Each of us knows, and many felt on ourselves, that in medical practice there are many extremely unpleasant examinations, analyzes and procedures.
And if you were lucky and there were no endoscopic examinations, then everyone had to treat their teeth . Today, many hospitals offer this method of pain relief during many painful medical procedures and procedures, such as sedation. What is it, in which cases it is used, this article will tell.
Description
Sedation is a method of anesthesia that has been practiced for a long time and successfully practiced in European countries and the United States, when, with the help of medications, the patient is brought into a peaceful, similar state in which he comfortably endures unpleasant and painful medical procedures. Unfortunately, in Russia a similar procedure began to be applied quite recently.
Difference from anesthesia
Before understanding this, let's clarify sedation - what it is and what it happens. Specialists of ASA - American Society of Anesthesiologists identified the following stages of anesthesia and sedation:
- Anxiolysis. Minimal anesthesia, the patient has no drowsiness, he is calm and adequately responds to the manipulations carried out with him. There is no fear, excitement or anxiety or they are weakly expressed.
- Superficial. A person is put into a dream, but speech and consciousness are preserved, and he can interact with a doctor, it is possible to save fragmentary memories of an operation or procedure.
- Deep or over-sedation. The patient is sleeping, but the reaction to what is happening, movements and opening of the eyes is preserved.
- General anesthesia.
Consider the main differences between sedation and anesthesia:
- Spontaneous breathing of the patient is maintained.
- There is no blockage of such protective reflexes of the upper respiratory tract, such as cough, swallowing and others.
- The patient is conscious and able to understand and follow the doctor’s commands.
- A person is easily derived from a state of superficial sleep.
It must be remembered that complete anesthesia can provide general anesthesia, sedation does not. Anesthesia during this procedure is carried out either by a surgeon or an anesthetist.
Security
How safe is this procedure? This is one of the first questions asked by those who agree to undergo any tests or treatment under sedation. Most experts say that it is tolerated much easier than general anesthesia. The patient's sleep is superficial and rather easily interrupted. During medical procedures, the patient is conscious and able to interact with the doctor. Medicines used to immerse a person in a state of sedation are devoid of any narcotic effect and do not cause addiction and unpleasant subsequent conditions and sensations. In addition, all clinics working with this method must have special drugs that can remove the effect of sleeping pills.
Varieties
Understanding the issue of sedation - what is it, it is necessary to talk about its types.
We have already described the classification of this condition in depth, but it is still subdivided depending on the route of administration of drugs into the following types:
- inhalation;
- intravenous;
- oral.
As a rule, dental treatment under sedation is carried out using a special anesthetic gas - nitrous oxide, which the patient inhales constantly through a special facial mask. Inhalation of drugs causes minimal sedation with a conscious mind and the ability to interact with medical personnel.
In order to bring the patient into a state of superficial sedation, a variety of oral preparations are used in the form of capsules, tablets or cocktails. The patient retains consciousness and can also carry out the simplest teams of specialists.
Intravenous sedation is most popular among doctors. It is quite widely used both in Russia and in European countries.
This is due to the fact that it is more effective and allows you to clearly dose the number of injected anesthetics, and also eliminates the entry of ambulatory rooms and surgical suspensions of the injected drug into the air.
Advantages and disadvantages of the method
In general terms, we were able to answer the question: "Sedation - what is it?" We also found out what it happens. Like any other medical effect, it has both positive and negative sides. The advantages of sedation include:
- The ability to go through rather unpleasant procedures without pain.
- Preservation of consciousness with the ability to adequately respond to the doctor’s instructions.
- The absence of memories of the course of the procedure in most patients.
- Spontaneous human breathing.
- Preservation of all reflexes of the upper respiratory tract.
The negative sides of sedation include:
- The possibility of individual intolerance to the drugs used.
- It requires special training and a certain self-discipline from the patient.
- The need for full and accurate compliance with all medical recommendations.
Sedation: reviews
Before agreeing to carry out a particular procedure, it is important to find out the impressions about it of those who have already passed it. Dentistry with sedation was tried by many of those who are panicky afraid of visits to the dentist. Most of them speak with enthusiasm about sedation, since for the first time in their life they did not have fear and the accompanying surge of adrenaline. Someone had some fragments of treatment in their memory, and some do not remember anything at all.
The main drawback of sedation was that all patients who passed through it said a rather high price, but they made a reservation that they would agree to the next visit to a specialist only when it was carried out.
Instead of a conclusion
If you decide to carry out a medical procedure that is painful and unpleasant for you with sedation, when choosing a clinic where it will be performed, pay attention to whether the medical institution has a license to use such medicines. This is important, since the drugs used for sedation belong to the group of narcotic and potent substances, the turnover of which is tightly controlled by state structures. In addition, the clinic is required to have a license for anesthesiology. Only if you have the two documents listed above, you should agree to the procedure with sedation.