30 Bone-Chilling Stories From People Who Woke Up During Surgery

Dr. Carroll noted that patients ought to remember that there's an entire team attending to them during surgery. "The person monitoring your anesthesia has a responsibility to make sure you’re comfortable, your pain is controlled, and ideally you’re asleep during any sort of significantly invasive procedure," he told Bored Panda.

"There are also nurses watching you and the surgeon will often notice when a patient is not fully under. Speaking to the medical professional after the surgery if you had an unexpected outcome such as waking, will educate that professional so that they do a better job in the future. A physician not willing to accept criticism to improve is not truly a professional," he said.

Bored Panda also wanted to get Dr. Carroll's take on what kind of support can help medical professionals deal with the stress of their job. "The administrative burden placed on physicians by insurance companies, hospital administrations, etc. are major contributors to health professional stress," the doctor said.

"Physicians are used to the stress of managing patient care and helping people through their health issues. We can do that all day long. However, administrative burdens make our job so significantly difficult that many physicians are considering early retirement. Removing those burdens will improve healthcare delivery, and not just in the United States," he pointed out that those burdens also affect physicians in Canada, the UK, and elsewhere.

According to the American Society of Anesthesiologists, only one or two in 1,000 medical procedures that involve general anesthesia involve a patient becoming conscious. Other research indicates that the actual odds might be far, far lower.

“The condition, called anesthesia awareness (waking up) during surgery, means the patient can recall their surroundings, or an event related to the surgery, while under general anesthesia. Although it can be upsetting, patients usually do not feel pain when experiencing anesthesia awareness,” the ASA explains.

Awareness during surgery isn’t the same as remembering what happened before the anesthesia started working. Some patients even dream during surgery and think that they were conscious during the procedure when actually they weren’t.

Some patients are more likely than others to regain consciousness during surgery. “It can be more common in patients with multiple medical conditions, and certain surgeries or circumstances increase the risk of awareness because the usual dose of required anesthesia cannot be used safely. These surgeries are often emergencies, such as emergency C-sections, certain types of heart surgery, and surgery that’s needed after a traumatic injury,” the ASA explains.

While some patients only vaguely remember what happened when they woke up, others vividly remember specific details. Naturally, this sort of experience can be disturbing or even traumatic for some. The ASA recommends that patients speak to their physician anesthesiologist after their surgery if it happens to them. Counseling can help deal with confusion and stress.

The more the anesthesiologist knows about your health conditions, the medication that you use, your history of alcohol and drug use, and previous experiences with going under, the better they adapt and the lower the risk of anesthesia awareness. In short, the more open and honest you are with medical professionals, the better they can do their jobs.