- Drug-induced amnesia
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Drug-induced amnesia is amnesia caused by drugs. It may occur due to the use of recreational drugs such as alcohol, and it is used in surgery in order to make a patient forget painful or otherwise traumatic procedures.
Medical usage
Premedicants may be used to help a patient forget surgery or medical procedures, particularly those not performed under full anesthesia, or likely to be particularly traumatic. The drugs most commonly used for this purpose are a 2'-halogenated benzodiazepine such as midazolam or flunitrazepam is the drug of choice, although other strongly amnestic drugs such as propofol or scopolamine may also be used for this application. Memories of the short time frame in which the procedure was performed are permanently lost or at least substantially reduced, but once the drug wears off, memory is no longer affected.
Main article: Blackout (alcohol-related amnesia)Alcohol can cause both long-term and short-term memory loss.
References
Categories:- Drugs
- Anesthesia
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