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I’ve woken up twice under anesthesia. When I wake up, I’m sort of frantic and they just zap me with more drugs and I pass back out. I honestly don’t think it’s a big deal and sort of cool I remember a little bit of the process. I’m not like in pain or anything, just awake.
So, based on your sources, the first one states “'connected consciousness’ occurs when people under general anaesthetic are able to respond to outside stimuli such as pain but may not be able to recall the event afterwards.” This occurred with 1 out of 10 patients in their study. But responding to the environment is much different than consciousness under anesthesia.
The second source was pay walled, but in the third from the BBC, it states “the unfortunate result is that a small proportion of people may lie awake for part or all of their surgery without any ability to signal their distress.” It’s important to remember it’s only a “small proportion” of folks!
I’ve unfortunately had more than 10 surgical procedures and I’m also a major odd ball when it comes to treatments for my autoimmune disorders. But I’ve never once had any issues with anethesia, aside from specific drugs making me irritable when coming too. You’ll almost certainly be fine. I found this research paper that’s super specific to your question: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2743249/
It covers how somewhere between 0.05% and 0.1% of patients undergoing anesthesia are aware of the operation during the procedure. While this is a truly minor proportion, it isn’t 0%, and this is one reason why surgery is a last resort. Regardless, the numbers are on your side and do your best not to manifest this into taking place during your operation!
Thanks for bringing number sense here - It is absolutely a phenomenon, but it is also a frequently overstated one.
These kinds of events (as well as risk of death) also predominantly include other complicating factors, like recent alcohol misuse, nervous system damage, drug contraindications, etc. As an otherwise healthy person I suspect your risk will be significantly less than even 0.05%.
Do a vibe check with the anaesthesiologist. Good ones that are aware of this and care about person-to-person variation in response to anesthesia will be chill and explain how they will closely monitor the situation via your vitals and behavior. Good ones will ask about your consumption of alcohol and think very carefully about whether you are lying. Not saying you would lie but if there is any chance don’t. Be very forthcoming and accurate about alcohol consumption because it makes you more resistant to most kinds of general anaesthetic and is linked to those negative experiences you mention. They might ask you about whether you have redheads in your family, which is also a good sign.
Basically… you want someone that is on top of their game when it comes to individualized dosing and who seems likely to be paying attention during your procedure. Red flags are anaesthesiologisrs who seem defensive or who give false information (e.g. if they say alcohol consumption doesn’t matter). You can also check reviews. Another thing to consider is that every single example I have of an anaesthesiologist that didn’t pay attention during a procedure and let someone wake up or nearly wake up has been an old white guy. Anecdotal but food for thought…
you might communicate to your surgeon that you’d like to discuss this with your anesthesiologist, and come to an agreement that they make doubly sure that you don’t respond to commands before they administer the drug that paralyzes you, to reduce the chance that this happens. unfortunately, there’s no good way to know whether you have any complications with anaesthetic until you’ve gone under.
Its like 1 in a thousand if that helps assuage your worries
Don’t get your scientific information from news websites.
