“How long does it take for general anesthesia to work?”
I'm 47, and I need to have surgery with general anesthesia soon. How long would it take for the anesthesia to put me to sleep?
1 Answer
Dear patient,
I am an anesthesiologist. Without knowing more demographic information about you, my answer must be fairly generic. When an agent being used to induce general anesthesia is given intravenously, the time to loss of awareness is fairly rapid, on the order of 10-20 seconds or so. This must also be considered in light of the usual approach to general anesthesia of administering an iv sedative before giving the agent to induce unconsciousness. This process is progressive, and when we use devices to monitor the level of brain activity relating to awareness, we can see that it is not a sudden change such as you might see when turning off a light switch. Instead, there is a progressive drop in cerebral activity over a few seconds to a minute or so. The rate of change depends on both the agent used and the dose administered. Agents which are often used to induce general anesthesia may also be used in continuous infusions for varying degrees of depressed consciousness, and may be used for procedural sedation, such as might be used for endoscopy procedures in gastroenterology (scope examinations, etc). I hope this answers you questiion.
I am an anesthesiologist. Without knowing more demographic information about you, my answer must be fairly generic. When an agent being used to induce general anesthesia is given intravenously, the time to loss of awareness is fairly rapid, on the order of 10-20 seconds or so. This must also be considered in light of the usual approach to general anesthesia of administering an iv sedative before giving the agent to induce unconsciousness. This process is progressive, and when we use devices to monitor the level of brain activity relating to awareness, we can see that it is not a sudden change such as you might see when turning off a light switch. Instead, there is a progressive drop in cerebral activity over a few seconds to a minute or so. The rate of change depends on both the agent used and the dose administered. Agents which are often used to induce general anesthesia may also be used in continuous infusions for varying degrees of depressed consciousness, and may be used for procedural sedation, such as might be used for endoscopy procedures in gastroenterology (scope examinations, etc). I hope this answers you questiion.
