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.
To me it felt like THE BEST dreamless nap.
If you’ve ever done any time traveling before the fixed the hangover issues it feels like that.
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.
what’s it like coming back.
Waking up and asking the same questions over and over. “It’s over?” “We’re done?” “It already happened?”
Counting down from 99 … 98 … 97 … Wake up after surgery.
I actually just had strabismus surgery this past Thursday. I was definitely nervous before going into the operating room, but I’ve been under before for a tonsillectomy. As I was wheeled on my gurney into the OR, they gave me a “half dose” of something to calm me down, but I didn’t really feel much.
Getting in, it was all about the prepping going on around me. Doctors, nurses, residents, etc. all doing their thing. I had these compression-type wraps put on my legs that would squeeze every so often to prevent blood clotting. IV was on the top of my left arm (so much tape and adhesive I now have a few bald spots from arm hair being ripped - I’m a guy if that helps). I had white circles placed on the front of my chest and top of my shoulders which I believe tracked my pulse and such (also took hair when removed).
Everyone was nice, but there was definitely an efficiency and routine to the whole setup. My type of surgery is done regularly in that part of the hospital, so it’s nothing new for them.
When it came time to go under, I was given the “other half” of the sedating drug (not sure on the name) and an air mask was held over my face. I was told to keep breathing in deeply. I did it for like 2-3 minutes before a doctor told the guy holding my mask to “increase it, you’re a bit low”. Maybe that was nitrous? As they were doing that, my arms were being strapped down and I joked if I needed a safe word since this is my first time using straps. They said sure, pick one. Before I could say “pineapples” I was waking up in the post-op area.
Everything was very bright and I was definitely groggy, so I just closed my eyes and let myself come back to reality. The right eye was covered in bandages and a head wrap with sutures just dangling from the inside corner of my eye - that was super weird and caught on the bandage frequently. Eventually I could use my left eye without squinting too much. I was given ice chips and tissues to clear my mouth out from the gunk buildup. Movement was pretty limited with the IV still there and not being able to move my eyes much.
It took about 2 hours before my mom was let in (she was the +1), then another 30 minutes or so for the surgeon to come in to wash my right eye of blood and adjust the sutures. That was a 3x process which wasn’t painful, but really uncomfortable. I’d look at a light, they’d measure the eye movement between left and right, then lay me back and tighten the suture. Rinse and repeat until the doc was confident. Another 1.5 hours or so and I was able to leave.
Not sure if it’s normal but I’d say I was coherent and ready to wear normal clothes by the 1.5 hour mark after surgery. By the end, I could move, change clothes, talk, everything, but hospital policy was to wheel me out. If you want to know about recovery after, I’d be happy to share - I’m on day 4 now.
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.
Instantaneous time warp. One moment, I’m relaxing on the table before the procedure. Next moment, I’m being told the procedure’s done.
It’s like a human
SIGSTOP, for all you programmers out there.Yeah they put the tube in and I woke up 6 hours later. I was literally turned off and on.
Had a kidney taken out. Once in the OR they gave me the stuff and I was out like a light. Woke up in post-OP feeling like I got hit by a bus, just groggy and sore from having a Mr. Handy digging around in my belly for a bean. But I healed up and am doing well.
I had general anesthesia, some kind of pretty strong opioid. “10… 9… 8…”, then the room felt like it was spinning very briefly before everything went black. Only thing I remember about coming out of it was a sore throat due to intubation.
I honestly just felt like a sleept 3days in a row, Reality was like 5~8 hours
I actually have a story. I was very young and was under for 10 hours. It was terrible, I felt every moment, I was trapped in a video game, Link’s Adventure. Just repeating over and over. This isn’t a joke, the experience was so traumatizing I won’t go through surgery again. This was over three decades ago. I don’t know what went wrong, why I experienced the passage of time. I thought I had literally gone to Hell, it was torture.
Arm feels cold as it goes in, the feeling spreads, taste of copper in the mouth… wake up in recovery. Pretty straightforward.
It wasn’t general, but I lost the memory. Sort of. Signed up for a study involving donating my wisdom teeth. Got them pulled for free in return. They described how they were gonna give me an “amnesiac drug” which would help me forget the whole disturbing experience, or maybe even forget the pain I don’t know.
I sat down in a dentist’s chair. A lady in scrubs came in and said “Do you like drugs?”
“Yes”
“Then you’re gonna love this. Start counting backward from 100 for me.”
So I started counting down and then I came to walking down the hallway pushing an IV thing. I was walking toward the waiting room after the procedure.
What’s strange is the memory of them taking my teeth out isn’t gone, it’s just squished down to like 5 seconds. The entire thing, like a move in ultra fast forward. My head whipping back and forth as pliers grip and there are crunching sounds. But it’s all ultra fast.
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).
