Is sedation just a lower dose of anesthesia or are they totally different in sub!

Is sedation just a lower dose of anesthesia or are they totally different in substance?

It depends.

I can use one drug - propofol - and either sedate you a little bit with it, sedate you deeply with it, or render you completely unconscious and apneic with it. It depends on how much you get and how you react to it.

Sedation almost always uses drugs that we use in general anesthetics, but in smaller doses.

The line between sedation and general anesthesia occurs when you lose your protective airway reflexes. That is something that isn't obvious just by looking at someone, and isn't something that our monitors detect.

There are different levels of sedation: anxiolysis (taking the edge off), conscious sedation (patient is relaxed, drifts off to sleep but is easily aroused) and deep sedation (very difficult to arouse, but maintains airway reflexes).

Anesthesiologists almost always use a mixture of drugs to create a nice, relaxed patient, including benzodiazepines (like midazolam), opiates (like fentanyl) and maybe some propofol and/or ketamine. It depends on the situation and the anesthesiologist's personal preferences.