To ask you what general anaesthetic is actually like?

I’ve had quite a few, nice chat with anaesthetist whilst they administer it, realise sleep is coming… wake up in recovery. How I wake up can vary, I’m often frozen but they have ways of managing that!

it’s a lovely nap 😴

I had one four weeks ago. The anaesthetist said he was giving me some oxygen. I didn’t recall needles or anything. My surgery was 2.5 hours. I woke up after seven hours as they couldn’t wake me up!

Will you be staying in or is it day surgery?

The staff will have seen it all before, I promise 😊 I think I told my nurse how lovely his voice was at least three times 😂

Yes you can, they keep your belongings secure
wear a bra and you can always take it off if needed
ask here, people will probably know

I get upset and said I couldn’t do it, they put the oxygen on my face and the woman kept asking me questions about myself, my pets, random stuff and then I woke up
every time I get upset and panic and every time it’s fine
that’s about it really! I was a bit sleepy waking but I was under for a full day

I’ve had two, the first for an emergency op on an ectopic pregnancy- I remember going under very suddenly (10, 9, gone), and when I came round I was high as a kite on morphine for a while. Took me ages to get over that one, felt sluggish and aneamic, but there was trauma in there to get over too. The GA was the easiest bit.
The second was for a minor procedure on my foot so I don’t think I was out for very long, maybe half an hour? The thing I remember was that when I came round, I felt so refreshed, like I’d just had the best, most restorative sleep of my life. Wish I could do that every night!

It's nothing like sleep, imo. For all my generals I've gone from fully awake and alert one moment, to unconscious the next. No sense of wooziness, no sleepy drifting off, just bam lights out. Very strange, but you can only reflect on that afterwards, as you're obviously not conscious to notice when it happens!

Recovery is where I've had that detached wooziness - for me it's like being a bit drunk, and slowly sobering up.

I had it for keyhole gall bladder surgery. I started to feel panicky so the nurses started chatting to me to distract me, when actually I wanted them to be quiet so I could go in to myself. Next minute I was in the recovery room, all over. I was sleepy for a while which was annoying as the consultant came round to give me a debrief but I kept dozing off and apologizing to him instead of asking intelligent questions 😊

I asked this! She was like a) unlikely as you’ve fasted but b) even if it does we work in healthcare it’s nothing we haven’t seen before, they will essentially clean you up and it is what it is.

If you do then a nurse will clean you up before you’re awake.

This! I had the most amazing sleep both times. Surgery as an adult, 18 months ago.

Was really hungry when I properly woke up. Nurses gave me coffee and cake, was great!

I recently had one for cataract surgery. The only issue I had was when the anaethsatist tried to put the cannula in the back of my hand. He couldn't do it and it was so painful it made me cry. He managed in my arm no problem.
My recovery was fine although I had a slight abdominal pain when I woke up.

Had an emergency C-SECTION under GA with my eldest DS - his stats dropped and everyone feared the worse. I was frantic and wanted him born asap so I grabbed the mask and took a huge inhalation. Next thing I knew he was in my arms (absolutely fine, thankfully) and DH was assuring the midwife I’m always a nightmare to wake up. Rude. Anyway, nothing to worry about at all, hope all goes well.

I’ve had 2, and 2 twilight sedations. For me I’m awake and the anaesthetist is talking to me and doing something with the cannula and the next thing I know I’m awake in recovery. It’s instant and a bit disorienting to me to “suddenly” be in a different room with no memory of time passing. Usually then I’ll try to move my body to get comfy and something will hurt so that reminds me that I’ve just had an operation.

A recovery nurse will be right there with you looking after you. They’ll do your obs, talk to you, get a doctor if needed, wipe your drool from your mouth if necessary, and things like that. They’re used to patients being out of it or confused or anything else like that. After 5-10 mins of being awake you’ll start to feel a lot more like yourself.

Good luck for your operation OP.

I haven't had any problems "going under" but it can take me a while to actually get over them. One I was sleepy for days, but that was a long time ago and more recent ones were not as bad, maybe anaesthetics have got better over the years.

Had one recently, walked into operating theatre, lay down. Was just the anaesthetist and the nurse, they asked if I was nervous, they were like you will feel a small prick and that’s the last thing I remember. Woke up and don’t really remember much apart from nurses being like you’ve had a major operation over and over, I think I was trying to get up/feel the operation area and possibly rude? It’s very blurry. Then they were trying to give me pain killers and I could not have been more confused by what they wanted me to do, as they were waving a syringe in front of my face I think wanting me to plunge it in my mouth for the meds? When I was more “with it” they passed me my glasses and I was very apologetic to them for how I was acting and they were like don’t be silly and then I got wheeled back into my room then I got ice cream which was amazing 🤣

It was one of my worst fears - I get sleep paralysis, and was worried it would be similar. When the anaesthetist said he was about to put the anaesthetic in, my heart rate jumped so much, that everyone turned to look at the monitors. He then asked to me count back from ten, I got to 7 and then the next thing I knew, someone was putting socks on me. I had to ask them if the surgery had been done, because it felt that instantaneous. There's no getting sleepy and drifting off, it's like a switch. I was terrified, but wouldn't be again, because it was absolutely fine.

It didn't really feel like anything tbh. I was somewhere one minute, and then the next thing I knew I had been magically transported to somewhere else. Then I felt a bit tired.