Are you afraid of "anesthesia"? Will general anesthesia make people stupid?

Hello everyone, many people don’t know much about anesthesia, and some even think that anesthesia will cause great damage to the body and memory! But what is the truth? Today, let me lead you to unveil the mystery of anesthesia and find out whether general anesthesia during surgery will make people stupid.

When we anesthesiologists visit patients the day before, many people are always worried, and the most common question is: Will anesthesia make my brain stupid? Although this question has been explained thousands of times, there are always rumors about anesthesia affecting memory! Today we are here to clear up this rumor!

First of all, let us understand what is the purpose of anesthesia? The purpose of anesthesia is to reduce the risks brought by surgery, so that patients can tolerate the surgery to the greatest extent, and ensure the safety of patients during surgery. It will not affect the patient's memory!

So what is general anesthesia? General anesthesia refers to the anesthetic drugs being inhaled into the body through the neck respiratory tract, intravenous or intramuscular injection, which inhibits the normal function of the brain nerves, ensuring that the patient does not feel pain or itching during the operation, and the operation is completed after a good sleep. This is what the anesthesiologist often tells the patient, relax and get some sleep.

The following question is what everyone is most concerned about. Will anesthetics damage brain nerves? The answer is: No! People's concerns are due to the efficacy of anesthetics, because during anesthesia, people's consciousness will disappear briefly, but the inhibition of the central nervous system during anesthesia is reversible and short-lived! Anesthetics will be decomposed and metabolized within a certain period of time, and the anesthesia will be eliminated. The various functions of the nervous system will also return to normal, and will not have a lasting effect on the brain. However, when some patients wake up from general anesthesia, they find that their thinking is a little confused, their heads stop working, and their speech is slurred. So fear surges in their hearts: Did anesthesia make me stupid? In fact, this is just the residual effect of anesthetics. Dizziness, nausea, drowsiness, etc. usually occur, but these will recover in a relatively short time.

After understanding these, do you still feel scared when talking about "anesthesia"? Finally, you must trust the surgeon and the anesthesiologist, and don't be too afraid of surgery!

Source: Chongqing Banan District Second People's Hospital

Author: Dai Renjie, Department of Anesthesiology

Review expert: Zhang Ling (Chongqing Banan District Second People's Hospital)

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