50 Bone-Chilling And Hilarious Stories From People Who Shouldn’t Have Woken Up During Surgery

I have woken up for one tooth extraction and two colonoscopies. Spoke to the anesthesiologist on all occasions when I was supposedly under. They topped up the dosage and I fell asleep again.

For context, I am a stealth redhead. The hair in my head is dark but when I was younger, my beard was red. I also have a redheaded kid, so I clearly carry the gene. Redheads are notoriously tough to anesthetize.

"oh hello.... you're not supposed to be here.... let's just...."..... fade to black.

Not me.

A pal of mine (we all work in healthcare) woke up during a kidney stone surgery..

And the doctor (who we worked with) was looking at the X-ray screen and says “where did that thing [stone] go?” And my buddy, an X-ray tech of 30 years… wakes up… looks at the screen above him… sticks his finger on it and says “it’s right there” the urologist said something like “wth??? Put him back out.”.

One of my coworker woke up during a hand surgery after hurting his hand on the job. According to him it didn't hurt and he asked to see. The surgeon showed him and started explaining what they were doing and he was like " Wow, that's soooo cool!". Then he fell back to sleep mid explaination because they gave him more anesthesia while he was distracted.

I kinda woke up during twilight sleep when I was having my wisdom teeth removed. The nurse was saying she needed to find a pink cat Halloween costume and I kept trying to tell her to check party city .

Had IV sedation for wisdom teeth. Woke up part way through. Dentist said “oh no, he’s awake”. I pointed at the IV bag and everyone laughed and someone said “he wants more”. They put me back under.

They were talking about buying vintage lunchboxes on eBay. I wasn't properly awake or in pain, but I could 'feel'/had awareness that their hands were inside me. The anesthesiologist noticed my eyes were open, and I woke up again properly when they were wheeling me into recovery.

My mom was having surgery last year and woke up in the middle of it. She couldn't feel pain though she could feel being touched in the areas they were doing the surgery. She was in a simillar state people in "after the dentist" videos are. She told the surgeon she was a ninja and booped her nose and then mumbled incoherently until they were done.

I was having cataract surgery (late 20’s, thanks mom and dad for the cool genes). Beforehand I let them know that I need a bit more pain meds than most people, they were like “aww you’ll be fine”.

I see this crazy bright red gross thing and it’s completely silent. Somehow I was able to get out “guys, I’m awake” (at least in my brain that’s what I said) and it was silent, I was trying so hard not to move my eye because, you know, scalpel near your eyeball/melting your lens is terrifying. I started start shaking my hand to get their attention and they finally said “we’ve got a mover”, and praise God, something about more meds.

Everything went well but I get in a panic thinking about that often.

My surgical team purposefully woke me up during jaw surgery.

They put me under, and the next thing I know, I'm being told to open my eyes. I eventually manage to open them, at which point they cover my eyes with a towel and continue with the surgery.

I couldn't feel pain, but I could feel the pressure and hear the cracking of bone reverberating through my skull. I also clearly remember feeling warm liquid running down my face and wondering if it was blood. I silently cried the entire time.

Eventually, they finish up and take me to recovery. One of the nurses comes in and says, "Tisk, and I thought you were a nice girl." Unable to talk, I look at her with confusion and grunt. "You don't remember?" she asked. She gets all excited and pulls in another nurse to tell me the story.

Apparently, when they started the surgery, my subconscious took offense. I broke the restraining equipment, ripped out IVs, injured a nurse, tried my best to decapitate the doctor with the broken equipment, and was screaming at the top of my lungs for them to let me go.

I remember none of this. As far as I am concerned, I was asleep.

I started to wake during back surgery, told the doctor afterwards that I had a dream someone was pulling on my spine with a pair of pliers. He just looked at me and said, “yeah you started to revive and we put you further under, it happened when I was pulling on your spine”.

I was awake for both of my hand surgeries in 2023, one time I was watching them quietly and the surgeon and assistants were talking about getting lunch after and they wanted tacos. I said have you ever tried (local taco place) and the assistant said, “holy cow I forgot you were awake”.
I guess they don’t operate on a lot of local anesthetic patients. We all got a good laugh.

Woke up during my wisdom teeth procedure to my dentist hands and tools in my mouth. No feeling at all in my mouth just being able to see it. He notice I was a wake and gave me a wave followed by a thumbs up.


He told me a week after that the thumbs up was him telling the other doctor to jack up the anesthesia because he’s awake right now.

My mom and I still laugh about this.

Woke up mid-colonoscopy. Turned head to look at the screen. Said is that my colon? Doc said "Say night night." Went back to sleep. Remembered it all.

Not woke up, but when my mom was having me via c-section she felt them cutting into her and she shouted out and reached for the knife (scalpel I guess?). My dad fainted. They then decided to put her fully under instead of just local anesthetic.

Woke up and said "that tickles".

Doctor laughed and said she was almost done.

I woke up during an endoscopy. I had the tube and everything down my throat but I didn't know what was happening and the only thing I could focus on was how I couldn't breathe. I clearly remember trying to talk to tell the doctors I couldn't breathe, because I could hear people around me, but apparently I didn't actually say anything.

The doctors noticed because my heart rate started going crazy and then I stopped breathing all together. They took out the tube, i started breathing again, and gave me more anesthesia. Once I was in recovery, I was told to always inform the anesthesiologist that I woke up during a procedure, so they can adjust accordingly. I've had two other procedures since then and have not woken up during them.

Barely woke up getting my wisdom teeth out. I could feel them like breaking up my teeth, they said I had very twisted long roots and it took a bit longer than expected.

I woke up while they were putting my femur back into my leg. I didn’t see much but I remember feeling like I was being shaken. Surgery sometimes requires some violent movements I guess.

Also woke up during my wisdom teeth extraction. Someone was holding my head while the doctor was using their full weight to pull a tooth.

I woke up during major emergency eye surgery (vitrectomy for a torn retina).

I couldn’t see anything, but I could feel them poking around in what felt like the middle of my brain. I remember thinking “this is the worst thing that has ever happened to me” in regard to waking up. I started twiddling my fingers and toes to distract me, and they noticed and asked if I was okay. I said “sorry but it hurts a bit…”, then I remember them asking where the anaesthetist was.

My thought after that was “aren’t they meant to be sitting here?!”. Anyway it was a blur after that, haha.