How to control your fear of general anesthesia?

Is it Normal to fear of general anesthesia?

That’s normal, Fear of general anesthesia was in some trials up to 89 % of patients in the pre-anesthesia stage. And that fear was mainly toward general anesthesia 62 %, rather than the surgery itself 15 %.

So The first step to control your fear of general anesthesia is knowing that it's normal and humanistic.
The second step is knowing what is exactly general anesthesia.
The third step in controlling your fear from general anesthesia is refuting this fear and assessing if it makes sense or not.

What is General anesthesia?

General anesthesia is putting your body in a state of sedation, analgesia( pain relief), amnesia, and complete muscle relaxation.

What are the stages of general anesthesia?

General anesthesia has three main stages: Induction, maintenance, and recovery.

Why do you fear general anesthesia?

Fear of sudden death while being asleep.
Fear of allergy to the anesthetic drug.
Fear of waking up during the operation.
Fear of talking about embarrassing things under general anesthesia.
Fear of pain after finishing the operation.

These are the major reasons you might have for your fear of general anesthesia and in the next section, we will refute these points in a scientific non-emotional way.

Refuting fear of general anesthesia.

Can my heart stop during general anesthesia?

Under normal conditions this probability is extremely low nowadays, In the USA from 1999 to 2009 period there were only 37 reported cases of anesthesia-related cardiac arrest from 217,365 anesthetics (0.02 %), And here is why:

You have to know that you have a dedicated anesthesiologist responsible mainly for your safety. He will ask you many questions and make all the necessary investigations and lab testing before deciding that you are eligible for safe anesthesia. And he will closely monitor you during the anesthesia itself. To know more about the role of anesthesiologist click here.
Cardiac arrest during the operation rarely comes suddenly. Usually, it has warning signs that are monitored and in most cases can be successfully handled.
Even if cardiac arrest happened the operating room is fully equipped with procedures and drugs necessary for effective resuscitation.

Can I have a fatal allergy from anesthesia?

This rarely happens because that there is not a single drug responsible for putting you in a general anesthesia state,
General anesthesia is a multidrug approach that involves about 15 drugs.

The anesthesiologist will investigate all the probabilities of having a drug allergy to certain medications used in general anesthesia.

Sometimes there are some drug reactions but usually, it is mild and controllable.

Can I wake up during general anesthesia?

Under normal conditions, this never happens. But to be scientific while approaching this point, one in every thousand patients may experience (anesthesia awareness) which is usually a painless memory of the very beginning or the very end of the operation.

Can I talk about embarrassing things during general anesthesia?

During the operation itself NO. Some patients speak little in the induction phase. But this phase is extremely rapid so it lasts for seconds.
During the recovery phase in the recovery room some patients may speak something like:" when will we start?" , "I feel pain" or" Where am I"?

But talk embarrassing talking in this stage is very rare and if this happened this will be in front of trained personnel used to deal with this situation in a professional confidential way.

Can I have pain after the operation?

Postoperative pain is a common complaint. let's face it. But I have good news for you.

The duration and the intensity of pain in the last decades decreased dramatically. And here is why?

The ways of doing the surgeries have improved a lot in the last decades plus using laparoscopic surgeries. all of these made the surgical wounds and sutures much less than before.
The pain management techniques improved a lot and now there is a medical specialty involving mainly and only pain management. So you can't imagine now the varieties the anesthesiologist has in controlling your post-operative pain and keeping it in its minimal.

I hope that by reading this article you got the strongest weapon against your fears which is solid information. realistic scientific information without exaggeration or dilution.
Please share this article with your friend who is scheduled for general anesthesia.
Your rating and your comments will help me to improve my future posts.

References

https://asa.org.au/common-fears/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22864564/

https://pubs.asahq.org/anesthesiology/article/120/4/829/11839/Anesthesia-related-Cardiac-Arrest

https://www.asahq.org/madeforthismoment/preparing-for-surgery/risks/waking-up-during-surgery/#:~:text=The%20condition%2C%20called%20anesthesia%20awareness,pain%20when%20experiencing%20anesthesia%20awareness.

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