We recently wrote a post where anesthesiologists shared their wildest experiences with patients. In the comments, people shared their own shocking, scary, and hilarious moments they've had while under anesthesia. Here are the unexpected results:
Note: Some responses were pulled from this Reddit thread by u/Kinten_Queller.
1. "My father was the patient. He was 6'3", weighed 200 pounds, and was undergoing a hernia operation. They'd strapped him down on the operating table when he started coming out of the anesthesia in the middle of the operation. He got combative and broke the restraints — it took four orderlies to hold him down while the doctor stepped back out of the way so he could stay sterile. They finally got him back under, and they completed the operation."
"I'm guessing that little bit of excitement may have affected the doctor's process, since the next day his stitches pulled out, and he had to go to the emergency room to be re-sewn."
2. "I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. The day after the stay-at-home order was issued was the day I was having my chemo port placed in my chest. I was terrified — more of COVID than the cancer because there was so much we didn't know at the time. I just kept shaking while trying not to cry. The anesthesiologist tried to reassure me, saying I would fall asleep and not remember anything, but that didn't happen."
"She kept giving me more and more propofol, and while I did stop shaking, I was fully awake and not relaxed in the slightest. I heard everything they were talking about — debating whether an Instant Pot was better than an air fryer. Thankfully, I didn't feel any pain, and when it was over, I told them that clearly, an air fryer was the better option."
3. "I’ve had a lot of surgeries in my life, particularly as a preteen (I’m a leukemia survivor). After one of my bigger surgeries that required heavy anesthesia, I was waking up and my doctor came by and said how he’d, 'Love to see some pictures of Percy.' I had no idea what he meant and asked what he was talking about. Apparently, while the anesthesia was kicking in, I’d started telling everyone about my pet parrot named Percy and how I’d taught him to talk and do tricks and stuff. I don’t own a parrot, nor have I ever had one."
"Another time, after getting my wisdom teeth removed, I went on a long rant (but, like, a rant of affection?) about the Statue of Liberty and how it was a gift from France, which then led me to start going on about the architecture of the Eiffel Tower. I don’t remember any of this, but apparently, I started crying multiple times."
4. "I’m usually pretty good after surgeries, but the last time (they were removing part of my inflamed colon), I woke up and kept hiking my gown over my boobs. I was flashing anybody who walked by. And I’m a pretty conservative dresser, so that’s very unlike me!"
5. "When I had my C-sections, it took two spinal injections to numb me. When I told the anesthesiologist that it took two spinals to numb me for my first C-section, he said the previous anesthesiologist didn't know what they were doing. Guess what? It took two spinals to numb me — and even then, I felt more than I was probably supposed to. Thankfully, I have a high pain tolerance. The spinals also wore off sooner than they expected."
"I was in recovery and was able to move my feet/legs sooner than expected. Still couldn't feel anything, so it was weird seeing my feet move under the sheet but not being able to feel them."
6. "I woke up in the middle of a neurologist trying to clip an aneurysm in my brain. I reached my hand up, grabbed the surgeon's hand, and said, 'You're hurting me.' Several staff, including the anesthesiologist, screamed. The doctor asked me where the pain was and then practically shouted at the anaesthesiologist to 'get her under.' Afterward, the anaesthesiologist came to apologize. He said it took four times the normal amount for a person my size (small) to stay out."
"The doctor told me I was crushing his hand with the probe in it and that it took everything he had not to jump and stab my brain with the probe. They had never had someone wake up in surgery before."
7. "I had all of my wisdom teeth removed in one day, way back when I was 18 years old. They put me to sleep for the procedure. My mom accompanied me to escort me home when I woke up. Apparently, I started swinging and trying to punch people. My mom told me that I needed to be restrained."
"No mention of whether I said anything wild, I just became randomly violent."
8. "I woke up once after a gynecological procedure, asking the nurse to make sure there was no baby because I really didn’t want to bring another home. (I wasn’t pregnant to begin with!) I woke up another time just bawling my eyes out and asking for my mom. To calm me down, my husband told me she was at our house waiting for me (she wasn’t), and he called her on his cell asking her to play along!"
"In both cases, that wasn’t even the first time I had opened my eyes and talked after surgery; it was just the time I stayed awake. For that first one, I apparently had the nurses cracking up because of what I was saying, but I don’t remember anything until asking about a baby."
9. "I woke up mid colonoscopy and partially sat up to ask, 'Should I be awake?' I remember the doctor waving at the anesthesiologist and bam! Back to sleep I went. I unfortunately remember it vividly."
10. "I am not sure what happened with my anesthesiologist, but I woke up during my knee replacement because my arm was cramping. The anesthesiologist said, 'Oh no,' and then told me to hold very still and don't move. I said, 'Let me move my arm,' pulled it out of those gray, furry cuff things, laid it across my chest and said, 'Ok I will stay still now,' and went back to sleep."
"My doctor asked how much I remember, and I was even able to tell him some of the things that were being said by people helping with my surgery. He had never had that happen before."
11. "One time, when I was having a C-section (I’d already been given an epidural), I was super nervous. When the obstetrician was checking to see if I felt anything before he cut into me, I was scared and said, 'I’m not sure. Maybe. Could you maybe give me a little bit more, so I’m sure I don’t feel anything?' The anesthesiologist said OK and did his thing. Well, I for damn sure didn’t feel anything. I knew exactly what was going on, heard everything, saw everything, but couldn't move, couldn’t talk but was fully aware of what was going on in the OR. When they brought my son to me so I could see him, I couldn’t even turn my head to look at him — they had to turn my head for me."
"The anesthesiologist was like, 'Are you breathing OK?' In my head, I was like, 'Yup,' but since I couldn’t respond, he put me on oxygen anyway just in case. A couple of hours later, he came to check on me because he was concerned I wasn’t breathing during the operation. I told him I was breathing just fine, just couldn’t communicate it. It was so scary and weird."
12. "I had my first colonoscopy and endoscopy last year. Everybody told me going under is really pleasant, but man — turns out, I have some kind of problem with it. They started putting me under, and I freaked out I guess. I don't remember anything except feeling extreme pain in my hand where they had inserted the needle and feeling completely terrified! I guess I had a weird reaction coming out of it, too, but I didn't remember anything."
"I asked about it, and everyone seemed really awkward and didn't give me a straight answer about what happened! Later, I called and talked to the anesthesiologist, and she said I was a rare one. Lol!"
13. "Was getting ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) treatments years ago, and one time afterward, I kept getting, like, flashbacks from the procedure. This feeling of not being able to breathe, the doctor and anesthesiologist talking to me to see if I was sleeping, and then, the shock to my temples. The next treatment, I brought it up to my doctor, and they all seemed uncomfortable and told me I had likely been awake for that procedure."
"He said they’d go heavier on the anesthesia, but that was my last treatment. I’m now terrified to be put under."
14. "My dad was severely allergic to anesthesia; before knowing this, he was administered some after getting tetanus from a rusty nail in his foot. He described being able to hear and feel, but not being able to speak or see. He then almost flatlined, but thankfully, the doctors postponed the procedures and took care of him!"
15. "It was the June before I entered high school around 2007, and I was extremely insecure about my ears. Not because of kids at school making fun of me, but because my own family just wouldn't let up on the comments. So, I had cosmetic surgery to make them a little smaller and essentially 'pin them back.' They finished the left ear, and everything was fine. Halfway through the right ear, I started moving trying to roll my entire body (head included) over to the left because I was annoyed at whatever was on my right (the doctor doing the surgery), and I was asking, 'Mom, just like five more minutes of sleep then I'll get up for school' and kept the conversation going, asking if she'd make my toast and stuff — a conversation we had five mornings a week when she would wake me for school."
"I had an entire conversation with the female nurse who was responding as my mom while the doctor (who apparently never had a patient wake before) was yelling at them to hold me still better. I remember it all, including someone who was by my feet being told to come up by my head and help hold me without touching the left ear or letting it be flat on the table. I woke up in recovery and told them I had the weirdest dream and everything that happened. The nursing student who was in the room was assigned to sit with me in my recovery. She and my mom had blank looks at each other for a few moments then the nurse said, 'So, you're aware of waking up and talking to us?' And my mom laughed and said, 'Only you would wake up and talk during a surgery. It's like you don't talk enough when you're awake — nope, even being put under won't do it.'
I've woken up two other times and have to stress each time I go under that the meds don't work right on me, so they have to give me relaxers before anything else. When I woke two times after, I didn't talk but was aware of what was happening and could feel what they were doing but not in a painful manner — just in the pressure sense of what was being touched and some sound."
—30, Massachusetts
16. "My husband told me that during my emergency C-section for my firstborn, I was really out of it (27 hours of labor). As my child made her first cries, I started crying and said, 'Oh no, it's a duck,' and the whole ER busted out laughing and reassured me I had a baby, not a duck."
And finally...
17. "I'm a nurse, but this happened to me as a patient. A bit gross, but here goes. I had a terrible tonsil infection, and it abscessed and was occluding my airway. It was so incredibly painful, and I was breathing like Darth Vader. The ER docs were going to try to manually drain the infection from the tonsil to open my airway and avoid a tracheostomy. I was terrified. They gave me some Ativan and Fentanyl. Now, Fentanyl is REALLY powerful pain medicine — just takes a smidgen to do the trick. They had me in a dental chair for the procedure because if they had laid me back, I would have suffocated. The nurse (bless her) gives me the fentanyl and is watching over me with my mom (also a nurse). "
"The nurse (bless her) gives me the fentanyl and is watching over me with my mom (also a nurse). Apparently, I started sliding out of the chair, and as they run to catch me, I mumble, 'No wonder people steal this sh*t!' Then flake out."
Whew. If you've been under anesthesia, what's the wildest thing that happened? Let us know in the comments below.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.