My Experiments With Truth Serum
Pentothal Sodium, or the truth serum as its known in the legal parlance, was made available commercially in 1935 and has been every anaesthetists delight ever since. It acts by inhibiting various centers in the brain and as law enforcing agencies found out to their amusement,it inhibits those centers first which cause inhibitions of expression and speech. As for its lawful clinical use, it induces smooth sleep of short duration, during which period, painful or unpleasant procedures can be done which otherwise an awake person with his intact senses and wisdom centers would not allow.
Patients arrive in operation theatre, willfully or perforce to undergo repair of some acquired bodily dysfunctions or modification of features as provided by the Creator, he or she is flesh and bones held together by over reactive and sensitive bundle of nerves. And before poking the patient with various needles and tubes, it’s a usual practice to start small talk with a big smile to make them believe that their real fears are not really real and to return blood pressure and heart rate to normal. Favorite questions vary with the age of the patient, a little kid is asked about the smart madam that teaches in school and invariably one gets a name. A bit older boy, ask him who is the best girl in class and whom he likes. A teenager boy and just ask him whether he has informed his girl friend about his surgery. This gets them smiling irrespective of the fact that they answered or evaded the question.
Now comes the truth serum and tumble out many a skeleton, good ones and bad ones, inquired about and just volunteered. Even little boys come out with names of pretty girls of the class,youngsters start mumbling their beloved ones names. Sometimes it gets really embarrassing when the names whispered by married ones are not of the spouses.Many a times attending doctor has to double up as agony aunt and listen to worldly sufferings, family problems, job hassles or the medical history since birth. More often than not, all the attending staff is regaled with prayers to God. All this when patient is still to be fully asleep after the dose or fully awake after the effect has worn off.
Scheduled for surgery and afraid of surgeons knife? Don’t be. Just pray that the anaesthetist is not nosy or hear and tell kinds.