Does anyone know whether drugs used for standing sedation (for procedures such as teeth floating, for example) cause memory loss? When we humans are sedated for procedures such as colonoscopies we typically don’t remember the procedure, so I wonder if it’s the same for horses. I have no particular reason for wondering about this, other than I’m just curious.
People forget because some of the drugs that are used are amnesiacs:
The drugs we use in standing sedation, like dormosedan, are not amnesiac drugs, so, no, they wouldn’t cause memory loss.
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I wish! If they did my horse would be ok with power floats. It took literally years to get her over the sound of drills and clippers after being power floated once. My vet kindly hand floated her the next time before starting power floats on the rest of the horses. He got to witness her snap out of sedation immediately the first power float started on another horse and said, “Do not ever power float this horse. Make sure to request that I do her when you book the next time.” When he left equine practice he gave me contact info for another vet who would hand float. When I left the area a few years later I had battle royal with the new vet service even though they had 2 vets who still did hand floats.
Nothing bad happened during that initial float, she just didn’t like it and never forgot. Weirdly, she never held that float against the vet - they actually adored each other. I am so very thankful for that!
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Dormosedan is not an amnesiac drug, but what about other drugs used for sedating horses? I’ve read that Rompun (xylazine) can cause amnesia in humans, but I don’t know if that is true for horses.
While this:
Claims amnesia as a possible effect:
“Also known as “tranq,” xylazine is a central nervous system depressant that can cause drowsiness and amnesia and slow breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure to dangerously low levels.”
Neither paper cited for that statement mentions amnesia at all:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0379073814001170
Xylazine is apparently most similar to clonidine. Clonidine has actually been studied with regard to memory, with mixed results:
No impairment:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0269881105051529
Some impairment, but high dose and continuous infusion of the drug over 45-60 minutes:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007091217498278
It’s also been studied as an amnesia reversal agent:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0091305779901321
So, no, I think it’s pretty safe to say that xylazine isn’t giving you amnesia, either, unless maybe it’s being continuously infused at a high dose over a fairly significant amount of time, which is not how it’s used in equines.
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