It’s weird, when I have a pulse oximeter on my finger and a blood pressure cuff on and it’s rather inflated I get electrical feeling shocks up my arm. The both have to be on the same arm. No idea what it is, probably a pinched nerve.
I see that you were an anesthesiologist, now I can finally asked this question that I’ve always wanted too! When under general anesthesia why do they put you on opioids? I read that if not people would still react to the pain? Like would the scream and cry just not know they were doing that?
Opioids are a component of so-called "balanced" general anesthesia (GA).
Over my 38 years in practice (1977-2015) and some 25,000-30,000 cases, probably 95% were GA and the remainder regional/I.V. sedation.
Of the GA's, I estimate I used IV opioids in 95%. My drug of choice was fentanyl: fast and relatively short acting, easily titrated to response.
Along with fentanyl, I routinely used diazepam or Versed (I started in 1977 and Versed didn't become available until 1985), and skeletal muscle relaxants for endotracheal intubation and skeletal immobility.
Induction of GA was with sodium thiopental (1977-1989), thereafter Propofol.
Having said that, know that by the time I retired, I was in a small minority of anesthesiologists (most older like myself) who trained when balanced anesthesia was standard.
Today an overwhelming majority of anesthesiologists use only inhalation agents for GA and do not give opioids intraop. Inhalation GA often does not require skeletal muscle relaxants (depending on the surgical site), and if a patient is "light," they will react by moving and show increases in heart rate and blood pressure.
Diff'rent strokes.
FWIW, I am one of very few anesthesiologists with extended time in practice who have never been sued.
>Like would they scream and cry, just not know they were doing that?
Awareness under anesthesia is a whole different subject of considerable importance.
