Did Anyone See Larry King Last Night?

elizabells, BSN, RN · Dec 14, 2007

It happened to me, but luckily I don't feel particularly traumatized by it. I was having a chest wall mass (turned out to be a costochondroma) biopsied when I was 18. I should have known it was going to be rough when the anesthesia resident, while trying to put an IV in my hand in pre-op, actually went in and then came back out through my skin with the angiocath. So I go into surgery, got the conscious sedation, go night-night. Then I wake up while they were resecting the mass. Scalpel to the sternum = pretty painful. To the best of my recollection, I said "Um, guys? That really hurts." Back to sleep. I woke up again while they were suturing, and this time I was restrained. Apparently I got a little slappy at one point. Back to sleep again. I woke up in the PACU just SCREAMING for my mother and sobbing. The nice PACU nurse gave me something lovely, and I looked at him and said "I could come back next week and do it again, if you'll give me more of that." Thankfully my mother was actually there, and they got her fairly quickly.

I think it just takes a LOT of anesthesia to put me out. I'm not particularly big (5'4 and 130lbs), but when I had my wisdom teeth out and again when I had an upper endoscopy done it took them a lot longer and much bigger doses to reach the level of sedation the docs wanted. It's funny because when it comes to ETOH, I'm an incredibly cheap date. :biere:

Satori77, ADN · Dec 14, 2007

That is so scary! That is why I would never want surgery. I am scared of waking up during, or not at all!! I would rather be the one observing and helping. But I think I would be a horrible surgery patient.

I do know a woman who had a c-section, and the anesthesia didn't work (not sure if she had a spinal or an epidural). But she said she felt everything, the incision, the pulling, said it was excruciating. Kept telling them that, but they would believe her. I felt so bad for her, and am so glad I never needed a c-section. Her story traumatized me!

ewattsjt · Dec 16, 2007

i worked with one doc who did not allow any talking in his cases other than what was needed because he had two patients who told him the conversations that were being carried on etc…he was also always questioning if anesthesia was giving enough gas. i haven’t personally known of it other than conscious sedation but his paranoid actions make me believe it can happen.

medic2bsn · Dec 16, 2007

It happened to me, but luckily I don't feel particularly traumatized by it. I was having a chest wall mass (turned out to be a costochondroma) biopsied when I was 18. I should have known it was going to be rough when the anesthesia resident, while trying to put an IV in my hand in pre-op, actually went in and then came back out through my skin with the angiocath. So I go into surgery, got the conscious sedation, go night-night. Then I wake up while they were resecting the mass. Scalpel to the sternum = pretty painful. To the best of my recollection, I said "Um, guys? That really hurts." Back to sleep. I woke up again while they were suturing, and this time I was restrained. Apparently I got a little slappy at one point. Back to sleep again. I woke up in the PACU just SCREAMING for my mother and sobbing. The nice PACU nurse gave me something lovely, and I looked at him and said "I could come back next week and do it again, if you'll give me more of that." Thankfully my mother was actually there, and they got her fairly quickly.
I think it just takes a LOT of anesthesia to put me out. I'm not particularly big (5'4 and 130lbs), but when I had my wisdom teeth out and again when I had an upper endoscopy done it took them a lot longer and much bigger doses to reach the level of sedation the docs wanted. It's funny because when it comes to ETOH, I'm an incredibly cheap date. :biere:

You mentioned you were having conscious sedation. Were any of the stories on Larry King about waking up with General Anesthesia?

CRNAGAL · Dec 16, 2007

Waking up during conscious sedation is not anesthesia awareness. True awareness during general anesthesia is very rare. Most times when you hear people talking about how they woke up during surgery, they were just being sedated or had a regional anesthetic with sedation or something similar. That's why when these sensational types of articles or television shows are in the media, everyone and their brother talks about how they woke up during surgery. The surgeries with the highest risk for true awareness are crash C-sections, trauma, and CABG. The usual causes are mechanical failure, such as vaporizer running dry, and lack of vigilance by anesthesia provider. Its usually associated with the use of paralytic agents which render the patient unable to move to alert the provider to the inadequate depth of anesthesia. This is not to minimize anyone's experience who did become more awake than they wanted to be during their conscious sedation or who felt pain, heard things, etc. Sometimes patients can become more awake due to the distribution of the drug as it is metabolized or due to stimulation from the surgery. Sometimes more sedation or narcotic can't be given because oxygenation can't be maintained, patient is obstructing, etc. If you need anesthesia, don't be afraid to share your fears, ask questions, etc. Hope this helps a little!

elizabells, BSN, RN · Dec 17, 2007

And so I learn something new every day. Sorry my answer didn't speak to the actual question.

jwk · Dec 20, 2007

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