Roll me into operating room. Think it was an IV drip, I was pretty scared. They are nice and talking to me about random stuff. They let me.knownthey are going to give me something to put me out. I feel a nice little high for a second. They ask me one more question and… Boom I’m in recovery talking gibberish to a nice lady telling her I miss my wife. No pain yet, but I felt physically uncomfortable. I could tell someone had been digging around in my guts. Was so happy to see my wife when she came in. They said I took a while to regain consciousness. I guess they wanted me fully coherent before letting her see me. Anyway, the whole going under was easy. Felt like… Nothing.

The pain meds, that sucked. I thought I could just stop talking them once I felt like the pain was gone. Whoa, it felt scary. Like a hallucination without seeing anything. I cut them in half and slowly backed off.

I remember laying down in a very cold operating room where I had very thin clothing. I asked one of the doctors that I don’t feel anything, she said “we haven’t put you under anesthesia yet” next thing I remember is waking up after the surgery.

I think anesthesia also messes with your memory, because I’m pretty sure that I was still awake after asking the doctor but have no recollection of what happened.

The surgery was for a ruptured ACL in my knee.

I have, a few years ago, and it was for eye surgery. It went perfectly fine. I’ve second I was counting backwards from 10 and the next I was waking up in recovery.

However my dad, many years ago, went under for summer kind of arm surgery and woke up on the operating table.

As I understand it, the difference is that in the past, the administration of anesthesia by an anesthesiologist was tricky and imprecise. It took a look at your vitals, your weight, gender, whatever and use that to determine how much to give you. Sometimes your body however would be the kind that that wasn’t enough for.

Now they monitor your vitals more precisely, and can tell by what your brain is doing whether or not you’re properly under or not, and can adjust the anesthesia far more precisely.

Broke my arm snowboarding. It was totally crooked, they had to put me under to set it. I fell asleep couldn’t move, but was awake the whole time. I just laid there and listened to the doctor and nurses conversations. The second time I had to get all 4 wisdom teeth pulled but they had to do a biopsy on a growth in my jaw. That one was just a count down then I woke up shivering in a medical bed next to other people that got put under. No dreams, just woke up and asked for a blanket.

Twice, and they were completely different experiences.

First was gas at the dentists for taking 3 teeth out as my mouth was overcrowded. I was kind of asleep, I could hear people’s voices in a really trippy flanged way, and I could vaguely feel some tugging at my jaw (but no pain). The gas tasted awful.

The second was for an operation at hospital after an accident (requiring 6.5 hours of microsurgery). It was like jumping forwards 7 hours in time, literally counting the seconds after the anaesthetic went in at night, then immediately waking up in broad daylight. It is completely unlike deep sleep (where you still are aware that time has passed).

I remember thinking it’s taking surprisingly long for the gas over my mouth and nose to do anything. A pretty surgical assistant was staring at my eyes and talking to me calmly, saying I was doing great. And I was doing great. Then the next moment I was suddenly startled awake again as completely different people were shouting and holding my arms, trying to bring me back to consciousness as I was flailing around in confusion. Apparently the surgery went well.

Was under for a facture correction. Specifically asked to not be given drugs that would cause amnesia.

I was out for 2 to 3 hours. I dreamed. Woke up ready and willing to jump out of my bed; took me a fraction of a second to understand I was still at the hospital.

The weirdest thing I can mention is being extremely aware of all my senses, except for pain, which was what woke me. I was aware how many people were in the room by the sound of shuffling feet, the smell of disinfectant and sweat from the nurses nearly made me gag, the air in the room was too cold and the temperature under the sheets and blankets to warm. That part of me that had been cut felt hot and aching but the feeling of pain was distant; I was aware it hurt but it was not important. I just felt this need to run when I first opened my eyes.

Not a very good feeling.

I remember blinking and hours disappeared. It’s like dying. You simply don’t exist and have zero recollection of anything.

When I was woken up I was shivering like I was outside in the winter in my birthday suit. They said it’s normal and used a heater/blower to warm me up.

I think the last time I had major(-ish) surgery was with 18 (almost 20 years ago) to get my gallbladder removed. You fall asleep, just quicker. Then, at some point you are back, groggy, and in a bit of pain. The end ;)

When I got my wisdom teeth pulled I was put in general anesthesia. Funnily enough, like everyone probably, I tried staying awake. Doc told me to count down from 10, I was very determined to get it done, just closed my eyes for a bit but I managed to pull it off. Only thing is, that I was out between 6 and 5, and counted half the numbers in the wake up room. It’s literally like a time warp. Super interesting imo.

I broke my top jaw and needed surgery to put my front teeth back into place. I woke up in the middle of that one. I could see them operating in the little round mirror on the doctor’s forehead he used to direct light.

I was definitely still mostly drugged because it didn’t concern me at all and I felt nothing. The nurse and doctor, however, seemed concerned. Their eyes got HUGE. They said something to each other and I was out again. I remember that very vividly.

I don’t remember.

I remember them wheeling my bed from the staging room to go to the operating room, then waking up in recovery. No memory of ever being in the O.R. at all.

One moment you’re on the OR table, you blink your eyes and you are in the recovery room asking yourself “has it started yet?” Then you’re very confused when they tell you “all done”.

So what is it like? It is like nothingness.

To me it felt like THE BEST dreamless nap.