Dr. Scott Smith paralyzed himself
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Interesting thread on the early experiments with curare.
At 2:11 pm on January 10, 1946, with his colleagues by his side, Smith received incrementally increasing doses of the paralytic d-turbocurarine.
Almost immediately Smith noted difficulty closing his eyes and mouth.
At 2:20 pm Smith could no longer speak, though he could still nod his head and twitch his fingers.
His work of breathing began to visibly increase.
By 2:45pm, he was totally paralyzed without any voluntary skeletal muscle movement whatsoever.
Finally his colleagues intubated him shortly thereafter.
Afterward, Smith recalled what it was like for him to become progressively paralyzed.
In particular he relayed the profound sense of dyspnea and choking he felt prior to intubation, almost as if drowning.
More cases of self-experimentation:
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“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” ~Winston S. Churchill
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@Mik said in Dr. Scott Smith paralyzed himself:
Wow. First heart cath. Talk about going where no man has gone before.
It's really an amazing story. At the time, there were no "heart catheters" per se. He used a catheter used for urologic procedures.
he was the first to develop a technique for the catheterization of the heart. This he did by inserting a cannula into his own antecubital vein, through which he passed a catheter for 65 cm and then walked to the X-ray department, where a photograph was taken of the catheter lying in his right auricle.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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Speaking of self-experimentation, a couple of stories.
When I was a medical student, we were encouraged (!) to experience some of the things patients go through.
One of the anesthesia residents wanted to know what it was like to be paralyzed. So, one day, they brought him to the OR, started an IV and gave him 5 mg of succinylcholine (a drug similar in concept to curare). The usual dose is 1mg/kg (I usually gave 80 mg). Well, Jim found it to be more than a little uncomfortable. He did need help breathing for a while (about 10 min, iirc) though he didn't need to be intubated.
Well, then it was my turn...
I wanted to know what it was like to be anesthetized by breathing the anesthetic gases, rather by induction with an IV agent.
So, having been NPO overnight, they brought me to the OR, put me on the table and strapped me down. I got the mask put on my face, and they started the Nitrous Oxide. Now, for the record N2O is a very VERY weak anesthetic, and not enough for major surgery, and in usual concentrations (about 50%) won't even induce unconsciousness.
I got 80%.
A terrible, terrible experience. At first, some lightheadedness, then some disorientation, then, a horrible dysphoria with me struggling to get off the table and shaking my head to get the mask off.
Wow.
Can you imagine that shit going down today, LOL.
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@George-K said in Dr. Scott Smith paralyzed himself:
@Mik said in Dr. Scott Smith paralyzed himself:
Wow. First heart cath. Talk about going where no man has gone before.
It's really an amazing story. At the time, there were no "heart catheters" per se. He used a catheter used for urologic procedures.
he was the first to develop a technique for the catheterization of the heart. This he did by inserting a cannula into his own antecubital vein, through which he passed a catheter for 65 cm and then walked to the X-ray department, where a photograph was taken of the catheter lying in his right auricle.
That occurred to me. "Say...what should we try this with?". The tech is so sophisticated today.
