Anaesthesia: What exactly happens? Experiences?

[Dragon Angel]

Two months ago for a ... long reason, I had to go to the hospital for an endoscopy to resolve a duodenal ulcer that I'd say probably would've killed me if I left it alone, since my hemoglobin count was dangerously low. During the procedure, I was put under general anaesthesia and I had a kind of strange experience.

Note, I've never actually been under anaesthesia in recent memory (the closest really was a hernia surgery I had when I was like, 3) so until now the experience has been outside of my context. When I was put under, I remember the following occurring:

1. I was fitted with nasal tubes, laid on my side, and I think then injected into my IV with the anaesthetic. I was conscious at this time.
2. After a while, I slipped into some kind of "dark space". That is, a sort of black void where I perceived some undefined light, in a way that I suppose would suggest a tunnel, or a camera aperture. I say undefined light here because it was like looking forward into the room I was in and yet, not, simultaneously. I have little in terms of words to really describe it.
3. In this space I also perceived time. Or at least some "sense" of time. I would say... About 5 minutes? And yet, I didn't really "think" throughout this. Nothing crossed my mind, and yet I saw that undefined randomness. It was a weird sort of tranquility, and I guess the closest scale of time I could relate this to would be to dreams. At random points, such as when I was being wheeled out to the recovery room, I could perceive almost clearly the events of the outside while still within this void.
4. When I awoke in the recovery room, I learned the entire procedure, from falling "unconscious" into waking up, lasted approximately 30 minutes. I was not active during this time, save for them thinking I was awake before I ... woke up, but just lying still.

I was curious what people with medical knowledge would say about this? It's definitely too easy to just say "the brain does, like, weird things, man", but at the same time all I've been able to read were vague hypotheses and that in general, the method anaesthesia works on is not really known. I'm just aware that it shuts down pretty much all of the central nervous system save for several autonomic functions. Most people I've read just experience a literal gap in time, like time leaping into some moment into the future instantaneously. Others have had apparently more surreal experiences like the out-of-body effect.

If anyone would like to share their experiences too, I'd welcome those.

I must say though, ontologically, it's definitely made me think. If this is anywhere close to what actual death feels like, it might not be so bad, honestly.

[Zeropoint]

My experience with anaesthesia during hernia surgery was very different. My memories of the prep just STOPPED at a certain point, as though I went from fully conscious to completely unconscious instantly. It seems much more likely that the anaesthesia disrupted the conversion of short-term memory to long-term memory, and I experienced some interval of fading consciousness that wasn't recorded in long-term memory. Waking up from the anaesthesia was much like waking up from a deep sleep, if a bit slower and with some weird chemical odors.

[Terralthra]

My memory of general anesthesia matches Zeropoint's. They gave me nitrous, first, which makes the memories even hazier, but I distinctly remember them starting the general (propofol), saying they were doing so, and counting to perhaps 3. At that point, my memory's sense of time stops entirely, as if my brain were simply paused, and resumed with 4 fewer wisdom teeth and the sun in a different place. Unlike sleep, there was no sense that time had passed in the intervening period: for my brain, there was no intervening period.

[Esquire]

Speaking from personal experience of (quite minor) surgery, it was exactly like being in a deep sleep for a short while in that I woke up in the recovery room with no experience of time passing. I'm a very deep sleeper and almost never dream (/remember my dreams), so that tracks with nonanesthetic unconscious experiences as far as I noticed at the time.

While - and I can't be clearer about this - I am not an anesthetist, I suspect perception of time during anesthesia is due to either some form of placebo or individual drug response, and is neither universal nor a cause for concern. As always, 'further research is needed.'

[Broomstick]

Huh.

Well, I've never been under general anesthesia. I have been under heavy sedation with versed in the cocktail, which interferes with long-term memory formation. It was like flipping a switch, hearing "OK, I'm giving you the --" to suddenly being alone in a different room with no perceived time lapse. As I said, though, it wasn't general anesthesia, just heavy sedation with something that interfered with memory.

The other time was surgery until just local anesthesia - no weirdness, no time jump, and best of all no pain. I was awake during the entire procedure.

The biggest worry, other than death (which is extremely rare these days) is waking up under anesthesia during a painful procedure. Most likely to happen to redheads/gingers. Happened to my mom once, left her very traumatized afterward. Fortunately, that is also a very rare event.

The weird dream state might be from just before or just after the anesthesia kicked in fully, while your brain was sedated but no completely conscious. Time distortion under such circumstances is not unknown. A lot depends on whether or not they're using an agent that interferes with memory formation.

[FireNexus]

I got general during my gallbladder surgery. When I had a stone in my bile duct a year or so later and needed an endoscopy to remove it, they gave me a cocktail of ketamine and some kind of strong benzo, which is quite common. Ketamine is for sedation, benzo is to cause amnesia so you don't remember the dissociative experience and to enhance sedation.

I woke up after the procedure being told by an anesthesiologist that my ketamine habit was clearly out control with the amount they had to give me to keep me down. I want to say 400mg, but I was pretty foggy. i have and had no such habit. I woke up three times. Apparently, though, my sister had a similar cocktail and a similar reaction a year or so prior when she had ankle surgery. Our doctor said there must be some familial resistance to dissociatives or a more efficient form of the liver enzyme that metabolizes t.

I doubt they'd have given you full general anaesthesia for an endoscopy since it's unnecessarily risky. Ketamine is effective enough and doesn't depress your breathing so much. A dreamlike experience sounds like ketamine without enough benzo or other amnesiac to keep you from making memories for it.

[FireNexus]

Yeah, I retread what you described. A distorted sense of time and self and hallucinations? You were in a k hole, buddy.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-hole

Impressions of the K-hole often include profound distortions in or complete loss of bodily awareness, sensations of floating or falling, euphoria, and total loss of time perception. Users may experience worlds or dimensions that are indescribable, all the while being completely unaware of or having lost their individual identities or their sense of an extant and external world.

[Ziggy Stardust]

FireNexus beat me to it. As soon as I read the OP I thought "ketamine". Although, ketamine is rarely used for that type of procedure (it is most commonly used for emergency procedures or for respiratory procedures, the latter due to the fact that it suppresses breathing less than many other anesthetics). Most likely, they used a cocktail of a benzodiazepine and a strong opioid like fentanyl or midazolam. It is also possible they used a barbituate-like drug like propofol. Regardless, the neurological effects of these combinations aren't all that much different from taking ketamine, which explains why your experience sounds so dramatically similar to most accounts of ketamine use (including my own).

To engage in some idle speculation, it sounds to me like you didn't quite a high enough dose of the benzo to knock you out completely. However, you certainly wouldn't have been completely conscious, otherwise they would have upped the dose. Most likely, you were only intermittently conscious, but your brain retrospectively perceives it as a single unified memory (the way it does with dreams; you probably have a dozen or so different dreams during the night but you most often perceive it as a single dream). Thus you seem to perceive that time has been dilated, because your brain is trying to stretch a handful of stray seconds or minutes of consciousness together.

If you are curious to read other people's subjective accounts, look up the "Experiences" section for drugs like ketamine or benzodiazepine on Erowid. You will see the wide range of different effects that people report when taking strong psychoactive chemicals like that. Yours is by no means the strangest one out there (though, of course, you may want to take some with a grain of salt, as people do like to exaggerate).

[Alyrium Denryle]

Honestly, it all depends on what they used and the dosage. When I was under general anesthesia for surgery when I was a kid, I was given Nitrous Oxide first, and then they actually put me on something else. There was no memory of the procedure. My vision narrowed and then I was out.

There are a couple possibilities.

The first is that you were just remembering the bits that were post-op as you started to come out of anesthesia.

The (more probable) second option is that they gave a drug combination like Ketamine/Acepromazine/Butorphanol. It is a dissociative combined with an opiate (to deal with pain), and a sedative/muscle-relaxant. Here you are not so much unsconscious as insenate and completely disassociated from reality. Alternatively (also likely) Ketamine combined with a Benzo for procedures that are not expected to be painful.

Which is definitely what your experience seems like. Yep. Definite K-hole, plus extras.

Keep in mind too that most of my knowledge of these things is veterinary and the drug combination listed above might not actually be used for people.

[Dragon Angel]

The time jump effect could certainly be explained by disruption of long-term memory formation. Interesting.

Speaking from personal experience of (quite minor) surgery, it was exactly like being in a deep sleep for a short while in that I woke up in the recovery room with no experience of time passing. I'm a very deep sleeper and almost never dream (/remember my dreams), so that tracks with nonanesthetic unconscious experiences as far as I noticed at the time.

Vivid dreams are definitely a thing of mine, and I've learned to recollect probably half of them when they happen. I wonder if that helped in this case? Though, general anaesthesia works under a different mechanism from normal sedation, so it's perhaps unlikely.

I should have asked what drugs they used. I suspect nitrous oxide was part of what I breathed.

The biggest worry, other than death (which is extremely rare these days) is waking up under anesthesia during a painful procedure. Most likely to happen to redheads/gingers. Happened to my mom once, left her very traumatized afterward. Fortunately, that is also a very rare event.

The weird dream state might be from just before or just after the anesthesia kicked in fully, while your brain was sedated but no completely conscious. Time distortion under such circumstances is not unknown. A lot depends on whether or not they're using an agent that interferes with memory formation.

Oh gods, yeah that was a Thing I was afraid of as well. I have indeed read the horror stories of anaesthesia awareness, and being aware in a sort of sleep paralysis-like state with a tube being probed around my gastrointestinal organs didn't seem like a fun prospect.

I wonder if (provided it was full-on general and not a dissociative) the anaesthesia's effects sloped upward and downward randomly during the procedure, hence the spots where I recall some sense of "reality" as odd as it was. The strongest of those was during my being wheeled out, so that hypothesis would fit in.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-hole

Heyyy that seems familiar! So, this is what complete dissociation would feel like? Having never taken a dissociative in my life, it certainly piques my interest.

The benzo (if one was used or any similar agent) totally failing to suppress my memories is really unsurprising to me, I'll be honest. Even through moments such as my taking a full gram of Benadryl (long story too ... better not to ask) and full-blown psychosis, I do have strong memories of events. I guess this is just how my brain is wired...

[Esquire]

Vivid dreams are definitely a thing of mine, and I've learned to recollect probably half of them when they happen. I wonder if that helped in this case? Though, general anaesthesia works under a different mechanism from normal sedation, so it's perhaps unlikely.

I should have asked what drugs they used. I suspect nitrous oxide was part of what I breathed.

You might check back with your doctor if you're really worried or interested - as long as they've got in in writing that you aren't intending to sue, probably they'll tell you without any fuss at all.

[Dragon Angel]

To engage in some idle speculation, it sounds to me like you didn't quite a high enough dose of the benzo to knock you out completely. However, you certainly wouldn't have been completely conscious, otherwise they would have upped the dose. Most likely, you were only intermittently conscious, but your brain retrospectively perceives it as a single unified memory (the way it does with dreams; you probably have a dozen or so different dreams during the night but you most often perceive it as a single dream). Thus you seem to perceive that time has been dilated, because your brain is trying to stretch a handful of stray seconds or minutes of consciousness together.

It figures that would be the case, since the whole episode did feel rather dreamlike, but not quite a dream. Like sleep paralysis without awareness or thought, viewing through a distant porthole.

The (more probable) second option is that they gave a drug combination like Ketamine/Acepromazine/Butorphanol. It is a dissociative combined with an opiate (to deal with pain), and a sedative/muscle-relaxant. Here you are not so much unsconscious as insenate and completely disassociated from reality. Alternatively (also likely) Ketamine combined with a Benzo for procedures that are not expected to be painful.

Which is definitely what your experience seems like. Yep. Definite K-hole, plus extras.

Keep in mind too that most of my knowledge of these things is veterinary and the drug combination listed above might not actually be used for people.

I'm strongly leaning toward the ketamine or ketamine-like dissociation hypothesis myself. The strange undefined space does certainly fit with stories I've heard of episodes with dissociatives.

In any case, I am growing a lot more respect for the amount of juggling anaesthesiologists have to do with drugs...

[Alferd Packer]

Let's see, when I got my wisdom teeth yanked, they put me under. As I recall, I got the laughing gas first (which did make me want to laugh, though I resisted the urged and instead calmly commented on how much I wanted to laugh), then the injection. As I recall, I just switched off for about an hour and a half.

My first memory after switching off was something hard and cylindrical probing around my mouth. I bit it. It was the nurse's finger. She was changing my gauze. I apparently had been 'awake' for a while and responding to people, and I was coordinated enough to walk to the recovery room, but my recorded memory is "laughing gas makes you want to laugh" -> "I should bite whatever's in my mouth right now."

[Elheru Aran]

Speaking from personal experience of (quite minor) surgery, it was exactly like being in a deep sleep for a short while in that I woke up in the recovery room with no experience of time passing.

^ That's mostly what I recall too. That, and whatever they were putting through the mask tasted foul for some reason.

[TheFeniX]

I remember everything about my back-surgery up until the anesthesia hit. I was lying on the bed, they gave me the general, I said "damn, that is cold" as it went into my arm and I was out. Nearly instantly I woke up on my side and had no side effects except my back hurting like a motherfucker (but I got morphine for that... sweet sweeeet morphine). 45 minutes had passed. In fact, my mom (who worked in a Hospital for 15 years) was weirded out when I wanted to eat right afterward and pounded down a full Luby's platter and sides.

I've always been like this. When I was seven I had eye-surgery. I remember them asking me for a "flavor" for the gas mask. I liked oranges, so I took that. They put the mask on and the smell was what I assume rotten oranges would smell like. I was suffocating under the smell of rotten and decidedly fake smelling oranges. I fought the nurse to get the mask off. The last thing I remember was slamming my hand into something hard. I then woke up, was blind (eyes were covered), heard my mom talking, and fucking DOVE at her, almost clearing the bed rail. I didn't eat an orange or touch an orange flavored product for 10 years after that.

They said I was having a bad reaction to the drugs. No... I woke up fully-alert, blind, scared, and was 7 fucking years old. It's pretty self-explanitory why I did what I did.

I have some other weirdness. Talking with people who've lost consciousness due to trauma. Many of them can't remember dick about what happened. Now, I don't go around getting knocked out, but I took a bat to the head in Little League. From my perspective, I just rolled onto my back (I was the Catcher) and suddenly coach and my teammates were all surrounding me. I was out for 15-20 seconds. Same thing happened when I took a shock to the face years back due to a fax line being run too close to a 110, but my damage isn't brained, so I think I'm good.

Meanwhile, my wife has been "under" twice since I've known her and she has problems remembering even leaving for the doctor or the hours afterward. My brother also has issue with anesthesia, which might be due to him requiring so damn much of the stuff to get put out. He's lost entire days of memory.

I think some people are just wired differently and/or if you don't require more anesthetic due to resistance, your brain work more good. Like, I don't get the concept of "Blacking out" while drinking. I've been so drunk, I've literally had to crawl on the floor. I couldn't walk, yet have exact memories of the whole fiasco. It's probably one of the reasons I rarely ever drink/drank that much: everyone else couldn't remember their stupid shit. I recall it in excellent detail.... or maybe other people just lie about it, I don't know.

[Borgholio]

My experiences have been simple and painless. I've been knocked clean for wisdom tooth extraction and a colonoscopy (not at the same time, of course). With the dentist, they put the IV in, I was talking to the doctor, then suddenly the lights got all funky looking like I was on an acid trip and I wondered what had happened. Turns out I just woke up and an hour had passed. With the buttwork, they had the IV in and they gassed me too. I felt my hand tingling as the IV did it's thing and once the gas started flowing I was out cold. It was like an instant frame snap from laying on my back with a mask on to being wheeled into recovery.

I also had an endoscopy where they didn't knock me all the way out, but sedated the hell out of me. They call it a twilight sleep. I was awake (mostly) and aware of what was happening but couldn't feel very much and it felt like I was half-asleep the whole time. I wasn't in any discomfort, it was just surreal. They put the IV in and told me there would be a mild burning sensation due to the effects of the sedative. I told them when I felt the burning move up my arm, and when I started feeling drunk. After the procedure I guess I fell fully asleep because I woke up in recovery. I distinctly remember belching a lot from the air they pumped down there to keep the pipe open, I remember seeing a view of my insides on the monitor and them holding my hand down because I kept wanting to point at it (I thought it was cool), but I also remember the nurse stroking my hair to try and keep me calm while they rummaged around inside. I thought that last part was actually really considerate and sweet of her.

[Broomstick]

My experiences have been simple and painless. I've been knocked clean for wisdom tooth extraction and a colonoscopy (not at the same time, of course).

Is it something about me? When I had to get surgery on my face they didn't put me out, they just used a local. When I had a bad wisdom tooth extracted they just used a local. Colonoscopy - heavy sedation.

I'm starting to wonder why everyone else is getting put under but I'm not. Although I'm OK with not being knocked out, so far it's been nothing negative or painful (except the reason I needed a "procedure" in the first place).

[LadyTevar]

My first experience with anaesthesia was when I was 5-6yrs old and had my tonsils removed. I was wheeled in, and next thing I remember is walking up and starting to vomit blood in the recovery room. The second time I was out was having my wisdom teeth out, and that was a mask of laughing gas (mint-flavored) and a shot in the arm. I'm giggling trying to count back from 100, and next thing I know I'm wondering why there's no more mint scent.

But, let's talk nitrous oxide for a moment:
I have to have it, because I am a Ginger/Redhead, and even a simple dental cleaning has me twitching and wincing. Nitrous is the only way I can sit still. So, I get the mask, and peach or mint flavoring, and soon I'm feeling floaty and the dentist's voice is far away. My dentist always has the radio on, so I get caught on the music. I'm pretty much a stoner, zoning out. But then, the weirdest shit happens: the music suddenly stutters on one word, dra-dra-dra-dra-dra-gg-g--g--gginggg- ou-ou-ou-outttt. Then there's a hiccup, a blank spot, and suddenly I'm stone-cold sober for a bit, fully awake and aware (but not feeling any pain) until I zone out again.
Anyone have that happen to them?

[Borgholio]

My experiences have been simple and painless. I've been knocked clean for wisdom tooth extraction and a colonoscopy (not at the same time, of course).

Is it something about me? When I had to get surgery on my face they didn't put me out, they just used a local. When I had a bad wisdom tooth extracted they just used a local. Colonoscopy - heavy sedation.

I'm starting to wonder why everyone else is getting put under but I'm not. Although I'm OK with not being knocked out, so far it's been nothing negative or painful (except the reason I needed a "procedure" in the first place).

I think it might be personal preference. I don't recall them saying anything about wanting to do it one way but being unable to for any reason...

[FireNexus]

My experiences have been simple and painless. I've been knocked clean for wisdom tooth extraction and a colonoscopy (not at the same time, of course).

Is it something about me? When I had to get surgery on my face they didn't put me out, they just used a local. When I had a bad wisdom tooth extracted they just used a local. Colonoscopy - heavy sedation.

I'm starting to wonder why everyone else is getting put under but I'm not. Although I'm OK with not being knocked out, so far it's been nothing negative or painful (except the reason I needed a "procedure" in the first place).

Those are both standard of care for those procedures. They gave Katie courier a sedative when they looked up her bum on the today show a few years back, too. They will knock you out for a wisdom tooth extraction, but only if you ask.

[TheFeniX]

Is it something about me? When I had to get surgery on my face they didn't put me out, they just used a local. When I had a bad wisdom tooth extracted they just used a local. Colonoscopy - heavy sedation.

I got a local when my wisdom teeth got pulled. Motherfuckers didn't want to come out. I'm not kidding when I say the dentist had me in a head-lock while trying to break my teeth out. An actual headlock. At one point, he was behind me with an arm around my chin and pliers in my mouth. It probably looked like something out of a Mafia torture session.

When each finally gave, my entire head reverberated a huge (and satisfying) CRACK!

Honestly, didn't hurt except my neck the next day. Bastard just told me to take some Motrin. Man, my neck hurts thinking about it.

Mine were already WAY out though. My wife's were impacted, well at least one was. The Oral Surgeon just put her out to forestall any bullshit. Sometimes the extraction goes bad, like with my sister, where the teeth start to recede into the nasal cavity. This is bad.™ So they just put her out when they realized the were going to have to start cutting.

But it's also usually on the preference of the surgeon and what you're insurance will cover. Or you can pay for the general out of pocket and most surgeons will accept because unconscious patients don't complain.

But, let's talk nitrous oxide for a moment:
I have to have it, because I am a Ginger/Redhead, and even a simple dental cleaning has me twitching and wincing. Nitrous is the only way I can sit still. So, I get the mask, and peach or mint flavoring, and soon I'm feeling floaty and the dentist's voice is far away. My dentist always has the radio on, so I get caught on the music. I'm pretty much a stoner, zoning out. But then, the weirdest shit happens: the music suddenly stutters on one word, dra-dra-dra-dra-dra-gg-g--g--gginggg- ou-ou-ou-outttt. Then there's a hiccup, a blank spot, and suddenly I'm stone-cold sober for a bit, fully awake and aware (but not feeling any pain) until I zone out again.
Anyone have that happen to them?

Only on LSD.... that.... let's just say that's a joke for legal reasons... : wink :

Laughing gas makes me feel like a million bucks. My only bad reaction to meds is, comically, Tylenol PM. The... shit, what's the name of the sedative? Whatever they add to the acetaminophen, it makes me feel like.... you know when you haven't done ANYTHING for an entire day because you're lazy. And you go to bed and your muscles are like "USE ME! USE ME NOW!"? And you feel the need to stretch or do some push-ups? I get that, except a billion times worse because the meds start kicking in and my body is like "WAKE UP! DO STUFF!" and my brain is all "BLAAAAAAAAAA....." and my eyeslids weight 2 tons.

Tylenol PM sucks. Just FYI.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Diphenhydramine is what they put in PM versions of most drugs. Nyquil, Excedrine PM, Benadryl etc

[His Divine Shadow]

I had full going to sleep anesthesia for removing my tonsils. All I remember is breathing in something, then I asked so when do we start? And they said I was done and I was in the post surgery section.

In 2011 I had eye surgery to correct my lazy eye which had been growing worse the last 10 years (due to my left eye being worse and some malfunctioning compensation mechanism). I was awake for that but whatever they gave me made me really, really relaxed and unworried, it wasn't just dulling the pain but almost like I was only loosely connected to my body and not that concerned about it. Which is a good thing because under no normal mental state would I have been comfortable with a knife in my eye socket.

[Zwinmar]

I have had the gas only once: I was nervous as hell going into the dentist for a root canal, all twitchy and everything. The reason for that is I had a series of bad experiences with dentists as a kid. I was hit with a Louisville slugger that broke one of my top front teeth and had to have a root canal, ended up going five or six times before my parents ran out of cash and I ran around with half a rotten tooth in my head from around age 8 to when it was pulled in bootcamp.

That one the dentist put a towel over my face so I couldn't see then put me in a headlock to get the sucker out.

Then here about a month and half ago I had to have some removed, problem with the nerves not growing in fully in the back teeth, only one wisdom tooth ever developed and it was only a partial, so they rotted and broke before I was even really aware of it. Even then they just used local though one was hooked under the tooth behind and had a bulb at the end of that hook.

Anyways, only time I passed out for any length of time, well other than being drunk and that is rare, was when I went down for heat exhaustion. We were humping along and apparently my sergeant got worried because he put a hand on my shoulder causing me to collapse, I remember my knees buckling then coming too over in the shade not long after, maybe a minute or two...lost my good glasses that day.

[Knife]

Were you under general anesthesia or conscious sedation. There is a difference.