug through a vein or using a mask filled with anesthetic gas. If you are planned to be given general anesthesia, then during the surgery you will not regain consciousness and your whole body will feel numb, not just a part.
For the effect of this general anesthetic, it will usually last longer. Therefore, all patients given general anesthesia during the operation will enter the recovery room for some time. Even the effect of this drug will occur in one or two days ahead, depending on the dose given.
To find out which type of anesthesia is good to do, you should discuss this with your doctor ahead of your surgery schedule.
