# What did people do before anesthesia?

- Institution: TED
- Department: TED-Ed
- Speaker: Sally Frampton
- Year: 2023
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Medicine and health, History, Teaching and learning
- Source: [TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/sally_frampton_what_did_people_do_before_anesthesia)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions.)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

The quest for anesthetics that could induce unconsciousness and enable more meticulous surgeries began around the early 3rd century CE. Before anesthesia was widely used, patients had to consciously endure every moment of surgery. So, what methods did doctors use before modern medicine caught up? Sally Frampton traces the history of anesthetic drugs. \[Directed by Alexander Hellebaut, narrated by Alexandra Panzer, music by Arthur Brouns\].

## Lectures

1. [What did people do before anesthesia?](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/ted/sally_frampton_what_did_people_do_before_anesthesia/6283ddd8f277), 6 min (TED's player)