Yipe!

[scottobear]

From Straight Dope -

Do some people remain alert -- but paralyzed -- under anesthesia?

The short answer, yes. *shivers* That's a freakin' Nightmare to the fifth power. (kudos to mtothe5th for spotting this!)

Comments

[tillytollo.livejournal.com]

oh my. this is scary. i know how it feels to wake up in severe pain...but i can't even imagine what it's like to feel the whole thing. i think i'm going to be ill now...

Re:

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

that's certainly the stuff nightmares are made of.

It's not really as bad as it sounds.....

[tjousk.livejournal.com]

Re: It's not really as bad as it sounds.....

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

no? being aware of pain while having a major procedure done? I don't know.. sounds horrific.

Hrmmm....

[tjousk.livejournal.com]

I wasn't actually aware of any pain.....

Re: Hrmmm....

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

oh, well, that's not nearly so bad... some of the folks in the article had paralysis under the anesthetic, but no pain relief... that's like something out of a horrible twilight zone.

AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mouseferatu.livejournal.com]

I mean, I've been under anesthetic before, so I know I'm not one of those poor folks (assuming circumstances don't change, knock on plant-matter). But still, I have to say...

AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[laurak.livejournal.com]

OMG I know I read an article once, written by a woman who had experienced "awareness" (that's what they call it, I think) under anesthesia. Thanks to that article, if I ever need to have surgery, I am going to be scared to death. But, they interviewed an anesthesiologist for the article, and he offered a plausible explanation. Surgical general anesthesia consists of two parts-one part medication to put you to sleep, the other to paralyze your body so you don't move on the table. Apparently, 10-15 or so years ago, a new combination of medications began being used in many hospitals. What happened was, the paralysis med worked fine, but the sleep med did not work at all on many people. So an above average amount of people reported feeling the whole thing (YIKES!!) The anesthesiologist assured that different and more reliable meds are now being used, and the chances of experiencing awareness are very, very slim.

But stillOMG I know I read an article once, written by a woman who had experienced "awareness" (that's what they call it, I think) under anesthesia. Thanks to that article, if I ever need to have surgery, I am going to be scared to death. But, they interviewed an anesthesiologist for the article, and he offered a plausible explanation. Surgical general anesthesia consists of two parts-one part medication to put you to sleep, the other to paralyze your body so you don't move on the table. Apparently, 10-15 or so years ago, a new combination of medications began being used in many hospitals. What happened was, the paralysis med worked fine, but the sleep med did not work at all on many people. So an above average amount of people reported feeling the whole thing (YIKES!!) The anesthesiologist assured that different and more reliable meds are now being used, and the chances of experiencing awareness are very, very slim.

But still…that is seriously a frightening thought!
(sorry for such a long comment.) :-)

Re:

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

no worries. always happy to have a biggie comment or 5. :)

thanks for the perspective!