I just had two surgeries with general anesthesia. While I haven't had any cognitive effects in the task sense (surprisingly the opposite), I lost my sense of taste completely and kind of worse than lost. My brain seems to believe food is some kind of poison with some very odd anecdotal events. I tried to make myself eat my favorite rotisserie chicken. I was shocked to see it sliding down the wall, I threw the chicken. I have never been more shocked in my life. The doctor said not to worry, but it will be at least six months before it comes back. Everything tastes rotten, or chemical.
How can anaesthesia have such vast effects on taste/smell??
I only know that consciousness is being "removed" when using anaesthesia. And the most logical theory so far is that "Quantum coherence of Tryptophan Microtubules" is interrupted by any higher gas penetrating the crystal.
PS: Oh my god that sounds absolutely horrible! I had loss of taste and smell after Covid for 3 days, but it came back. I love perfumes and have a nice collection that I couldn't smell at all anymore. Also everything tasted and smelt like saltwater, even the trash.
But 6 months, I already felt tortured by not being able to taste anything anymore.
> So, our question was: what happens to brain fingerprints when we lose consciousness, such as during the artificial sleep induced by general anesthesia?
The most important question here, and yet the article keeps talking about "fingerprints" of anecdotal but limited insightfulness.
I just had two surgeries with general anesthesia. While I haven't had any cognitive effects in the task sense (surprisingly the opposite), I lost my sense of taste completely and kind of worse than lost. My brain seems to believe food is some kind of poison with some very odd anecdotal events. I tried to make myself eat my favorite rotisserie chicken. I was shocked to see it sliding down the wall, I threw the chicken. I have never been more shocked in my life. The doctor said not to worry, but it will be at least six months before it comes back. Everything tastes rotten, or chemical.
How can anaesthesia have such vast effects on taste/smell?? I only know that consciousness is being "removed" when using anaesthesia. And the most logical theory so far is that "Quantum coherence of Tryptophan Microtubules" is interrupted by any higher gas penetrating the crystal.
Sources:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25714379/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03784...
PS: Oh my god that sounds absolutely horrible! I had loss of taste and smell after Covid for 3 days, but it came back. I love perfumes and have a nice collection that I couldn't smell at all anymore. Also everything tasted and smelt like saltwater, even the trash.
But 6 months, I already felt tortured by not being able to taste anything anymore.
That is a COVID symptom? Maybe not caused by COVID, but same syndrome.
https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/COVID-long-hauler-bakery...
The article text (didn't read the paper) doesn't seem to suggest that it stays altered afterwards, which is how I read the title.
> So, our question was: what happens to brain fingerprints when we lose consciousness, such as during the artificial sleep induced by general anesthesia?
The most important question here, and yet the article keeps talking about "fingerprints" of anecdotal but limited insightfulness.
Oh man. I've gone under a total of 5 times. I wonder how it's changed me