What are the effects of having not enough anesthetic?

Question

- And on the flip side, what can happen if you recieve too much anesthetic?
- Is it possible to make yourself 'die' during an operation, through holding your breath?
- Why does your body twitch when you are under? (Eye movements, face rolls around) even if you have had a muscle relaxant
- Is it possible to stay awake for major sugery (reconstructions, brain, transplants)
- Why do doctors sometimes have to make you "die" and make your blood pressure drop/freeze temperature ?

Thanks!!!!

Answer 1

Anesthesia involves 3 different factors: forgetting the pain, not feeling pain, and relaxing the body. An anesthesiologist has to balance the needs of the surgery against the weaknesses and other conditions of the patient. The patient may be drunk or on habitual or prescription drugs which will affect how the patient's body responds. The doctor may require responses from the patient. Some parts of the body do not have pain sensors (the brain notably) but local anesthesia is needed to get to them.
If you are aware enough to hold your breath, you don't have enough anesthesia and you will start breathing when you go unconscious. Body reactions during surgery may occur if the muscle relaxant is primarily working in other parts of the body or if autonomic reactions bypass the part where it is working.
Normally it is not possible to stay awake during transplants and reconstruction because too much pain is involved and too much of the body is affected for "locals" to do the job.
The cooling of the body (which does not get anywhere near freezing) is normally done when blood flow has to stop for major heart work. By chilling the body, the damage that would occur to the brain in a few minutes without oxygen at normal body temp, is delayed so the doctor has 20-30 minutes to work without blood flowing.

Answer 2

Yikes! Not enough anesthetic could be really bad!! I guess it depends on what type of anesthetic you're using- but (say, if it's one that totally is intentioned to "put you under" you might not totally be numbed or you may fall into a "half-sleep" (or both!!) resulting in a lot of pain- you possibly could be able to feel everything the doctors were doing!!
-If you recieve too much, you could be under for too long of a time (meaning a few days to long, or you'd "never wake up"- become comatose or die!) eek!
-Your body twitches because you may have nerve impulses that cause this thing- like a reflex. (kind of like how a chicken can kick its feet sometimes even though its head has been chopped off).
-I wonder if it's possible to stay awake for major surgeries. I don't think I'd want to!!. They'd probably put you under all the way, no choice.
-And I've never heard of doctors sometimes having to make you "die" and make your blood pressure drop during operation. Sounds strange, none the less!
Hope I helped to answer your questions!