What does it feel like having general anasthetic? Will I feel pain? Will I wake up?

Question

A plastic surgeon said he could fix a droopy left eyelid and insurance would cover it. Also, thinking of having my nose straightened at the same time since it's crooked and always has been. Had wisdom teeth out and was put out, it was a breeze, but just reading too much about people not waking up from it and waking up during it and feeling pain...

Answer 1

The mortality rate attributable to anesthesia alone (not related to the reason that the patient is undergoing anesthesia - i.e., if a patient is undergoing emergency surgery for a bleeding ulcer and they die of blood loss during the operation, that's NOT attributable to anesthesia) is about 1 in 100,000.

When people die as a result of issues surrounding anesthesia, it is most commonly because of a problem securing or maintaining an open airway. A substantial amount of the evaluation and preparation anesthesiologists do prior to surgery involves making sure this isn't going to be an issue.

Another related problem is cardiac stress, and heart attacks in and around the time of surgery. Although this isn't necessarily attributable directly to anesthesia, this is often an avoidable problem as we can make fairly accurate assessments of patient cardiac risk prior to surgery. Risks that are unacceptably high can be minimized using proper medical management, and for those people who have dangerous issues with their hearts prior to elective surgery, sometimes they need to undergo cardiac surgery first.

I have not had general anesthesia myself, but I have had thousands of patients who have. The process is uniform, and so the experiences are common. The patient typically receives a dose of a sedating medication prior to rolling back into the operating room. They arrive, already a little bit sleepy. More importantly, they aren't laying down crisp memory at that point. Following this, the patient is given a series of medications that render them unconscious, and then a breathing tube is placed. The machine delivers anesthetic gas along with oxygen from that point on, and this continues to maintain the patient in an unconscious state. Close monitoring of the patient helps make sure that the medications continue to be dosed correctly throughout the operation, and then when, at the end, the medications are turned off, the patient wakes up fairly rapidly. Usually within about 5 minutes of the time that we put on the bandages, the patient is awake.

The patient is given further medications as they awaken, including anti-nausea medication, pain medication and sometimes further sedation. Most of the time the patient is still pretty sleepy as they wheel into the recovery room.

After the day of surgery, most people describe their memories of the time before surgery, they may not remember going into or coming out of the operating room, and then they remember being in the recovery room and feeling groggy. Even though the patient is awake when they roll into and then out of the operating room, they are too medicated to remember much about this part.

The length of the operation is unrelated to people's experiences of anesthesia. Short or long operations, the patient tends to report feeling as though they go down and then come right back up.

Depending on the type of operation and the type of anesthesia being employed, there can be a wide variety of techniques to employ in terms of pain control. We cannot do procedures without having people experience pain afterward, but we can do a pretty good job of making it dull instead of sharp, and of making it generally tolerable.

If you are about to undergo elective surgery, I wish you the best.

... I hope that helps.

Answer 2

You will feel a little bit of a pinprick, and maybe just a little bit of a burning sensation, when the needle for your IV goes in. But that is over very quickly. Once the anaesthetic drip starts, you will be out cold in about 3-4 seconds, and from that point on you will feel nothing, be aware of nothing. Very very deep and usually dreamless sleep. No, you will not wake up during the surgery. The anaesthesiologist is right there the whole time, monitoring your condition and your vital signs constantly, and they will adjust the anaesthesia if necessary to keep you under.

The next thing you know, you will be waking up in the recovery room after your surgery is over. Sometimes people feel groggy for a little while afterwards, but this usually passes quickly too. The rest of your sensations after surgery depend on what kind of surgery you are having, but your surgeon can and should tell you in advance what to expect when you wake up so you are not surprised.

Answer 3

General anesthesia will put you completely to sleep. You won't feel pain during the procedure. You probably will after you wake up. You shouldn't wake up until afterwards. That's the job of the anesthesiologist to give you enough and not too much. I have taken a long time to wake up when I've had surgery before and slept for most of the rest of the day, and then felt better the next day. Check with your doctor about what else you should expect.

Answer 4

You just fall asleep. You won't feel pain while you're under. You will wake up. You may feel a lot of pain when you wake up, or sometimes the surgeon numbs you or gives you a block so you won't feel pain immediately when you wake up. Regardless, they will give you pain medicine when you need it. You will be ok.

Answer 5

it is no big deal. if you have pain when you wake up the nurses are right there to give pain meds if you need them. and will you wake up? i say yes. i have been put out at different times and no problems. i didn't worry about if i woke up or not cause i'm a christian , i know where i'm going. and the good LORD can call me home when HE wants to.

Answer 6

you feel absolutely nothing depending on the type of surgery sometime you are under general anesthesia's and are awake, in this case you will fell some tugging or pressure only if you were being cut on. and if not then you would wake up and feel nothing.

Answer 7

it depends on where the pain will come from...but most likely yes...because when it wears off you will still be healing...but usually ppl feel nauseous when the wake up...so make sure you tell your anesthesiologist before your procedure so they can put that in your IV...if your having a procedure that involves IV...

GOOD LUCK!

Answer 8

You feel the needle, then you wake up.

You may feel pain from whatever procedure you're under for. (Be sure to let them know if you do--they'll fix you right up.) You'll be groggy.

Answer 9

You won't feel a thing and it will be over before you know it. The worst part is worring about it before it happens....afterwards you'll be saying, "nothing to it". Good luck!