What happens to your consciousness when under anesthesia?

Depending on the anesthetic agent and dose, it may produce different consciousness states including a complete absence of subjective experience (unconsciousness), a conscious experience without perception of the environment (disconnected consciousness, like during dreaming), or episodes of oriented consciousness with …

What happens when you don’t wake up from anesthesia?

Despite the medications commonly used in anesthesia allow recovery in a few minutes, a delay in waking up from anesthesia, called delayed emergence, may occur. This phenomenon is associated with delays in the operating room, and an overall increase in costs.

How does hyperpolarization cause unconsciousness?

The resultant interaction between PLD2 and PIP2 would facilitate the production of phosphatidic acid (PA), which could then activate TREK-1 potassium channels, causing the channels to release potassium. The result would be hyperpolarised neurons that have limited ability to fire and thus a loss of consciousness.

How does hyperpolarization produce unconsciousness?

“Certain neurons have to depolarize and undergo an action potential to maintain consciousness, but some anesthetics can hyperpolarize them and produce unconsciousness. The anesthetic binds to and opens a certain kind of potassium channel, which increases the “leak” current of potassium.

Which stage of general anesthesia can lead to patient death?

Stage 4 – Overdose: This stage occurs when too much anesthetic agent is given relative to the amount of surgical stimulation, which results in worsening of an already severe brain or medullary depression. This stage begins with respiratory cessation and ends with potential death.

What does an anesthesiologist do?

Anesthesiologists are medical doctors who administer anesthesia and manage pain. Some anesthesia numbs a small area of the body. General anesthesia makes you unconscious (asleep) during invasive surgical procedures.

Do patients dream under anesthesia?

Conclusions: Dreaming during anesthesia is unrelated to the depth of anesthesia in almost all cases. Similarities with dreams of sleep suggest that anesthetic dreaming occurs during recovery, when patients are sedated or in a physiologic sleep state.