ULTIMATE COMPUTING - Quantum Consciousness Studies

148 Anesthesia: Another Side of Consciousness
7 Anesthesia: Another Side of Consciousness
The net collective effect of protein dynamics and other factors in the human
brain is consciousness. Since the time of ancient Sumerians, Egyptians, Assyrians
and Greeks, opiate derivatives of the poppy (Papaver somniferum) and other
drugs have been used to obtund or ablate consciousness in the face of pain, or for
surgical procedures. In the 19th century, anesthetic gases including nitrous oxide
(“laughing gas”) and diethyl ether were developed. These inhalation anesthetics,
when administered properly in a narrow range of concentration, were able to
cause a reversible cessation of consciousness. As early anesthetists tragically
discovered, excess anesthetic caused inadequate breathing, cardiovascular failure
and death. However, when properly used, anesthesia became a boon to mankind.
In addition to alleviating the suffering of countless surgical patients, anesthetics
also became an important tool in the investigation of consciousness. A trail of
experimentation and observation has led to the conclusion that anesthetics inhibit
collective dynamic conformational changes in brain proteins.
7.1 Levels of Anesthesia/Consciousness
With the widespread advent of diethyl ether, anesthesia became somewhat
standardized and it became useful to delineate “stages” in the continuum from the
awake state through anesthesia to respiratory paralysis, cardiovascular collapse,
and death. In 1847 John Snow published his pioneer monograph, On the
Inhalation of the Vapour of Ether in which he described five empirical levels
through which an anesthetized patient progressed from consciousness to
respiratory paralysis. Surgery could be performed in “stage three” characterized
by analgesia (pain relief) and amnesia (lack of memory storage), or in “stage
four” characterized by muscular relaxation and regular, automatic breathing.
Snow’s scheme was expanded in 1920 by Arthur Guedel who published codified
stages and signs of anesthesia, later detailed in his 1937 monograph, On
Inhalation Anesthesia—A Fundamental Guide. Guedel predicated his stages on
obvious physical signs involving muscle tone, respiratory patterns, and eye signs.
He enumerated four levels: stage of analgesia, stage of delirium, surgical stage
(subdivided into four planes), and stage of respiratory paralysis. Others have
added a fifth stage, anesthetic overdose: lack of tissue oxygen, convulsions, and
imminent death.