535
POV: You're too shy to tell the medical staff that you just woke up during surgery.
(sh.itjust.works)
this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2025
535 points (98.4% liked)
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It can happen. When giving general anaesthetic there are three components. An anaesthetic to puts you out and makes you forget whats going on, pain relief and a muscle relaxants so that you go limp and don’t try to fight the ventilator when they take over your breathing. If you are resistant to the anaesthetic or not enough was given then you can wake up while still under the effects of the muscle relaxants unable to do anything to let anyone know. Scary stuff if you ask me.
The thing is there are a lot of signs that start popping up when the anesthesia isn't doing its job, due to tolerance or not having enough pushed. Your body starts to respond to the surgery way before your brain does, and we'll start seeing muscle twitches or their vitals start to go nuts.
Not terribly uncommon for a surgeon, well into the operation to poke or cut something and the leg or whatever we're cutting on recoils a bit. Surgeon gets annoyed and snaps at the anesthesiologist "Hey he's getting a little light - we still got at least 40 minutes!" and the anesthesiologist will push a little more sauce and the signs stop pretty quick.
Point being, by the time you'd be aware of anything, your body will have been reacting to it increasingly dramatically.
Surgery aside - let's say you're sleeping normally and someone tickles your nose with a feather or something. Not enough stimulation to wake you up, but your nose might twitch or flare in response; with enough irritation you might even reach up to scratch your nose or move your head all without ever waking up - though by that point your very close to regaining consciousness.
Again, our physiology is weird, and meds do weird things to it, and I'm just a tech so I don't know the nitty-gritty details, so I'm definitely not in a position to say it's impossible. But those kinds of claims definitely fire off the bullshit detector enough that I'd be hesitant to take them at face value without a breakdown of how the patient's physiology is different from everyone else's or how the anesthesiologist managed to come up with a cocktail of whatever he pushed to allow for mental perception of being sliced open without any change to things like vital signs.
I agree they’re warning signs that you are awake and a good anaesthetist should pick up on it but, I am also saying that it’s possible, rare, but possible given the nature of GA to not have enough anaesthetic onboard while having a decent does of muscle relaxant. So you can look like you’re out of it from the end of the bed but still be aware. A good anaesthetist should honestly be paying attention to the patients physiology and noticing the blood pressure and heart rate spiking before this happens though. Maybe evening using something like a BIS to help confirm anaesthesia.
I think I have to clarify something. The whole thing was not as bad as it sounds. I had a local anesthesia in my arm (which was operated) and was sedated with propofol (i think). My focus wasn't as much on waking up, which i guess from the comments can just happen. It was more on my inability to speak up if something is wrong. Maybe they even noticed, and thought its alright. There was no pain, just an unsettling feeling.
I can't stress enough that I'm a tech, the rock bottom of the OR foodchain, so my understanding is limited ...and even if I was claiming to be some kind of doctor, I'm still just a random internet stranger, so some healthy skepticism is encouraged regardless. BUT I've spent most of the past decade working in rooms full of brilliant people, so I've picked a few things up during that time, so: some of what you're describing is normal, like waking up during sedation, but some of it has me scratching my head. Like, there shouldn't (dangerous word, I know) be a situation where you're sedated and paralyzed, cuz that's a recipe for the nightmare fuel this thread is talking about. If you wake up from sedation, you might feel groggy and like heavy limbs or not just lack the desire to move like when your alarm is going off in the morning and you're just lying there in a state of apathy for a minute mourning the loss of your sleep... but... if you make a conscious effort to move or speak, you should (*) be able to.
And again, not saying none of that ever happened; it'd just be super abnormal to the extent of suspecting some kind of literal physiologic anomaly (which is possible!) or some kind of borderline criminal incompetence (or actual malice) on the part of your anesthesiologist.
I never said I was paralyzed. I didn't speak because the situation was too awkward for me to say something. Nobody from the medical staff made a mistake.