Many medical procedures are performed under anesthesia. Anesthesia is needed in order to reduce discomfort and avoid the development of a shock state. After all, a typical reaction of the body to pain can adversely affect the patient's well-being. In some conditions, artificial sleep is used.
What is the procedure?
This manipulation is also called drug-induced or induced coma. The event is carried out for therapeutic purposes, in the process of treating some serious ailments. Artificial sleep is a rather complicated procedure. Despite the high he alth risk, medical coma gives many patients a chance to return to a normal lifestyle. One of the common indications for the procedure is surgery.
In order to reduce the sensitivity of the individual to pain, he is put into a state of sleep. At the same time, the person is unable to move. The patient's consciousness is depressed. To put an individual into a state of artificial sleep, resuscitation usesthe following drugs:
- Anesthetics.
- Painkillers.
- Tranquilizers.
- Barbiturates.
The last type of drug is the most common. In rare cases, induced coma is provoked by a gradual decrease in body temperature to 33 degrees Celsius.
In what situations is the procedure performed?
Artificial sleep is used under the following circumstances:
- Swelling of brain tissues.
- Severe mechanical damage.
- Prolonged seizure.
- Long period of rehabilitation after serious pathologies, injuries.
- Severe intoxication, major surgery (for example, on the heart muscle), cerebral hemorrhage.
- Asphyxia in newborns resulting from oxygen starvation in the womb.
A person in a state of artificial sleep is immobilized, unconscious, does not respond to external stimuli. Bedsores may appear on the patient's body. Every two hours, medical workers turn him over to the other side.
To carry out such a manipulation, a person is placed in an intensive care unit. The patient is connected to a ventilator in order to provide the body with oxygen.
Symptomatics
What does artificial sleep mean in intensive care? How does this condition manifest itself? After immersing a patient in a medically induced coma, he has the following symptoms:
- Heart rate slows down.
- Volume of vessels decreases.
- Missing consciousness.
- Relaxation of all muscle tissue occurs.
- The blood circulation in the brain is weakened.
- The activity of the gastrointestinal tract stops.
- Body temperature drops.
- The pressure inside the skull decreases and the volume of fluid in the body.
The duration of artificial sleep in case of brain injury is usually several days (from one to three days). While the patient is in this state, specialists develop further therapy tactics. The procedure is used to relieve pressure inside the skull.
Potential danger of the event
Medicated coma is a treatment method that has its own negative properties and contraindications. According to experts, prolonged use of this method negatively affects the functions of the central nervous system. In some cases, the state of artificial sleep is quite long (from six months or more). This situation creates a danger to the life of the patient and can provoke complications. After this procedure, the patient needs constant supervision of specialists.
Besides, he needs competent rehabilitation.
Recovering from a medically induced coma
Such an event takes quite a long time. Doctors turn off the ventilator, and the patient begins to breathe on his own. The drugs that were given to him during artificial sleep are removed from the patient's body. After being in intensive careprocedures, the individual cannot return to normal life, as he is in a weakened state. It is especially difficult to recover those people who have been in a medical coma for a long time. During the rehabilitation period, they learn to move and take care of themselves again.
Complications
The likelihood of negative effects of artificially induced sleep is very high. Patients often experience:
- Myocardial and renal dysfunctions.
- Cardiac arrest.
- Sudden jumps in blood pressure.
- Decubituses.
- Disorders of the nervous system.
- Infectious pathologies.
- Circulatory disorders.
One of the most dangerous complications is the gag reflex.
The contents of the gastrointestinal tract can enter the respiratory tract and cause serious pathologies. In some cases, there is a violation of the urinary system. This leads to rupture of the bladder and inflammation in the abdominal cavity.
If the patient's respiratory organs function poorly, after leaving the drug-induced coma, he has negative consequences in the form of pneumonia, tracheitis, bronchitis and pulmonary edema. Sometimes patients develop fistulas in the esophagus, severe disorders of the stomach and intestines.
Conclusion
This method of treatment poses a great risk to the he alth of the patient. However, thanks to him, many manage to recover and return to normal life. After an artificial coma, a person needslong-term rehabilitation. After a while, all body functions stabilize. Some patients return to normal life within twelve months. Others require longer rehabilitation. During the recovery period, you must be regularly examined and follow all the doctor's instructions.
