Why does propofol sedation make us feel sleepy before it takes its full effect? How does it work that makes us feel tired and sleepy? What’s its mechanism?
In: Biology
if i’m understanding this question correctly, usually during anesthesia there’s a combination of drugs used to induce the desired effects.
sciency answer: propofol and many other iv anesthetics work through either activating (mainly sodium and gabaa) or inactivating certain channels (mainly nmda) in your brain. this is the leading theory at least for propofol but the mechanism of action is not fully understood. it causes a hypnotic effect overall but has no muscle relaxant or analgesic effects. it actually has a very rapid onset and recovery. because of this, it’s used mainly as an inducer for anesthesia in combination with other drugs that do act as relaxants and analgesics
less sciency answer: it makes you sleepy by closing and opening things in your brain. but that’s all it does. you need other drugs in combination to make you not feel pain during surgery and relax your muscles so they can be operated on
it’s why anesthesiologists are always carefully monitoring those drug levels and why they’re so important during surgery. too much of one and you can stop breathing. not enough of another and you can feel all the pain but can’t communicate it
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