The term anesthesia is also used to describe medication to prevent feelings of pain during a surgery or other procedure. A person who is having a painful procedure may need anesthesia. The procedure may range from getting stitches for a cut to open heart surgery . There are many different types of anesthesia and ways to give the medications. There are other, less common, forms of anesthesia that can be used in certain situations.
General anesthesia is a type of anesthesia which puts the person to sleep.
The person is made unconscious with medications that are breathed into the lungs or injected into the veins. In general anesthesia, a person is also temporarily paralyzed with medications. A person has no memory of the surgery when he or she wakes up. General anesthesia is used for most major operations. Epidural anesthesia and spinal anesthesia both involve injecting medications into the spinal column.