What is 'laughing gas'?

What is 'laughing gas'?

Samuel Seelig (Anesthesiologist, Los Angeles, California) gives expert video advice on: Can general anesthesia be achieved with inhaled anesthesia alone?; How do inhaled anesthetics enter the blood stream? and more...

Laughing gas is nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide by itself has some analgesic properties, but it is not effective as a sole anesthetic agent. It is used many times in dentist's offices for its analgesic properties or pain relieving properties. It can cause some nausea, it can cause some giddiness, and it is even being reported to be somewhat of an aphrodisiac. It is now used as a second gas with the other inhalation agents that we discussed - sevoflurane, desflurane and isoflurane. It is used as a second gas because it gets absorbed so quickly, and it thus carries the more potent inhalation agents along with it into the bloodstream of the patients so that the induction of anesthesia is much quicker.