A while back, we wrote posts where people who accidentally woke up mid-surgery and people who had freaky experiences while under anesthesia shared their stories. In the comments, even more readers revealed what it was like waking up during surgery — and what happened after. Here are the wild results:
1.“I woke up during a colonoscopy while they were taking the biopsy. Sooo painful. I remember the dude saying, ‘It’s OK; I’ll make it go away.’ Anesthesia makes me really sick, but I have to have a lot of it. Also, when I broke my leg in half, I begged the ER to knock me out. The nurse said they had to dose me three times because I wouldn’t stop talking.”
2.“I woke up while under for a hysterectomy and once during a hip replacement. The hysterectomy was by far the worst. I could feel everything but couldn’t move or talk. When I had to get the hip replacement, I told the anesthesiologist that I had woken up before, and I didn’t want it to happen again. He seemed annoyed, but I was already at the hospital and getting ready to go under.”
“I did wake up again, but some lovely person made sure I was really numb and even thought [sic] I sat up that time I didn’t feel a thing.”
3.“I remember waking up during my wisdom teeth surgery. I had four of them, and I knew going in that they had to saw my teeth into pieces to take them out since they were coming in sideways. the nurse said ‘goodnight,’ and I was out. Then, I woke up to a buzzing vibration. That was when I knew exactly what they were doing — they were sawing my teeth into pieces.”
“Then, all I remember after opening my eyes was ‘she needs more!’ Then, I was out again.”
4.“When I was 17/18 I had surgery while on an Air Force base in Turkey to repair a knee that I injured. Had scope to repair my meniscus and clean up some scar tissue. Woke up partway through to feeling a tourniquet tightening on my leg and hearing the words, ‘Why isn’t the bleeding stopping?’ I said, ‘What bleeding?!’ And then, I was back out.”
“Woke up in recovery, and the first thing I said to the staff was ‘Guess the bleeding stopped?’ They were surprised I remembered that.”
5.“I was 18 weeks pregnant when I had to get an emergency appendectomy. While they were in there, they found and repaired an umbilical hernia. I was awake while they cut open my belly button but couldn’t move or say anything. I could hear them talking and could feel them pulling on something inside my tummy. I was screaming in my head and was panicking because it doesn’t feel like you are breathing when you have the tube down your throat. All I could think about was something terrible was happening to my baby and that’s why they were cutting open my belly.”
“When the surgery was over and I fully woke up, I told the doctor I was awake during the procedure and they said, ‘Oh, you must have just dreamed it’ and was totally brushed off. It was horrifying, and I had nightmares for weeks. Thank goodness the baby was unharmed and born healthy!”
6.“I woke up during my wisdom teeth removal surgery. I don’t remember any pain, and I didn’t open my eyes, but I distinctly remember that I was holding someone’s hand, and they tried pulling their hand away; I just held on even tighter before I was out again.”
“I woke up normally in the chair after it was all over.”
7.“When I was in my 20s, I had cancer and had to have several surgeries. Never had an issue until I went in for a rather major one. It was supposed to be a two-hour surgery that turned into over 12 hours because of the spread of cancer. I apparently woke up several times as they were trying to keep the dosage right. The surgeon later told me I started talking and told him not to look inside me while he was scraping tumors away from my aorta (I was cut open from my sternum down, and I guess felt…
Read More: People Who Accidentally Woke Up Mid-Surgery Are Sharing What Happened, And It’s Wild