What was surgery like before anesthesia

To a 21st century patient, the only possible reaction to a 19th century operating room is shock and horror. Relatively few people attempted surgery before anesthesia, and comparatively few survived it, not for loss of blood, but for the sheer shock they had endured. Against this backdrop, the introduction of general anesthesia is nothing short of miraculous. On the 50th anniversary of Dr. A young US dentist named William Morton , spurred on by the business opportunities afforded by technical advances in artificial teeth, doggedly searched for a surefire way to relieve pain and boost dental profits.

His efforts were soon rewarded. He discovered when he or small animals inhaled sulfuric ether now known as ethyl ether or simply ether they passed out and became unresponsive.

A few months after this discovery, on October 16, and with much showmanship, Morton anaesthetised a young male patient in a public demonstration at Massachusetts General Hospital. So began the story of general anaesthesia, which for good reason is now widely regarded as one of the greatest discoveries of all time. Chloroform subsequently became the most commonly used general anaesthetic in British surgical and dental anaesthetic practice, mainly due to the founding father of scientific anaesthesia John Snow , but remained non-essential to the practice of most doctors.

This changed after Snow gave Queen Victoria chloroform during the birth of her eighth child, Prince Leopold. The publicity that followed made anaesthesia more acceptable and demand increased, whether during childbirth or for other reasons.

By the end of the 19th century, anaesthesia was commonplace, arguably becoming the first example in which medical practice was backed by emerging scientific developments. Today, sulfuric ether and chloroform have been replaced by much safer and more effective agents such as sevoflurane and isoflurane. Always follow your doctor's instructions about avoiding food and drink before surgery. Fasting is usually necessary starting about six hours before your surgery.

You may be able to drink clear fluids until a few hours prior. Your doctor may tell you to take some of your regular medications with a small sip of water during your fasting time. Discuss your medications with your doctor. You may need to avoid some medications, such as aspirin and some other over-the-counter blood thinners, for at least a week before your procedure. These medications may cause complications during surgery. Some vitamins and herbal remedies, such as ginseng, garlic, Ginkgo biloba, St.

John's wort, kava and others, may cause complications during surgery. Discuss the types of dietary supplements you take with your doctor before your surgery.

If you have diabetes, talk with your doctor about any changes to your medications during the fasting period. Usually you won't take oral diabetes medication the morning of your surgery. If you take insulin, your doctor may recommend a reduced dose. If you have sleep apnea, discuss your condition with your doctor. The anesthesiologist or anesthetist will need to carefully monitor your breathing during and after your surgery.

Before you undergo general anesthesia, your anesthesiologist will talk with you and may ask questions about:. Your anesthesiologist usually delivers the anesthesia medications through an intravenous line in your arm. Sometimes you may be given a gas that you breathe from a mask.

Children may prefer to go to sleep with a mask. Once you're asleep, the anesthesiologist may insert a tube into your mouth and down your windpipe. The tube ensures that you get enough oxygen and protects your lungs from blood or other fluids, such as stomach fluids.

You'll be given muscle relaxants before doctors insert the tube to relax the muscles in your windpipe. Your doctor may use other options, such as a laryngeal airway mask, to help manage your breathing during surgery. Prestigious doctors and dentists would publish damning op-eds referring to the drug as "satanic influence," and decrying those doctors who supported its use by saying they had been "seduced from the high professional path of duty into the quagmire of quackery by this will-o'-the-wisp.

The true success — and the full acceptance — of anesthesia surgeries happened after so many other factors beyond its control aligned. Once germ theory was proven — and doctors insisted on sterilized environments, tools and hands in surgical settings — post-operative fatality rates plummeted. After the U. Food and Drug Administration was created and new legislation required pharmaceutical standards, doctors could feel more confident in the drugs they were administering.

And once the old generation of doctors who knew no other way than performing on fully conscious patients died out, the principal voices of dissent were removed. Science is often messier than people think — and scientific process can be even more messy. Anesthesia's path to acceptance reminded me of an illustration about the messy path of progress. One panel, "How People Think Success Happens" shows a humble line navigating a clean path upwards from a point marked "Obscurity" to a point marked "Success.

It's important to remember that even if it takes time, progress does happen.