I woke up during surgery, Have you?

Nurses General Nursing

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I was responding to another thread the other day and made mention of the fact that I woke up DURING my last surgery. I got to wondering if this had ever happened to anybody else, so I thought I'd ask.

It happened to me last year. I had a vague memory of waking up and seeing the overhead operating room lights, and being in excruciating pain. I thought I had imagined it, until two different anesthesioligists (teaching hospital) came up to my room, on separate occasions, and asked me if I had any memory of waking up during my surgery. I was shocked to find out that it actually did happen. :uhoh21:

I later requested a copy of both my hospital records and my surgeons records for my own file, and amazingly enough, it wasn't mentioned anywhere in my records. I wooooonder why...Hmmmmm? Of course, my surgeon downplayed the whole incident at my follow up appt.

Has anybody else ever had this experience before? If so, what do you remember, and did your surgeon own up to it?

Specializes in Ortho, Med surg and L&D.
I can't believe how many people have had this horrifying experience. That did it for me. I will never have surgery again if I can help it.

Here, hear,

I agree Angi O'Plasty. Reading this thread has been more than an eye-opener.

I don't know how to express my empathy enough for patients who "feel" and are paralyzed, how unthinkable.

Gen

Specializes in Anesthesia.

To any of you CRNA's out there: Is it, or is it not, standard to administer a paralyzant to pts receiving general anesthesia? I always thought it was standard procedure during a general. Either they didn't use it on me, or it wore off, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do the things they told me I did. I'm not seeking advice for medical or legal purposes, I'm just curious.

Not a CRNA quite yet (I don't take my boards until next month). I can, however, answer your question. No, it is not always necessary to utilize a neuromuscular blocker (paralytic) during general anesthesia. There are plenty, plenty of surgeries that do not require muscle relaxation, & in these cases the anesthesia provider may or may not use any.

thanks rnlou, i stand corrected. :)

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PSYCH, PP, CEN.

I always have a hard time waking up after general anes, so I ask my doctors to use as little as possible. On my fifth knee surgery I woke up, talked to the doctors for a couple of minutes and they didn't want to be bothered by me during surgery so they knocked me back out. Fortunately I was in no pain and am very happy with this doctor. We still joke about it from time to time.

I am horrified by some of the experiences fellow posters have had. I will definately discuss anes more in depth with the doctors should I ever need another sx.

People need to understand that not all surgeries require patients to be asleep. Many surgeries are done while the patients are completely awake. People have a misconception that they are unintentionally awake when they have a spinal or a regional anesthesia the fact is you are suppose to be. The main point is you should not be in a lot of pain. As far as recall emergency C-sections and Cardiac surgeries have the highest recall rates.

I remember waking up during my colostomy surgery. Like a lot of others have said, I could not make a sound to let them know I was awake, so I tried to shake my legs..........or maybe I was having a seizure............I am not sure.........I just remember being petrified and in excruciating pain. No one has ever mentioned that I woke up during surgery, but I know I did, no doubt in my mind. I don't blame the anesthesiologist for it though. Everyone is different and everyone has a different tolerance level for medications, so there are apt to be those few out there who are more tolerant than others and only experience with that specific person will clue the surgery staff into the patient's tolerance level.

Specializes in Anesthesia.
People need to understand that not all surgeries require patients to be asleep. Many surgeries are done while the patients are completely awake. People have a misconception that they are unintentionally awake when they have a spinal or a regional anesthesia the fact is you are suppose to be. The main point is you should not be in a lot of pain. As far as recall emergency C-sections and Cardiac surgeries have the highest recall rates.

Thank you. This is exactly the point I was trying to make earlier. Some people on here are describing awareness under general anesthesia, and that is indeed a shame. But what some others have described are IV sedation (MAC) or even spinal anesthetic cases. These are not the same things. Not at all.

Thank you. This is exactly the point I was trying to make earlier. Some people on here are describing awareness under general anesthesia, and that is indeed a shame. But what some others have described are IV sedation (MAC) or even spinal anesthetic cases. These are not the same things. Not at all.

That's it! Exactly! If you didn't have a general (where they put you to sleep and place a breathing tube down you throat), there is the possibility of remembering it. That is not uncommon. What is uncommon, and there is no excuse for, is being under a general and remembering part of the procedure.

I work with a lady, who works in surgery that was having a visceral hernia repaired. She recalls what was said during the incision and how it hurt. She was even able to repeat who said what. This is one that should not have happened.:nono:

Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.
Here, hear,

I agree Angi O'Plasty. Reading this thread has been more than an eye-opener.

I don't know how to express my empathy enough for patients who "feel" and are paralyzed, how unthinkable.

Gen

holycowsmile.gif

Just to see how many here on this board alone have had this happen to them is really scary. It does make you wonder....

It must be sheer hell to not be able to communicate that you are awake and FEELING the pain ! Trying to mouth the words.. nothing coming out. chocksmiley.gif

Wish there was some way to discuss this with the surgeon BEFORE surgery and agree on SOME method of letting him know IF you were to waken. *sigh*

I understand about the IV sedation versus the general, and I wouldn't even mind the being awake or feeling pulling, prodding, etc.... as long as there was no PAIN involved.

But to be feeling intense pain and not be able to verbalise that... wow. That's just plain wrong. :stone

Scary stuff.

There is a monitor called a BIS that allows the anesthesiologist to know how deep of an unconsciousness you are in. We have them. Sometimes the anesthesiologist simply does not use it. There is also something like a 15 sec. to one minute delay in the system.

Not during surgery, but I did wake up during a bronchoscopy. Kept trying to cough-heard doc say give her more.....

Thankfully, all of the surgeries I've had were awareness free.

Specializes in CCU, Geriatrics, Critical Care, Tele.

Here is a link to Anesthesia awareness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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