General Anaesthetics

Induction agents — the drugs used to put someone under, not to keep them comfortable. The propofols (propofol, its prodrug fospropofol, the newer analogue cipepofol) and etomidate all act through GABA-A, and all produce unconsciousness across a very short span of dose: the interval between sedated and not breathing is about as narrow as anything in this tree. Nothing reverses them, either. Naloxone and flumazenil do nothing here.

They differ in what else they do. Propofol drops blood pressure and abolishes airway reflexes while providing no analgesia at all; etomidate is gentler on the circulation and suppresses adrenal steroid synthesis, which is why it stopped being used for maintenance. Etomidate has since become a recreational drug in its own right, met outside any setting with an airway, monitoring, or somebody whose job is watching a person breathe.