General anesthesia - total loss of control

Dr. Andrea Bannert has been with since 2013. The doctor of biology and medicine editor initially carried out research in microbiology and is the team's expert on the tiny things: bacteria, viruses, molecules and genes. She also works as a freelancer for Bayerischer Rundfunk and various science magazines and writes fantasy novels and children's stories.

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General anesthesia not only cuts out pain, it also cuts out awareness. editor Andrea Bannert experienced for herself how such a film tear feels like without alcohol.

“How long does it take for the anesthetic to work?” I ask, watching with discomfort as my anesthetist slowly injects the anesthetic into my vein. As a medical editor at, I am of course very well informed about general anesthesia. In theory at least. But now I'm lying on the table in my surgical gown and realize that things are different live. To be honest, I'm pretty nervous. As a control freak, I don't drink alcohol, I prefer to plan my day until the last minute and hate it if someone suddenly lifts me up. And now I have to put myself completely in the care of the doctors and no longer notice what happens during the operation. An uncomfortable feeling.

"You will notice for yourself how long it takes," says someone from the off in the operating room. Without glasses and in the beginning twilight, I cannot assign who. Thanks for the precise information, I think. And count - no sheep, just seconds. One two … Everything is turning. It feels like driving a carousel, only without a carousel. I imagine a breathing tube being pushed through my mouth into the windpipe. This is necessary because I can no longer breathe alone in the deep sleep that the medication will put me into. Three … And all because of a carelessness in Taekwondo training! Diagnosis: meniscus tear. Four …

The missed preliminary talk

Maybe I should have picked up my travel bag and ran away when I had a brief chance this morning. The nurse, who looked slightly overwhelmed, in bright pink sneakers and a nurse's uniform wanted to send me home again. Because actually I should have stopped by for a preliminary talk at least 24 hours before the anesthetist put me into deep sleep - this is what the legislator prescribes. But that's not what it said on the leaflet my orthopedist gave me. After some back and forth with the cool hospital anesthetist, I was allowed to sign that I would forego the explanation due to good previous knowledge. And that I already know that I can feel sick, that cardiovascular or pulmonary complications can occur, not to mention nerve damage, infections, allergic reactions ... the list is long. Then nothing can go wrong.

With an empty stomach

Nevertheless, I prepared myself conscientiously. The breakfast table and stomach remain empty today. You are not allowed to eat anything at least six hours before the anesthetic. Still water is allowed up to a maximum of three hours before twilight sleep. The reason: If things go stupid, you vomit during the deep sleep state and that can have nasty consequences. If you inhale the contents of the stomach, it gets into the lungs - this is life-threatening.

Unconscious on the table

The carousel circles faster. FiveI count. I can't get any further. I didn't notice the slightest bit about the following hour and with it my meniscus operation. General anesthesia works.

I receive balanced anesthesia, which means that I also breathe in anesthetic gases through a mask during the operation. The drug cocktail knocks out the pain and my consciousness completely. An important active ingredient here is propofol, the most widely used anesthetic agent worldwide. We do not yet know exactly how the drug actually develops its sleepy effect. In some way it can switch off nerve cells for a short time. Certain regions of the brain are temporarily paralyzed. Propofol also prevents the spinal cord from transmitting signals.

In addition to sleeping pills and painkillers, the anesthetic mix also contains so-called muscle relaxants that relax the muscles. This is how my orthopedic surgeon, Dr. In a different way, operate my knee in peace and quiet without twitching.

Total body surveillance

My body functions are continuously checked during the operation. The doctors use an EKG to measure my heart activity, and the oxygen content is determined using a probe on my finger. The nurse also put a cuff on my upper arm, which is now used to measure my blood pressure at regular intervals.

Monitoring makes wakefulness extremely rare during general anesthesia. Luckily. Because normally you cannot communicate in such a situation because the body functions are severely restricted. What a creepy idea ...

Basically, too, little goes wrong during general anesthesia. In largely healthy people, only one in 140,000 anesthesia causes a serious incident such as death or permanent damage, according to an analysis by the German Society for Anesthesiology. A total of ten million anesthetics take place on Germany's operating tables every year. Incidentally, the birth of modern anesthesia is October 16, 1846. It was then that the American dentist William Thomas Green Morton anesthetized a patient with ether fumes for the first time.

Timeless in the recovery room

The first thing I notice as I slowly come to: that I am freezing. My muscles are twitching and I can't stop that even by taking a deep breath and trying to relax. A nurse speaks reassuringly to me and puts a second blanket on top of it. How much time has passed since? No idea. I want to ask, but there is only a faint croak from my throat because I am completely hoarse from the ventilation. When the nurse drives me to my room later, I find out that I spent a full two hours in the recovery room.

Like a dead fish

"Good Morning. This is your meniscus, ”says Doctor Anders when he tears me out of my dreams the next morning at seven o'clock (!). I put on my glasses, blink and see a slimy rag floating in a jar the size of a film can. That thing spontaneously reminds me of the dead fish in my father's aquarium. They always look so semi-transparent and frayed. The doctor continues to hold his prey under my nose so that I cannot avoid reaching for it. I quickly let the hideous thing disappear into the depths of my travel bag.

I leave the hospital 24 hours after the operation - now I am officially fit to drive again. Conclusion: I miss two to three hours in the memory of my life - a complete film tear. But I can finally perform again after less than a week and ban the crutches that accompanied me for four weeks to the farthest corner of my storage room. I lock the meniscus piece in a drawer that I almost never open. I don't want to throw it away either.

Actually, the thing with the general anesthetic wasn't that bad, I realize with relief. And actually a little bit exciting.

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