I have heard of this happening but anesthesiologists are very closed mouthed about it.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/28/health/wake-up-during-surgery/index.html?hpt=hp_bn13
"I was awake but paralyzed," says Carol Weihrer as she recalls undergoing eye surgery in 1998.
"I could hear the surgeon telling his trainee to 'cut deeper into the eye,'" she says. "I was screaming, but no one could hear me. I felt no pain, just a tugging sensation. I tried to move my toes or even push myself off the operating table, but I couldn't move. I thought I was dying."
The Reston, Virginia, resident inadvertently woke up during surgery, an infrequent phenomenon called "accidental awareness during general anesthesia." She's been struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder ever since.
"I've had to sleep in a recliner for the last 16 years," Weihrer says. "If I lie flat, I get flashbacks of the operating table and I start violently thrashing."
Fortunately, anesthetic awareness is rare. But new research is shedding light onto risk factors and the devastating psychological effects the phenomenon can have on patients who experience it, especially those who are awake and paralyzed.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/28/health/wake-up-during-surgery/index.html?hpt=hp_bn13
"I was awake but paralyzed," says Carol Weihrer as she recalls undergoing eye surgery in 1998.
"I could hear the surgeon telling his trainee to 'cut deeper into the eye,'" she says. "I was screaming, but no one could hear me. I felt no pain, just a tugging sensation. I tried to move my toes or even push myself off the operating table, but I couldn't move. I thought I was dying."
The Reston, Virginia, resident inadvertently woke up during surgery, an infrequent phenomenon called "accidental awareness during general anesthesia." She's been struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder ever since.
"I've had to sleep in a recliner for the last 16 years," Weihrer says. "If I lie flat, I get flashbacks of the operating table and I start violently thrashing."
Fortunately, anesthetic awareness is rare. But new research is shedding light onto risk factors and the devastating psychological effects the phenomenon can have on patients who experience it, especially those who are awake and paralyzed.