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Hugginsome106 karma

If you read the story about the guy that didn't eat for a whole year (had vitamins etc to remain healthy) due to being vastly overweight, you'll read that even he pooped during that year. What did he poop, you might ask. Well, your body does a good job recycling expired cells but some of what your body creates is waste material. Your liver packages that up and excretes bilirubin into the bile (that the liver also makes). This ends up in your small intestine --> large intestine --> poop it out.

Hugginsome3 karma

People don't just "wake up" during anesthesia....the media and movies likes to portray things in hyperbole. In a typical general anesthetic where the patient has no awareness, they have anesthesia gas on board. Our machines tell us how much is breathed in and how much is exhaled (slightly less due to metabolism and storing in fatty tissue). When a patient "gets light" you might hear a surgeon use the term "patient is waking up!" But in reality their body is just reacting to surgery stimulation or having an airway in their mouth. They are NOT awake though.

So to answer your question, any change in vitals in a certain direction indicates that the patient is not tolerating the surgery enough and we would treat it accordingly. More anesthesia gas, pain medicine, propofol bolus, change our breathing settings.

Hugginsome2 karma

ICU experience is not anesthesia experience. And you can argue some of the med school for anesthesiologists doesn't cover anesthesia. People throw numbers out there to make it look daunting. In reality, CRNAs get 2-3 years of schooling specific to anesthesia. Anesthesiologists...depends on their rotations in school (as I believe anesthesia is not a required rotation but instead an elective one), but we're looking at 5 years minimum (2 as resident, 3 as fellowship). And obviously these timelines for both practices can vary.