How Long Does It Take To Get Over A General Anesthesia?

Posted on Sat, 18 Oct 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 18 Oct 2014 Answered on

Tue, 11 Nov 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : What is general anesthesia do you breathe on your own or not how long does it take for your body to come out of anesthesia.
How long does it take your body to come out of the anesthesia

Answered by Dr. Anshul Varshney (29 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Detail Follows.

Detailed Answer:
Dear Friend.
Welcome To HCM. I am Dr Anshul Varshney.
I understand your concern.
General Anesthesia is simply cutting down the supply between your brain and your body temporarily so that you don't have to bear the pain during the surgery.
Answers of All the questions you have asked depends on the agent used for anesthesia.
However I'll answer you in general and commonly what happens.
You are paralyzed temporarily so you can't breathe of your own. You take breathe through ventilatory support or on Ambu mask.
Usually once stopped a person regains consciousness with in 4-6 hours but feels perfectly conscious usually after 24 hours.
If you have any further query please ask me.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Anshul Varshney (10 minutes later)

Why does dentistry surgery uses this anesthesia why they don't use another kind of anesthesia

Answered by Dr. Anshul Varshney (4 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Detail Follows.

Detailed Answer:
Dear Friend.
Dentist mostly work under local anesthesia.
If the surgery is very extensive then they use general anesthesia.
This is required because for anesthetizing your dental cavity for major surgery they would require to sedate you completely.
Don't worry.
Discuss with your anesthetic and dentist all possible way outs to prevent the general anesthesia.
Stay Healthy.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Anshul Varshney (4 minutes later)

I still don't understand why my dentist Wednesday you send any anesthesia or tall I'm having is wisdom teeth removed
.

Answered by Dr. Anshul Varshney (1 minute later)

Brief Answer:
Detail Follows.

Detailed Answer:
Dear Friend.
I am not a dentist but still Ifeel to remove wisdom tooth you don't require General Anesthesia. I think there is some miscommunication.
Recheck with your dentist.
Stay Healthy.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Anshul Varshney (1 minute later)

Why my oral surgeon is not using a local anesthetic it is when I don't understand only on getting his wisdom teeth .

Answered by Dr. Anshul Varshney (5 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Detail Follows.

Detailed Answer:
Dear Friend.
I suppose he wants you to operate in sedation with light anesthesia. I don't think that should be that cumbersome as we just discussed.
You can discuss with him again. Or take a second opinion from a dentist.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Anshul Varshney (7 minutes later)

A general anesthesia will not let you breathe so how do you breathe when he's in your mouth pulling your wisdom teeth out

Answered by Dr. Anshul Varshney (4 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Detail Follows.

Detailed Answer:
Dear Friend.
What I mentioned you was about proper general anesthesia.
Probably you won't require that.
You will be given light anesthesia in which you can breathe of your own.
Also if paralyzing agent is used, even then dental procedure can be done as the tube that is inserted for respiratory functions is inserted and fixed on one side of mouth.
You are worried unnecessarily. Just discuss once again with your doctor.
He might do the procedure in local anesthesia or high block.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar