As a compliment to the thread about near death experiences I’d really like hearing people’s experiences of losing consciousness under general anesthesia and what’s it like coming back.
Also interested of things anesthetists may have noticed about this during their career.
Quite often! Like everyone else has mentioned, one moment you’re in the OR, and then the next moment they’re waking you up and making sure you’re alright.
A lot of times they don’t even seem to ask me to count backwards anymore, I remember one time I asked if they wanted me to and they said “Nope, we’ve already started the meds so you should be asleep in a few seconds”, I remember getting very sleepy and saying something along the lines of “Oh, well that explains a lot” and then I was waking back up. There was a time where they did have me count backwards, and when I got to 80 they were quite confused - apparently my IV had an issue so I wasn’t actually getting the meds (they generally use propofol and a local anesthetic over here, the local one first since propofol can have a burning sensation). They fixed it quickly, had me restart the count, and I don’t even think I made it to 95 before being out.
I have never had any negative side effects from it thankfully, but I have noticed that the longer the procedure is, the more tired you feel after you come out of it. It’s common for me to fall back asleep after a 7 hour procedure, but for one that is an hour or less once they wake me up I’m generally awake for the rest of the day.
I didn’t understand you were counting down from 100, and the story reads very differently, lol
Oh whoops, I certainly could’ve phrased that better - that’s what I get for commenting right after waking up!
(Not from anesthesia, but regular sleep 😅)
With general anesthesia nothing really, I remember them pushing the meds and a strange sensation as they did so, then the next thing I know I’m being wheeled back to recovery. All times I was still a kid, so may not be the experience an adult has.
Under twilight sedation I never go completely under and usually remember the whole thing, the last time it happened they said I had an unusually high tolerance to the medication. It was enough to keep me calm, but I was very much alert and so I just asked the surgeon to narrate what he was doing because it was honestly fascinating. All those experiences were for eye surgeries as an adult.
alert
eye surgeries
Nope.
Once. Quite recently. Uh, nothing weird happened really.
While I was being administered, I could feel my eyesight drift upwards and I got clear memory of everything, including asking the doctor if they weren’t going to ask me to do a countdown or to talk about a certain topic like my favorite show as I drift. I can recreate the entire conversation up to the moment I knew I was about to lose conscience and just let my head lean a bit for comfort.
However, once I woke up again, I had a full conversation with my wife and I remember exactly 50% of it. I did not slur words nor say anything weird. I moved myself from the stretcher to the bed on my own apparently, but no memory. I was basically fully in control of my own agency… except for the fact I was extremely prone to falling asleep on the spot, and my brain was basically refusing to retain most of it. I even had to pee to a container and apparently managed to do it without causing a mess despite falling asleep on it, and then waking up to hand over the container. Anything you asked, I could easily reply, and I was clearly listening to requests, but if you ask me to tell what was spoken and in what order, I’ll fail you even tho I can recognize the event.
One thing I do not remember is the two nurses in the post-op room calling my name to check if I was good or any of the stretcher movement stuff. They did ask me what to call out beforehand, and said there was a procedure for checking on you before sending you to back to the overnight patient room, but that was the last I’ve seen them. Probably.
So, basically, that’s it. Large blackout, then groggy with memory loss. Then normal.
Nothing. You breathe twice, then blackout. You wake up in a bedroom, feels like an unpleasant and quite huge hangover. Then, as the anesthesia fades away, you might feel the pain coming progressively (depending on what you have).
I was under general anesthesia three times in my childhood due to arriving into this world only partially assembled.
The first time I was sedated with ether (which I believe is not in use anymore) and only remember a nurse forcing the mask over my face before waking up to the sound of my father snoring next to me. I was violently ill for the next several days, but from what I hear I got off light compared to others.
For the next two I was given some kind of euphoric stimulant (via suppository, go figure) to calm me, but from what I’ve been told it instead made me hallucinate that I was driving a race car and did so all the way to the operating theatre much to everyone’s amusement. I’m happy that I remember none of this and that it was before smart phones or I’d probably be on YouTube forever. 😅
If you’ve ever done any time traveling before the fixed the hangover issues it feels like that.
I’ve had several surgeries. Two types of anaesthetic.
First was when I was 4 years old, in the 1980s. Was a gaseous anaesthetic, through a gas mask.
It was a kind of quasi-consciousness, not that I remember having trains of thought or self-actualization, but I remember there being a feeling of the passage of time. I remember seeing colors. No pain during the procedure.
Second type of anaesthetic was for my second and third surgeries (aged 13 and 17), a normal liquid, IV-administered anaesthetic. This one was just a complete knock out blank for me. No cognizance of anything. I was just out in one moment during the backward from 10 countdown, and aware again in the recovery room, in what felt like 3 to 5 seconds later (it was, of course, a couple of hours later).
This second type of anaesthetic had the interesting post-surgery side effect of continuing to knock me out (with no time passage perceived) for hours after the surgery. I would, in my perception, blink, and my visitors would suddenly warp across the room because my eyes hadn’t been shut for .1 second like it felt to me, but actually a couple of hours per occurrence, of dreamless, non-time-passing “sleep”. Not an experience I’d had before, or since. The last surgery (17) was a bit less disconcerting in regards to this, because I knew in advance about the effect from the previous surgery (13) .
Just went under for the first time a few days ago. Pretty sure the Xanax they gave me prior knocked me out before the anesthesia did. Only memory was getting up on the operating table then a few hours after I got home. No memory of anesthesia, waking up after the surgery or getting home. Woke up feeling groggy and didn’t realize ~10 hours passed. Couldn’t stand up and walk on my own until the next morning.
My biggest fear is that you are aware of everything and can feel the pain when under, but forget it all - men in black style - to leave a relatively ok experience if not a little sick feeling.
That’s basically how it works. They generally give you painkillers too but anesthesia just removes the memories from you
I’ve had one surgery in my teens. I was immediately knocked out, unconscious, no dreams that I can recall. When I woke up I was so groggy I couldn’t even really move for a while, everything just felt heavy. I would just kind of look around with my eyes and then close them to try to get more sleep.
The profound nothingness is almost hard to believe. I’m not talking an empty sleep—I mean it feels like someone cut a segment out of the film strip of your life.
The first time I was fully knocked out like that was for tooth surgery, and I thought the doctor was messing with me when he said they were done already—from my perspective I had barely closed my eyes for a moment. Sure enough, there was gauze in my mouth and the sun was setting outside. It had been over 90 minutes, and I didn’t even feel like I’d slept.
Same for me. I remember starting to count down from 10 and feeling intensely sleepy, and then waking up on the bed asking when they were going to start the surgery and the nurse was like, lol, that happened a while ago mate. So weird.
Wisdoms? Same experience for me. My partner was in the room with a nurse asking me about my pain level. At first I was confused, what pain? Then as consciousness properly barrelled in I managed to sob an ‘8’ through the gauze. I preferred oblivion at that point - they had to take a big chunk of bone and boy did I know it at that moment
I’m kind of sad that I never got to experience that, to be honest. I only had two wisdom teeth- 1 on the top left and 1 on the bottom right. The right was set to be impacted, but apparently it hadn’t grown any roots, yet (I was 17 or 18) so they decided it just get it out with a local. It was… unpleasant. The top left one has never come through, either, so I may well not have bothered 😓
It’s so weird to me that you’re all put under for wisdom teeth. I’ve had three out with local and nobody even suggested I might need a general.
Was a dental nurse once upon a time. Assisted with many an extraction. Yes if conditions are good (the jaw is large, the tooth is straight, there’s no tangling or bone issues) then not a problem. But I did not enjoy putting some people with poor neck strength in headlocks. Or the post extraction vomiting. Or the way the patient cringed as they heard the tooth snap in their skull. Or the complete look of trauma on their face after.
Just because they couldn’t feel pain didn’t mean the experience wasn’t harrowing. I needed to go under because all 4 were badly impacted. But having insider knowledge on the process, I would’ve chosen to be knocked out regardless.
It can depend on how complicated your impaction is. Sometimes they look at you and go, “Yeah I can work that out no issues,” other times they’ll be like, “Nah fuck that, this is going to be a major surgery.” The last thing you want is for them to realise it’s the latter and not the former when they’re halfway through the procedure 😅
I’ve heard of that happening, actually; the dentist ended up driving the patient around themselves trying to find an available surgeon to finish the job, and eventually gave up and just dropped them off at the emergency department.
Usually it’s not that wild, but I feel safe in assuming that many dentists choose to book a general out of an abundance of caution, 'cause I’m sure that scenario features in their nightmares as much as it does the patient’s.
It probably has something to do with licensing and costs for anaesthetists, too, come to think. Most dentists are qualified to give locals but not generals; verrryyy different ballgame, you can imagine.
Oh yeah, and finally, people’s jaws are getting smaller. Seriously, though. The smaller the jaws, the more complicated dental surgeries are becoming, so there you go.
Haha don’t have FOMO for surgery, mate. A life lived without it is a good one.
They can still wreak havoc on your teeth even if they don’t come down. They tend to migrate and move and that can mess up your bite. So not likely now presuming you’re older but it’s a chance when you’re younger and still growing etc.
Yeah I’m 30, now. I presume they’re just chilling, lol. Has anyone’s come down after that point, do you think?
Not that I saw when I worked there. My impacted wisdoms only became an issue in my 30s though, so who knows?!
Yes and no nothing happened. I always opt for general anesthesia. I’d hate to be awake for any surgery. It’s great. Had 3 surgeries and they all were a breeze because of it.
I’ve been under general once, and it was like losing time. The surgeon started counting backwards from 100, my eyes crossed, then a nurse was offering me a sandwich in the recovery ward.
I was once in an operating room repairing a printer while there was a surgery going on. A nurse hustled me out when the patient started moving and groaning like he was in pain. An anaesthetist told me later that despite the movement and noise, he never woke up.
That’s weird, did you have to scrub up?
Yep. Soap, then some kind of chemical steriliser, then paper gown, mask, hat and booties. It was also made clear to me that stepping inside the marked square with the patient at the centre was a big no-no.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing.
I don’t remember.
Nothingness for general anaesthesia. Sedation for dental work was awesome: IV midazolam. Off to sleep just like GA but woke up at some point, super happy and relaxed. Waking up was like a long sleep. I loved it so much I asked if I could come in again for that without the operation. Turns out, no, that’s not a thing. Shame.
