Anesthesia Awareness: Waking Up During Surgery

This happened to me. I was having surgery on my foot and I woke up. I recall trying to communicate the intense pain I was feeling at the time (to date, still the worst pain I have ever felt) and being completely unable to do so. After an unbearable few minutes I recall finally making a noise of some sort and then going back under as the docs realized what happened.

Unfortunately this happens more often than we’d like to admit. Although most people don’t remember so no harm no foul.

Nook -

How can someone forget this happening?

I saw that on TV…might have been the same woman…but anesthesia has different components to it. One of them is making you lose conciousness. I’m not too sure of that since it was a long ago I watched that. Can anyone clarify that?

I had a back surgery 10 years ago. I remember vaguely they brought me to partway during the surgery to ask me to move my toes to make sure they weren’t doing any damage. There was no pain, Just awareness. I know that they have to weigh you to be very sure they are giving you the perfect amount of anesthesia. I was told by my doctor that while under, you are at a perfect balance between life and death, as crazy as that sounds. Too much and you die, too little and you are awake during the procedure. It’s absolutely necessary for the doctors to know all of you medical conditions and how you metabolize medicine. All factors tie in to help them determine how much to give you to operate effectively and safely.

I have had 5 surgerys.I have always feared this happening but I was lucky.I dont even remember going under its so fast your gone so fast BOOM lights out.

I just watched “Awake”, a movie that just came out about anethesia awareness and the same situation occured with me. I was stabbed in the heart lung and spleen and had to be operated on. i was intoxicated at the time so i think that it must have had some effect on the anesthesia, it’s crazy though i was basically paralyzed but i could hear everything (people talking) and feel everything i can’t remember the pain so much anymore because it was so long ago but at the time of the operation it seemed like the worst pain imaginable i first felt the scalple then heard the saw and felt the saw cut into my sternum i think i finally passed out or “went under” from either the pain or anxiety of the whole situation i do remember the pressure from the saw it was unbelievable i can also remember screaming for them to stop and wanting to die. anyway sorry for the scary story it was just weird watching this movie because it was so exact to what i felt and what happened to me. i guess my question would be does this happen more commonly with open heart surgeries and does alcohol or the fact that i had shots of adrenaline before the anesthesia mean anything? Also does this happen mostly in trauma cases because everything is unplanned? it sounds like the person above me answered my question -oops!

I just had a double heria surgery done on Friday . IThis is the first time I have ever been put under . I have put off my surgery for yrs. because my bro in law was an nurse anestisist and would steal the patients morphine . Long story short I woke up during my procedure ., pulled my tubes out and screamed ” im Fnnn Dying “. I am soooo bruised and in pain . I dont know if I should sue or what ? None of the staff told my family what happened , so its all on me . Any advice would be greatly appreciated .

Hey all, I just had an appendectomy last week, and this happened to me. I am still unsure of what part of the surgery I actually woke up in. I awoke from a terrible dream (one where I thought I was dying) to not being able to move anything (because of the paralysis medicine they inject). Needless to say, I absolutely freaked. I couldn’t even open my eyes. All I could hear was the anesthesiologist and the nurses talking. I still had the chest tube in my throat so I felt like I couldn’t breathe and my arms and legs were still strapped to the operating table. After a few minutes, I was able to twitch my head. I heard the nurse say “Oh my gosh, I have never seen anyone twitch like this, look at her pulse!” I heard the machines beeping as my pulse raised, I guess they figured out what happened and put me back under because the next time I woke up again was in the recovery room with a very swollen lip and scratched up throat. I’m guessing it’s from the twitching of my head with the chest tube still in. It was probably one of the scariest things I’ve experienced, every night since the surgery I have had some kind of bad dream. I’m hoping this will end soon.

Just make sure you know your anesthesiologist!

About 25 years ago, my father went for surgery to have a tumor removed from his neck. He too awoke during surgery. He could hear them yelling “We’re losing him!!!” He said it was so horrible to not be able to twitch a finger or anything to let them know he was aware. And the tube down the throat was worse – not being able to breathe on his own. He said when he awoke he had never been so frightened in all his life and thought he was going crazy. He never said a word to anyone for a few days but finally asked his doctor about it. Dad said he wouldn’t wish that on his worst enemy! He had a total of 18 surgeries in a 23 year span and this was the one and only time it happened…thank goodness.

This happened to me, but I didn’t say anything to anyone because I was so scared.
I started to wake up in surgery and could hear people talking around me. I knew I shouldn’t be awake and that I was in surgery and started to panic, but I couldn’t move. I remember trying as hard as I could to yell or move my head or open my eyes, but I couldn’t. Finally (after what seemed like much effort- but was probably only seconds) I was able to let out a groan. ( I was yelling in my head) I heard a nurse say something about this, and then I went out again.
I never felt any pain thank goodness, just really afraid that I was awake and I shouldn’t be and not being able to tell them I was awake.

sandman64 sounds like the typical anesthesiologist who tries to convince you general anesthia is basically risk-free and no big deal. I had bone surgery on my femur and the anesthesiologist came in 20 min before the surgery and basically refused to do a regional block even though i specifically asked for it, so I went along with him and had general. He must have given too much because I didn’t wake up until 2 1/2 hours after the surgery was over.

I had general anesthesia this past week and I remember three things. I remember them sedating me and feeling really relaxed right before they administered the drug that knocked me out. Then I fell asleep. The next thing I remembered was waking up and struggling with an intensity I’ve never felt before. I don’t know if I was vomiting or being intubated but it was a very desperate feeling like I was violently ill or being strangled. I heard voices but then I was out again. The last thing I remember was waking up from surgery after the procedure, not feeling sick or scared, just tired. I had bitten my lip. I have visible broken blood vessels in both eyes and little pin prick blood vessel breaks all over my face from the “struggle.” I see the doctor tomorrow for a recheck. I think I woke up when they tried to put the tube down my throat. I remember smelling a plastic substance in my mouth but not feeling a tube. It was like vomiting without being able to breathe. Scary.

I thought maybe the strangling experience was a dream until the next morning when I saw my face.