6 ms·
Texting reduces need for pain medication during surgery
- dtawfik1 11y agoThis reminds me of the studies that show playing tetris lowers anxiety.
- Oatseller 11y agoI imagine it's a common theme of distraction lessens the perception of pain (including emotional pain), and most electronic devices - games, phones, etc - are incredibly distracting.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- sirtastic 11y agoI've noticed this about myself. Mental distraction helps with pain. Really useful when doing long distance backpacking and trying to push out the last few miles. I would whip out my phone and type into my journal.
- SCAQTony 11y agoBravo, That is exactly what it is. Several studies prove it as well. Here is one from Live Science: http://www.livescience.com/18361-distraction-reduces-pain.html http://www.livescience.com/18361-distraction-reduces-pain.ht...
- atom-morgan 11y agoI noticed this when I switched from a stationary bike at home (where I used to use my phone while riding) to a stationary bike at the gym where I just listen to podcasts. Actively using my phone was a much bigger distraction and made the rides seem a lot shorter.
- eru 11y agoHave you tried using a non-stationary bike?
- mgkimsal 11y agoSomewhat OT, but I don't do pain well. Have asked to be knocked out 100% for oral surgeries. A few years back, I had no one to drive me, and the dentist wouldn't knock me out. I had some local anesthetic, and used my iphone most of the operation. "Oh this will be 20 minutes"... turned in to 90 minutes. I videoed several minutes of my operation (is "surgical selfies" a thing?) mostly to keep me distracted from the pain (yes, I still felt pain). Years later, the dentist still remembers me, even though I'm rarely there ("pink iphone, video the root canal!"). Strangely most people don't want to watch my root canal surgery. It's on picasa - perhaps I should put them on youtube...
- nefitty 11y agoI happen to be an adult. Just give me a lollipop and I'll be fine.
- m0rganic 11y agoWhat percentage of surgeries allow a patient to be awake during the procedure?
- ars 11y agoIf they can do a C-Section with the patient awake they can probably do almost anything that's below midlevel on the spine, or on the arms. That's probably almost everything except heart or neck surgery. (Even brain surgery is usually done with the patient awake.)
- JshWright 11y agoThere are quite a few, and it's always the best option when possible. Most of the complications you hear about from "routine surgery" relate to the management of the patient's airway while they are sedated. An awake patient can maintain their airway. If you're interested in how these sorts of things can wrong, here's a well done reenactment of such a case: http://emcrit.org/misc/the-new-elaine-bromiley-videos/ http://emcrit.org/misc/the-new-elaine-bromiley-videos/
- HeyLaughingBoy 11y agoAre you counting the ones where the patient, e.g., my wife, wakes up in the middle of surgery and tries to get off the table?
- JshWright 11y agoWhile that is certainly not a good thing, it is not as dangerous as a situation where the patient is unable to breathe and the anesthetist is not able to breathe for them.
- 55555 11y agoI have to seriously question the accuracy of this study. I'm an obstetrician (cesarean surgeon) and I have never noticed texting to have a positive effect on my patients. From my observations, it seems to cause them a lot of stress (and thus increases the pain) and it almost certainly increases the duration of the procedure (because I'm busy texting and am just sort of jimmying the scalpel around with my other hand).
- JshWright 11y agoI had typed out a long reply explaining potential differences between your experience and the results of the study... then I reread your final parenthetical statement...
- suneilp 11y agoDistraction really works. Meditation works really well. I used it recently when I was having a lot of pain. Also, this works really well but I'll understand if you're skeptical http://breakingmuscle.com/health-medicine/the-most-famous-accupressure-point-what-does-it-really-do http://breakingmuscle.com/health-medicine/the-most-famous-ac...