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"The philosopher Daniel Dennett has pondered a revealing scenario: Someone is undergoing surgery without anesthesia but with absolute knowledge that afterward,

by thret 12y ago

"The philosopher Daniel Dennett has pondered a revealing scenario: Someone is undergoing surgery without anesthesia but with absolute knowledge that afterward, she would receive a drug that would erase all memories of the event. Would the pain be less agonizing if she knew that it would be forgotten?" I've only been under anesthesia once, when I had my wisdom teeth out. A few days beforehand I was struck with this same thought - what if they anesthetics simply paralysed you, rendering you unable to respond to pain, while temporarily interfering with your ability to form new memories? What if all the pain was experienced in full, and you were simply unable to remember it afterwards? How could anyone know the difference? This made the few days prior to surgery very uncomfortable.

gwillen 12y ago
General anesthesia really does knock you out, so you were very probably out like a light for the removal of your wisdom teeth. But when people talk about a lighter kind of anesthesia called "twilight sedation" or "conscious sedation", they actually do mean "we'll make you a little woozy, but keep you awake -- and also inhibit memory formation so you'll feel like you slept through it." The lack of disclosure to patients of exactly what this means -- "yes, you'll be awake, but you won't remember" -- gives me bad feelings about medical ethics.
bumbledraven 12y ago
What if they anesthetics simply paralysed you, rendering you unable to respond to pain, while temporarily interfering with your ability to form new memories? The drug Versed is supposed to do this. For example patient complaints see http://versedbusters.blogspot.com/ http://versedbusters.blogspot.com/ and the comments on that page.
- thret 12y ago
  Wow. That sounds very much like a date-rape drug.
schoen 12y ago
I think today people could tell the difference today using fMRI studies (and I hope those studies have been done and are being done). It might not have been as straightforward to tell the difference in the past.

by thret 12y ago

gwillen 12y ago

General anesthesia really does knock you out, so you were very probably out like a light for the removal of your wisdom teeth. But when people talk about a lighter kind of anesthesia called "twilight sedation" or "conscious sedation", they actually do mean "we'll make you a little woozy, but keep you awake -- and also inhibit memory formation so you'll feel like you slept through it." The lack of disclosure to patients of exactly what this means -- "yes, you'll be awake, but you won't remember" -- gives me bad feelings about medical ethics.

bumbledraven 12y ago

What if they anesthetics simply paralysed you, rendering you unable to respond to pain, while temporarily interfering with your ability to form new memories? The drug Versed is supposed to do this. For example patient complaints see http://versedbusters.blogspot.com/ http://versedbusters.blogspot.com/ and the comments on that page.

thret 12y ago
Wow. That sounds very much like a date-rape drug.

schoen 12y ago

I think today people could tell the difference today using fMRI studies (and I hope those studies have been done and are being done). It might not have been as straightforward to tell the difference in the past.