Under general anesthesia we are guided by careful monitoring of your vital signs such as blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate. Increases in the preceding signs would indicate light anesthesia and the dose would be increased. The careful balance of drug dose to level of stimulus allows for more rapid emergence at the end of the procedure. The doses of local anesthetics in spinal or epidural blocks are guided in part by the height of the patient. For many nerve blocks the dose is guided by body weight.
Patients become very drowsy under sedation and unconscious under general anesthesia.
We never hear any sensitive information revealed. The awakening process begins when the gases are discontinued at the conclusion of surgery. The time to full arousal will depend in part on the length of the procedure. Most patients can follow commands within 10 minutes and are fairly awake within an hour. Due to the residual effects of all the drugs, important decisions should not be made in the first 24 hours after general anesthesia.