this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A couple of times. This last time, I swore that I was conscious during the procedure and tried explaining it to the doctor when I woke up. I told him that I was sort of dreaming, and my brain was converting pain/pressure into stuff happening in the dream.

They didn't seem to believe me, and honestly I don't think I do either. I was really out of it when I woke up.

[–] Fallenwout 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

There are forms of anesthesia which give you a sense of passing time and allow for dreaming. It is given for small operations or when you were nauseous from the other missing-time one.

I had the light one when I had a teeth operation. I dreamt about nokia phones, how strong they are and that you can feel its toughness in your jaw when putting it towards your ears. Your theory is correct. How did the dream end? I ended up selling the nokia because it was too strong for me :D

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Mine was also dental, so that checks out. My dream ended with a volcano for some reason.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I’ve been under a few times but the most memorable (in one sense) was when I had some minor surgery as a kid. From my point of view, it was like teleportation: I was in the operating room, I blinked, and I was suddenly on a bed in a completely different room. No sense of the passage of time.

[–] zerbey 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

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.

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[–] Ataraxia 2 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] TheHottub 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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.

[–] merfolk 2 points 1 year ago

I was a squirmy kid who hated the dentist so they had to put me under for a few cavity fillings. I remember the smell of grape (it was a scented nose piece for kids) and then I was out before I knew what was happening. While under I had weird acid trip like dreams taking inspiration from my surroundings, and vaguely remember the next few events, but at the time had no idea it was based in reality.

At some point while I was under, I decided to push the little piece of rubber they use to keep your mouth open with my tongue while the doctor was working on me and bit down super hard. I remember a floating image of him swirling around spouting curse words I had rarely, or not really heard much at that age.

Eventually I woke up and was extremely disoriented, and not feeling well. On the ride home, my mom had to pull over so I could throw up on the side of the road. Later she told me how while I was under, and she was in the waiting room, at one point she heard my dentist yelp from down the hall.

I continued going to this dentist's office through my childhood, but never had that guy ever again, despite his name being everywhere inside and outside of the office.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

When I was little I had to get stitches in my ear so they had to put me under while they stitched the top of my ear back in place, all I remember is sitting down on the medical bed then all of a sudden it was done and we were leaving.

[–] yenahmik 2 points 1 year ago

The first time, was for removing my wisdom teeth. Apparently I just sobbed when they woke me up. Then, when it was time to leave, I was feeling great and jumped right up. Turns out, I was not great and my legs absolutely collapsed under me.

Last time I went under, I was chatting to the doctor in the exam room. Next thing, I'm in the recovery room. There were people speaking Spanish in another part of the room, and for a moment I feared they had somehow taken me to Mexico. As my head cleared I realized how silly that was to think.

Both cases, I just vegged out on the couch for the rest of the day, recovering.

[–] Boggy 2 points 1 year ago

You count down in the OR with someone pushing the meds through your IV and then you wake up. Some comments here say that they didn’t dream, but I did. I hardly remember but over a 5-6 hour surgery I remember having a dream that felt like months. The time under anesthesia felt much longer than the actual time that passed for everyone else. I’ve had it happen twice with more coming up and it’s always been the same.

[–] 3migo 2 points 1 year ago

It's pretty uneventful. I had surgery earlier this year and was put under. I recall them hooking up the IV, waiting 5-10 minutes, then coming back to wheel me into the OR. They had me transfer into the operating table, and I remember looking up at the bright lights and the surprising amount of people in the room for my basic surgery, and then the next thing I know, I'm waking up in my bed a couple hours later. I didn't feel groggy, it just felt like waking up from a deep sleep where you don't dream at all. Time passes in an instant.

[–] Fallenwout 2 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] AffineConnection 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The first time, I was barely sedated and had traumatizing hallucinations for what felt like ten minutes but what was probably less than a minute.
The second time, I was heavily sedated to the point of double vision and cannot remember anything after I put the mask on.

I found waking up unpleasant in both cases because of the paralytic agent.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

When I was in the recovery room and still under the effect of the anesthesia I was, lets say "fresh" with one of the nurses.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I don't remember a damn thing. One moment there was a mask over my face and I was being asked to count backwards from ten (I think I got to about 8?), the next I woke up very bleary with a sore throat.

For a long time I thought I woke in a large room with three rows of cots. It wasn't until some years afterwards that I realised I never saw the room I awoke in.

I didn't feel high at any point, but then I have ADHD and even being shot full of morphine by a paramedic (the previous week) didn't get me high. I wuz robbed.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

A few times during my childhood. The thing I hated the most was the lingering smell of the gaseous anesthetic. In subsequent surgical procedures, I requested an ivy approach to the delivery of the anesthetic.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Mickey7 2 points 1 year ago

Before you are administered gas you will be on an IV drip of propofol and midazolam and they will inhibit conscious memory processes

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