Abortion practical guide for doctors.p 17 anaesthesia. The aim of anesthesia is to prevent pain during a medical procedure. One woman does not move a muscle during the procedure and walks away without discomfort . But later she may complain bitterly about the pain she suffered. Another woman keeps yelling during the procedure but she says later that she felt almost nothing.
Most patients are somewhere in between, expressing more or less pain.
There is no direct relationship between the ease of the procedure and the reported pain. A difficult procedure requiring much force in dilation may be painless while a very smooth procedure may cause much pain. In the latter case the doctor may get irritated and rebuke the patient for exaggerating, which only makes the matter worse. The most important way to prevent pain is a careful counseling before the procedure and careful attention during the procedure. In most cases the procedure may be done under local anesthesia only, especially if the pregnancy is about 8 to 12 weeks.