手術中に患者が意識を取り戻る事故（麻酔中の意識）は、ほとんどの場合5分以内に終わる。しかし2008年、ドナ・ペナーは手術中に意識を取り戻し（話すことも動くこともできなかった）、全身麻酔を受けていたにもかかわらず、90分間も意識のある状態が続いた。
【閲覧注意】手術中に意識が戻った女性、90分間も地獄を味わう…😱
挿話
挿話
挿話手術中に患者が意識を取り戻る事故（麻酔中の意識）は、ほとんどの場合5分以内に終わる。しかし2008年、ドナ・ペナーは手術中に意識を取り戻し（話すことも動くこともできなかった）、全身麻酔を受けていたにもかかわらず、90分間も意識のある状態が続いた。
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>[In 2008 Donna Penner](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/awake-during-surgery-1.3765478) went in for routine operation at rural Manitoba hospital. Despite getting a general aesthetic she woke up during surgery, unable to speak or move. The ordeal left her with PTSD.
…
“I could feel nurses scrubbing my abdomen. I thought, ‘Great it’s over.’ In reality they were prepping me for surgery. Then I heard surgeon speak. His words hit me hard. I heard him say ‘Scalpel please.’ I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and I thought, ‘no way’.”
During the ordeal, Penner did everything she could possibly do to get the attention of the doctors. [She noted:](https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38733131#:~:text=I%27d%20had%20a%20general%20anaesthetic%20before%20and%20I%20knew%20I%20was%20supposed%20to%20have%20one%20for%20this%20procedure.%20I%27d%20never%20had%20a%20problem%20with%20them%2C%20but%20when%20we%20got%20to%20the%20hospital%20I%20found%20myself%20feeling%20quite%20anxious)
>I managed to twitch my foot three times to show I was awake. But each time, someone put their hand on it to still it, without verbally acknowledging I had moved. The operation lasted for about an hour-and-a-half.
Eventually, she realized she could move her tongue. The anesthesiologist then noticed her playing with the breathing tube in her throat and, thinking the paralytic had worn off, removed the tube.
* [About 50% of patients](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-may-19-2017-1.4121961/i-went-into-distress-patient-wakes-up-during-surgery-1.4121977#:~:text=About%2050%20per%20cent%20of%20patients%20who%C2%A0wake%20during%20surgery%20suffer%20from%20post%20traumatic%20stress%20disorder%20(PTSD)%2C%20says%C2%A0Jacobsohn) who wake during surgery suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
I woke up and heard somebody say “Cut a little more here.”
I was like, fuck that. Im going back to sleep.
Almost everyone here is describing waking up during moderate to deep sedation, not anesthesia.
With anesthesia you can’t breathe for yourself, so you get a breathing tube placed. Think of something like having your appendix out. With moderate sedation it’s totally permissible to open your eyes, hear things, and move a little. When you start to do those things, it’s usually a sign you need a little more medication if the procedure isn’t over. You shouldn’t need much or any breathing support. Think of getting a colonoscopy. You’re generally given medications to make sure you’re not in pain and often ones that impede memory formation, so it’s less likely to be a traumatic event.
I woke up during a surgery years ago, but thankfully I didn’t feel anything. The anesthesiologist noticed and gave me the choice to either stay awake or go back to sleep. I chose the latter because wtf.
These incidents are happening more often now because of chronic marijuana use. Makes your anesthesia tolerance much higher than average. Some states like Colorado are requiring BIS monitors for all surgeries to measure the electrical activity in the brain to make sure patients aren’t awake during surgery.
Fuck everything about this story.
I had all my wisdom teeth taken out at once. I didn’t know it then, but I have a genetic resistance to most drugs. Some drugs quite literally have no effect on me. The nitrous worked, but the anesthesia did not.
I felt everything they did. Including the bone saw they used to cut apart my molars that were impacted. I felt the heat, the pressure, the vibration and the pain. I could even smell the burning from the friction. But I was powerless to move or communicate.
This is now my greatest fear, and I may yet choose to die before agreeing to any other surgery.
The story in the article describes a phenomenon called Awareness – a rare occurrence in general anesthesia.
Most commenters here describe procedures though where they were in twilight sedation or other sedation states (like ortho procedures with spinal anesthesia), dental procedures, colonoscopies.
When in general anesthesia, you cannot talk, as there is a breathing tube in your windpipe.
Awareness still happens (rarely) – but most commenters would from a scientific standpoint not count as such. Also the stories where someone made a mistake or an anesthetic wore off do not count as true awareness (as it is logical that if the meds wear off patients become more aware)
True awareness is when everything is done right and the patient still remains aware. This is incredibly rare and also the reason why we use EEG and other control mechanisms.
source: i am an anesthesiologist
I woke up during dental surgery; it wasn’t painful but I could feel the surgeon pulling the stitches through my gums. I made kind of an “aaaarfhhhhhhgg” noise and she said, “oh are you awake?” Through the mess in my mouth I said I could feel her stitching me, but it was fine and didn’t hurt. Then I woke up after the surgery lol. The anesthesiologist was on the ball.
They didn’t mention it later, and didn’t bite during the follow up appointment when I said I had been awake. I had to get my sedation records to make sure I didn’t hallucinate the whole thing.
I woke up during oral surgery as a child. The dentist had accidentally nicked a capillary or something right as i woke up because i moved suddenly and he wasnt expecting it, and he was sprayed with a fine mist of my blood. Ten years old and im apologizing profusely for bleeding on him, and hes horrified and hurrying to have the nurse put me under again. But he’s not horrified because he was covered in blood, he was afraid I would get scared from all the blood and he was worried about me. We laughed about it after the procedure when I was fully awake, and considering what a nervous and sensitive child I was im genuinely shocked that this was a funny experience to me and not traumatizing, perhaps this was luck
I’ve had this happen three times. I woke up during total hip replacement and did a running commentary. They kept trying to shut me up but it didn’t work. I remember saying “Oh, that’s an air grinder, I use those at work”
I woke up during a septoplasty with a chisel up my nose. Somebody said ” this guy’s awake!” and the lights went out.
Third time was oral surgery, they were breaking pieces out of my jaw to get my tooth out.
I learned young that you don’t pass out around people.
This happened to me during open-heart surgery. I think it was at the end and my brain was fully awake but I couldn’t move for the life of me. I could only see purple and swirls like when you rub your eyes really hard, and I could feel them stitching me up and tugging at the flesh, but it didn’t hurt.
I was nine 🙁
Endoscopic, colonoscopies don’t count. There us a reason it is called conscious sedation.
When I was a child decades ago, I woke up in surgery, the doctor didn’t expect it, accidentally cut something he shouldn’t have, and there was a momentary panic by the surgical team. For them, it was probably a few seconds. For me, it was my first operation, and I still remember those faces, those VERY wide eyes, and then panic from them that made me panic. I have had nightmares about that and fear of operations ever since.
This just happened to me two days ago! But it was just a colonoscopy so it wasn’t traumatic.
I was fully out-out (not twilight sedation) and then I was suddenly aware of what was happening and heard myself say something like “I can feel what’s happening” and they said “it’s okay, we’re almost done”. I’m guessing the anesthesiologist then pumped more sedative at that moment, or something, because that’s all I remember.
I’m not sure if that’s common. It was no bid deal but I guess I might worry about waking up again if I was scheduled for another more complicated procedure.
I woke up while getting my sigmoid colon removed. I remember feeling no pain but a LOT of pressure in my lower abdomen, like I had to take a huge shit. I don’t remember what caused it but suddenly somebody said “Brian I think he’s waking up” and then a guy said “Oh. Oh shit!” Then the next thing I remember was being woken up in the recovery room with a bunch of other patients and doctors and nurses around us all.
I was out of it and I said “Brian, I’m awake” and from across the room I heard a nurse laugh and say “see?! I told you he was awake!”
Then the Nurse came over and she told me the whole story and that Brian was the anesthesiologist, and he’d let the gas level dip a bit or something and she could tell I was going to wake up because she always looks at the eyes moving under the eyelids.
“They said you can’t tell because of that but I have been a nurse for 30 years I can tell all the time.”
I woke up in the middle of an operation to repair my eardrum and widen my ear canal. What I remember is, what felt like, a serrated blade sawing into my head. I could hear it cutting through cartilage and feel it tugging my head. I was lucid enough, for long enough that I was able to scream “fuck fuck fuck” at the top of my lungs and heard someone saying “shhhhh shhhh”. I still have dreams about it and have random flashbacks to the feeling that make my skin crawl.
Woke up during knee replacement. I had a spinal block so l couldn’t feel anything. There was a drape so l couldn’t see much and l had an apparatus down my throat so l couldn’t talk. There was a nurse on my side of the drape who didn’t see my eyes open at first but when she did l think she put me back under.
Don’t they feel any pain?
Most of anesthesia awareness cases are from Trauma/Emergency or C-Sections.
The Trauma/Emergency is because we can’t give you the anesthesia we would like because your body can’t take it at that moment. And during emergency C/S you are trying to get the baby out 5 min ago and we are in a rush.
Most of the personal comments about awareness on the thread are about sedation cases which has a much higher chance of awareness or even expected awareness like cataracts.
My mom had cataract surgery in 1990. She woke up while they were (spoiler for medical stuff) >!cutting into her eye!<. For some reason, she thought that telling 8yr old me about that incident (and her trying to signal to the nurses in vain, while paralyzed) was appropriate. Anyway, if I get cataracts, I’m just gonna lose my vision. Thanks, Mom!!!
Can’t they tell if someone’s awake and having anxiety by a heart rate increase?
I’ve woken twice. One when I had my wisdom teeth out and once during an endoscopy, but it was so brief.
I had a friend wake up in the middle of her surgery and she said it was so terrifying and she told them as soon as it was over and they were like “nah you didn’t” and she had to repeat back to them things that were said for them to take her seriously.
Woke up during wisdom teeth extraction. Most redheads have a gene (MC1R) that affects how we handle pain and anesthesia.
I had a heart ablation for WPW and woke up when my heart rate went well over 200. I woke up suddenly and looked at the monitor thing and someone said, “is everything okay?” And I was like “is my heart going to slow down?” And they said “yes it’ll go back to normal” and I said “okay thank you” and just went right back to sleep. Then I woke up sometime later and it was all over with. Valium and anesthesia. Loved it.
Yup! Happened to me. Starting choking on the tube and the anesthesiologist looked down, freaked out, made some quick adjustments, and I was out again.
I didn’t feel any pain, but I remember the surgeon looking hard at me, and saying, “take her down a notch”…and then I was in recovery.
Would there not be a difference in heartbeat, since when you sleep it slows down, but when youre scared or in pain it goes up?
I woke up during my wisdom teeth removal. I only remember them applying a ton of pressure on my tooth, like trying to use a crowbar to pry it out, or at least that’s what it felt like. I remember not being able to move, and I don’t remember seeing anything so I think my eyes were closed. I could hear but I forgot what they were saying.
When I realized I had woken up, I kept trying to take as many deep breaths as I could in hopes that I would go back under. I guess it worked because that short moment was the only thing I could recall afterwards.
My dad was having his pacemaker replaced, or maybe the battery, and he woke up towards the end. He overheard the doctor and nurse talking and he figured he could endure the pain in his chest a bit until they were done. I guess they weren’t moving fast enough for his liking and he startled them when he asked “how long until you’re done? This hurts quite a bit”
This happened to me. Yeah it was under 5 minutes but still traumatic
How do you prove this though? lol like to sue the hospital? I guess I just assume she did
Happened to me while i was having all of my teeth extracted. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. I felt them pull a couple teeth and had zero ability to let them know i could feel everything. It was by far the worst pain i have ever felt and i have had many surgeries and broken many bones. I cant even begin to say how much worse this was beyond anything i have ever felt. After a couple teeth pulled i finally passed out from the absolutely brutal pain.
I was completely awake during a surgery. I could sleep everything but luckily couldn’t feel anything. I thought it was really cool, I only had wished I could move my head to see more lol l, but I completely understand how others would disagree.
I remember getting my wisdom teeth taken out. All 4 at once.
Tricky little procedure according to the dentist.
I was given a general anaesthetic. Don’t fully remember the name, but was something akin to Midazolam.
The dentist told me I’d not feel anything and would essentially be asleep and not remember anything after.
However, I have EDS (undiagnosed at the time), which I suspect is why I remember everything – including the pain.
I remember so vividly becoming alert at one point in agony mid procedure with the dental assistant mentioning to the dentist “I think he’s fully alert and can feel it”. To which the dentist responded something like “no, he isn’t. It’s fine.”
Then the procedure continued but I was so sedated I couldn’t form a proper way to stop it.
Anyway, four wisdom teeth removed but I’ll always remember the helplessness of being worked on and unable to communicate.
Horrible.
This happens with alarming frequency during c sections (patient is awake ) but of course so many doctors over the years just don’t believe them screaming their heads off in terror. Horrible.