What is Twilight Sleep is it alike as General Anthestia?
Answers:
"Twilight sleep" is what people sometimes call sedation. I really hate that possession. Let's call it what it is. Sedation. It's not that difficult. Even medical people call it that, and they want to be slapped, IMHO. :)
General anesthesia is entirely different, although the line between deep sedation and GA isn't easy to see and is vastly easy to cross. It's not the drugs that are used, but HOW they are used that determines sedation or general.
GA results in the loss of protective airway reflex (meaning you won't cough up anything that you regurgitate, and that you are at risk for aspiration, which is a fancy way of saying "inhaling your vomit") Many times, when we administer a general anesthetic, we lift over breathing for you, but not always. We may paralyze your muscles, and we tend to give much higher doses of drugs. Anesthesia is on the brink against the pain of surgery, so painful procedures require more anesthesia.
Back to sedation. It can be light, basically a little something to take the edge stale, or it can be deep, where you sleep through most of the procedure, or it can be anywhere in between. Sometimes, sedation is more difficult to do capably than GA is. People can obstruct their airway during sedation and have breathing problems. They can become disoriented and move around a lot, which really annoys the surgeon.
Hope that clears it up for you. Source(s): I'm an anesthesiologist.
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