Thee most important functions of a good anesthetic drug

If I give you two scenarios, one in which I’ll cut open your leg just like that and the other in which before cutting it open I give you a magic potion that can make all the pain and the memory of it go away, what will you choose? You’ll choose the second option! You want to know what that magic potion is called? It is called “Anesthesia”. Anesthetic drugs are generally a combination of drug Propofol & Fentanyl.


You must be wondering how our ancestors used to carry out surgeries without anesthesia. Well! Human beings were quick enough to invent anesthesia after they started carrying out complicated surgeries. Any guesses on when anesthesia was first used in a surgery? It was in the year 1846 and the drug most commonly used was ether.


As the evolution of medical science advanced, so did the technology and drugs. There are three most important functions of a good anesthetic drug:

1. Amnesia: If you’re taken into an operation theatre with all those beeps and monitors ringing in your ears, would you even go there? I won’t. They say being under the influence of anesthesia is similar to being in a state of coma. You don’t hear anything, remember anything and you don’t feel a thing. Seems like before you went to sleep and after you woke up, there was hardly a second that passed.
   
2. Analgesic: You certainly would not want to wriggle in pain while the doctors are displaying their well earned talent on your dismembered body. That’s where the role of anesthesia kicks in.
   
3. Operating conditions: Medical science and the desire to get everything done in a fraction of seconds without much discomfort has given birth to this magic potion called as anesthesia. You are as good as a plastic doll when you are under the effect of anesthesia. Which type of neuro inhibitor you need in your drug depends on which kind of surgery you are undergoing.
   

To put it in simple words, anesthesia disrupts the communication between neural-networks. That means, your brain is practically detached from the rest of your body. You do not feel a thing. As fascinating as it sounds, anesthesia does have some side effects. But, would you mind having a headache in lieu of getting operated with no pain and no memory of it? That sure is not an unfair bargain!