Things people say coming out of anaesthetic

Nurses General Nursing

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I had my wisdom teeth out on Friday, and when I came too the anaesthetist told me I'd been 'showing him some affection with my fingernails'. :imbar I don't even know what he meant because I couldn't talk properly and then they put the oxygen mask on me to shut me up. I hope it was something innocent, that table is pretty much on groin level :lol2:. He was quite dishy too!

Since then I've been comforting myself with the thought that the staff had probably heard worse things from patients. So, what's the funniest thing you've heard from someone coming out from under anaesthetic?

Specializes in Retired OR nurse/Tissue bank technician.
Wow. You all had "better" experiences than I did. I was told that when I had my wisdom teeth out, I wiggled my left hand out of a restraint and punched one of the assistants hard enough to bruise her. I don't remember this at all. I'm pretty passive, I've never punched anyone while I'm awake, and I'm not even left handed! I think I must have been in a lot of pain even though I was knocked out.

When I had my wisdom teeth out, I had been knocked out and tubed (ET tube instead of NT due to an unrepaired deviated septum). The surgeon put his finger in my mouth to feel if the wisdom teeth were palpable above the gum line and I bit down on him-hard-and wouldn't let go. They had to give me more muscle relaxant and anaesthetic to make me let go.

He showed me his finger the next morning-it still had tooth marks in it. :imbar

I have PTSD issues about things being put up to my lips or in my mouth, which I hadn't told the surgeon about out of embarrassment so I'm guessing that even with being anaesthetized, my subconscious was responding to the intubation followed by the doctor poking around in my mouth.

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Specializes in Retired OR nurse/Tissue bank technician.

When I was on peds for an asthma attack as a kid, my roommate was a 12 year old who was having a sports injury repaired. They brought her back to her room from the OR, tucked her into bed and brought her mom in to be with her.

Girl starts talking, "Oh, Mom...I love being drunk. It was so much fun when (sister's name) and I got drunk!"

The mom asked what she was talking about and the girl told her all about the time her older sister, who was supposed to watching her younger sister, went into the parents' liquor cabinet and let her sample the various bottles of booze, making for a very tipsy 10 or 11 year old. Both had sworn to keep it a secret-until the anaesthetic worked as truth serum.:chuckle

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:chuckleI recently had ankle surgery and when I woke up I said the weirdest thing. I must have been hot because I was pushing the bed sheets off of me. My mom said "What's wrong, you're hot?" I said, "Yeah, get rid off this" mom said, "How you want me to get rid of this?" I replied, "Sell it on eBay, what, nobody buys sheets anymore?"

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Specializes in Cardiac, Telemetry.

When my aunt had her gall bladder removed, she stayed overnight. She had made me promise to stay at her house and watch her dog. I was visiting her when she was first waking up, and the first words out of her mouth were, ''Is my dog OK?''

A little later I was talking to her, and she patted my head and told me I was a good neice. :chuckle :roll :rotfl:

Of course, she didn't remember any of this later.

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Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.

My wife had some dental work done, and when I went into the room to wait with her while she was being revived from anesthesia, she told the anesthesiologist "I love you. You're the best thing that ever happened to me."

The doc looks at me, then back at my wife, and says, "Maam, I don't think you need to be making that confession with your husband sitting right there!".

I explained to him that my wife has an unnatural fear of dental procedures, and this being the first time she'd used a dentist that fully anesthetized their patients...she was just stressing her opinion that it was great.

LOL.

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If I've said odd things coming out of anesthesia, nobody's told me. Or, they didn't notice. I crack jokes as a way of handling situations where I'm nervous. Not dirty jokes. Just really baaaaaaad jokes. After my gall bladder surgery, the nurses started by proclaiming that I would need to stay overnight, that my surgeon always kept his patients overnight. After 40 minutes of my (lying down) stand-up routine, my doc came by to check and the nurse looked at him and said, "Please send her home!"

But we digress. Several pages back, Crux1024 mentioned hearing pirate jokes from folks coming out of anesthesia. It begs the question: "Any good ones I haven't heard yet?!?" :jester:

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I had surgery last year and my m-i-l told me I kept calling my Dr. - McDreamy....He was pretty hot! My doc never looked me in the eye the entire three days I was recovering! He would come in and assess my incision and talk to me looking at my husband.

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"Damn girl, you have some big boobies."

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Specializes in ER, IICU, PCU, PACU, EMS.

I was told I kept asking, "Am I done yet?"

That's all I would say, over and over again.

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A few years ago I needed a lung biopsy to confirm that I had (have) sarcoidosis. As they were wheeling me into the OR, I was fading fast from the sedation, but I noticed braille markings on the double-door frame. I asked what they were for. The person pushing me said "Oh, those are for our sight-challenged surgeons." We both laughed, then I was "out."

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Specializes in Wilderness Medicine, ICU, Adult Ed..

great stories!

don't be embarrassed. people say weird things coming out of anesthesia because the anesthesia is impairing brain function. it is a myth that people show their “true selves” under anesthesia. quite the opposite. their “true selves” are totally wacked out, and a mal-functioning brain is in charge instead. it is like a patient with dementia. he or she is no longer “themselves” because their brains are working abnormally. same with anesthesia, except it wears off, thank god!

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Specializes in Telemetry/Med Surg.

I shudder to think what I have said coming out of anesthesia.

I took my GF for a dental procedure and she kept telling the dental assistant about her husband, how he didn't drive her to the procedure, on and on and on. I told her that the dental staff didn't need to hear this and they just laughed and said 'we already have'.

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