Waking up during anesthesia and surgery?

Question

Been watching it on A & E. I have a couple questions actually. Has this ever happened to you? And for medical personnel, if any are on here, why do we havee to receive amedication where you are "paralized" when you are also receiving anesthesia? I guess it would be so we don't "move" in our sleep? But wouldn't anesthesia do that too? What HORRIBLE stories.....I can't even IMAGINE. Evidently it happens to a LOT of people (never happened to me or anyone I know). I've had a lot of surgeries and all went just fine -- thank goodness.

Boo boo - it was on Discovery Health - not A & E. (not that that matters)

Answer 1

The reason for the muscle paralytic medications reported on A&E are so that the muscles which cover the structures to be operated on can be easily retracted to expose the surgical site. In the case of abdominal surgery, the abdominal muscles must be held apart to access the organs beneath. Additionally, when placing the patient on a venilator to manage the respirations for surgery, if they have muscle control, the patient will fight against the ventilator.

The incidence of patients rising to a level of consiousness where they would have any understanding of their surroundings or any memory of the event is extremely rare. I have worked in health care for over thirty years, over 20 of those in the operating room with anesthetized patients and have never seen this occur. In addition to the paralytic agents and the anesthetic agents, the patients also are given agents that provide analgesia and are amnestic, so they would generally have no feeling or memory of the event. The largest number do not even remember the time spent in the OR prior to surgery when they were awake due to the amnestic medications.

Answer 2

I have anesthetized tens of thousands of patients, and do not know of any cases of awareness in any of my patients.

Paralysis may be required for a number of reasons. We typically use it to get the breathing tube in. People can be intubated with just a deep inhalation agent, but there's too much risk of low blood pressure and other problems with the amount of agent needed to blunt the response to laryngoscopy.

Surgeons frequently request it so that they can actually get the surgery done. Belly cases especially. Tight abdomens won't close.

Some people (hello, smokers!) cough and buck on the breathing tube without paralysis. They have sensitive airways and spend the surgery trying to cough up a lung. Not when they're paralyzed!

Sometimes not moving is critical, like during eye surgery, or anything else done under a microscope. LIttle movements look big under a microscope, and can cause damage during surgery.

We may need paralysis to be able to ventilate an obese patient.

Awareness is RARE. Most cases of "awareness" I've personally seen were with sedation, where we EXPECT some level of awareness.

Answer 3

it happened to me a long time ago & despite the skepticism it happens more than people know. I was having abdominal surgery & woke up just as they were trying to shove a scope into my abdomen. I thought I was screaming but I was totally paralyzed; I am a nurse so I know the sound of the respirator & I was wondering why in the world they had two patients in the same OR at the same time; then I realized it was me on the vent. The surgeon finally gained (extremely painful) access to my abdomen commenting that "her belly's as hard as a rock, this is from all those adhesions." I finally was able to start kicking one foot & someone said OMG she's awake. They quickly put me under again. In recovery I started crying & told the nurses what happened. They said I was dreaming. I started repeating word for word what was being said above me on the table. The anesthesiologist came in & apologized & said he had not given me enough anesthesia. Once he explained I was fine & I had multiple more surgeries with no complications. Just because you haven't seen it happen "in 20 years" doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Answer 4

I'm going to have to go with US_DR_JD's response on this one... it seems to me that the reason more and more people are thinking they are "waking up" during surgery is as a result of knee-jerk television specials such as this. As soon as there's a story on TV about tainted lettuce at Taco Bell or a problem with the flu vaccine, people panic. The same thing goes for new medical conditions.

This is why drug companies have fought long and hard to get Congress's support to publicize prescription meds on TV. It wasn't allowed back in the 1980's and earlier since Congress was trying to protect people from themselves. Now, everyone has a sleeping problem and needs the Lunesta butterfly to come in and put them to sleep, or everyone has restless legs and needs a $150 a month prescription to take care of that... or allergies that just can't be fixed by anything but whatever that woman dancing through the field of daisies is taking.

Like US_DR_JD said... becoming conscious of one's surroundings during surgery is incredibly rare. I'd like to see someone to a study on brainwave patterns during surgery utilizing EEG technology to demonstrate that in most cases, this is totally false. Remember - dreams can seem a lot like reality; if you're particularly stressed or worried before an operation, there's no telling what you mind will conjure up when you're sedated. You may dream that you're waking up during surgery - and you're not even IN surgery anymore... just a dream that one had afterwards. More and more people simply THINK they are waking up during surgery (A) because they want to have someone to sue in case things don't go just right... telling a jury about how painful it was to wake up during surgery, with tears in one's eyes, is a sure-fire way to win a malpractice case, even if it's a total lie... and (B) because they see stupid television programming like this.

Most people in this country have a very minimal understanding of medical science as it is... good example was a medical examiner out in Nebraska who was doing an autopsy on a body. Apparently the person had hung themselves with a rope in their own bedroom - and their parents found them the next day after returning from a trip. The mom's question: Are you sure it was suicide? Did you look at the DNA?

Yeah... DNA... another great buzzword from CSI and all the other crime shows. Stop worrying and leave it to the PROFESSIONALS to provide you with your advice and information, not A&E or Discovery Channel.

I've had a few operations myself... and NO, this has never happened to me.

Answer 5

Chances of that are slim to none. (You've been watching that movie, haven't you?) That's the anesthesiologist's primary job....to watch the patient and continually administer anesthetic to keep you asleep but safe during the surgery. Try not to worry. It will be over before you know it. Best wishes while healing.

Answer 6

i dont know the answers to all of that. It did happen to me. It hurt so bad I wanted to scream and I couldnt and I wanted to move but couldnt it. luckily it was almost over I only had to deal with it for like 5min. that felt like hours. then was over. I always seem to have a problem though in somr form or another.

Answer 7

i have a fear of that but never has that happen to me.