The idea of surgery in general spooks a lot of people. Everyone does their best to console patients who are nervous about being sliced open or poked around inside. However, sometimes it does not go as planned. What would you do if you woke up during the surgery being performed on your body? You are unable to speak. You cannot move. You feel the sensation of the surgery still going, and you are frozen for five full minutes to experience it.
This is one of the horrific cases that happen to roughly one in 19,600 patients. This study surveyed over three million patients who underwent general anesthesia in the United Kingdom and Ireland. More relatable studies about us citizens in the United States have worse news. One in every one thousand surgical patients wakes up during surgery in the US. A high portion of this number is from the amount of surgeries that require lower dosages of anesthesia. This includes emergency C-sections, cardiac and emergency trauma surgeries. Dealing with fragile people whose bodies demand dangerous medical procedures should not be given massive amount of anesthesia. It could put them “over the edge.”
Another factor that may contribute to this would be paralytics. When these are used, patients are unable to move and let doctors know that they are conscious. Doctors are taught ways to monitor periodically that people are still asleep, but they are not always reliable. Methods include testing of heart rate and blood pressure. They may rise when a person wakes up and becomes nervous and alert; however, the drugs being used often numb the body’s stress response. The amount of gas used in a person’s lungs are measured continuously, but if impacts each person differently.
A solution to this problem may be brain monitors. Doctors would be in charge of using the monitors to keep “brain activity below a certain threshold” during surgery. Professor Jaideep Pandi, consultant anesthetist at Oxford University Hospitals says that some studies show no signs of reduction in the rate of anesthetic awareness when these monitors are used.
I cannot imagine having to sit through something like that. The feeling that people have talked about in this CNN article terrifies me. “Among the symptoms experienced during the event, paralysis was the most distressing to patients — more so than pain,” says Pandit. Patients have developed severe posttraumatic stress disorder from this occurrence. Carol Weihrer had to sleep in a recliner for the last 16 years in fear of lying down and having flashbacks that cause her to starting thrashing. Another young boy showed signs of separation anxiety before speaking with a therapist about his nightmares that continue to haunt him. I hope that some day people do not have to innocently go through this experience. Surgery must already be difficult; people should not have to worry about waking up during it.
With the advancements in science, it terrifies me that this issue is still present today. I only had surgery once when I was little and I barely remember it. Still, many people have a big fear of having surgery and some even choose not to have one ever. I still find it difficult that this issue still occurs especially because doctors must entail a long and very educational schooling program that should make them flawless when the time comes for the operation to begin. I’m not blaming the doctors themselves or the technology involved it just doesn’t make sense how something so serious such as surgery hasn’t been proved foolproof yet. The Philly released more information on the feelings involved of waking up during surgery. Take a look!
http://www.philly.com/philly/health/Stuff_of_nightmares_Waking_up_during_surgery.html
This blog was very good and horrifying! I was just wondering if you found any studies that showed significant research on how monitoring the brain would work because that is really interesting to me. One in one thousand is an extremely high rate for waking up and I feel there can be something done to prevent this rate from being so high. I found a study that I think you will find interesting that reveals what it feels like to wake up during surgery. http://www.sciencealert.com/new-study-reveals-what-it-feels-like-to-wake-up-during-surgery
AH! This is absolutely terrifying to me. I hate anything that has to do with needles or being put to sleep. I avoid surgery or any type of going under procedure at all costs. Just a year ago my mom underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor. She said that her anesthesia was so strong that she could hardly open her eyes for the next 3 days. It was horrifying getting pictures from my Dad of her in the hospital because she was so out of it. Being an anesthesiologist would be one of the scariest jobs and you would really need to know your stuff. Putting someone to sleep for brain surgery versus resetting a broken arm is different but how different really is it? I think it really depends on the expertise of the anesthesiologist and how well you can trust him. The article below really makes me think that there needs to be a way for the patient to communicate with the doctor in case this happens. There needs to be a more secure way of checking if the patient is still asleep, not just a heart rate check. Take a look at the article and see what you think!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/surgery-patients-report-waking-up-during-surgery-but-unable-to-let-doctors-know/2014/10/06/56ecec8a-3a84-11e4-8601-97ba88884ffd_story.html
I found this article interesting and horrifying because I am due for eye surgery at the end of this month. They have to replace the lens in my eye and ever since my accident happened I have dreaded knowing at some point I was going to have surgery. I know it is very rare for anything like that to happen but the thought of waking up mid operation definitely irks me the wrong way.
This is probably one of my biggest fears! I can not imagine waking up during a surgery! I had my wisdom teeth removed a few years ago and luckily slept like a baby through the whole thing. I have a good friend who actually woke up while he was getting his removed and they put him to sleep again right away once they noticed. We laugh about it now, but I am sure it was traumatizing at the time. Here are some stories told by those who have woken during a surgery! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2751206/Wonder-s-like-wake-operation-These-women-tell-It-s-scarier-think.html
I have now had three surgeries in my lifetime. I had my tonsils removed in first grade, my gall bladder removed in ninth grade, and my wisdom teeth removed recently over thanksgiving break. Each time before being put under I worry about waking up during the procedure. It is a normal thing to be fearful of however it has never occurred, I have always been completely fine during my surgeries and woken up in the recovery room after everything has been completed. There have been many horror storied however on people waking up in the middle of surgery and it is very possible that it could happen to anyone, yet it is extremely rare. I agree with many of the solutions you have stated in your blog, but I believe some of them have already been put into place. Here is a link to an article do further discuss the matter of waking up during a surgery, https://www.yahoo.com/health/the-horror-of-waking-up-during-surgery-99598970847.html