Feeling so embarrassed after anaesthesia. Please tell me this has happened to others?

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A week ago, I had a surgery. I was extremely nervous before being put to sleep.

When I came round, I was in a lot of pain but my throat was so dry I couldn’t say “hey, I’m in pain” , so I just started whining “ouch “ “ouch “.

Then I kept taking off the oxygen mask because it was annoying me. I also asked multiple times where my car was and had to be reminded I was in hospital at least twice. I also kept waving to thin air. The nurse was nice enough but I could tell I wasn’t her favourite patient 😳.

Now I remember it, I’m so embarrassed and feel like I was probably a real pain in the arse. Coincidentally, I had to be kept in post op because I was groggier and woozier than expected.

Reassure me please!

While we're sharing stories, I'll share mine. I had general for removal of an ovarian cyst. I was in for (IIRC) 11am and told to expect to be out by 1 or so. Not coincidentally, my daughter was about six months old and waking every two hours through day and night. Apparently, I came round, looked blearily at everyone, rolled over, and went back to sleep. I've got a dim memory of the consultant coming and telling me how the op went - except I know from feedback later on that he showed up four times because I was giving them cause for concern by failing to come round properly. I also remember a nurse telling me I needed to move to get the last of the drugs out of my system - she told me to imagine pressing down on the accelerator on my car. I remember feeling bemused and thinking it must be very important to tell her I wasn't sure what she was on about, then deciding I was too sleepy to talk.

It took me several hours to properly come round, and by the time I did I was able to explain I was chronically sleep deprived, and we all had a good laugh! I got home for 8pm.

After sedation I asked a nurse “and what do you do?” As if I was the queen doing a meet and greet

🙈

Can I ask what anaesthetic causes people to react out of character? Just wondering because this has never happened to me! i had fentanyl, which scared me when I heard that that was the drug they were going to use.

Often people don't remember.

I can't remember what I did.
But a day later still feeling quite shocked and out of it I met the HCAs who had looked after me and they commented how nice it was too see me looking so much better.
So I obviously made an impression.

I do remember ripping my drips out which was shame because they didn't get put back in and I got very sick 🤢 and sober after that.

Don’t worry at all, I’ve seen it all from people trying to jump off the bed and run off to being very aggressive and shouty, it’s completely normal to not know where you are when you first come round too. You have no need to feel embarrassed at all.

You'll need to report back

The first time, the first thing I did was scream. I was actually really angry because I’d half-consciously been hearing the nurses talking about me and mangling my name. My name does get mangled quite often, but I was feeling pretty desperate about not being able to get the words out to correct them, and finally I was awake enough to make a noise but somehow instead of all the words I’d been planning I just started screaming. It was stressful all round!

The second time I woke up to the anaesthesiologist apologising for missing my veins- a lot- and bruising my arms- a lot. I’d told him pre-op he was likely to miss- people do- and he hadn’t believed me or taken any precautions. Silly fool. But somehow that time I woke up feeling positively beatific and just smiled and said it wasn’t his fault?! I think he must have been picking his time when I was likely to be groggy but it seems a shame he didn’t get treated to the screaming reaction too!

My 10yr old kept trying to make a break for it but snaking down the bed as there was a door at the bottom of the bed that headed back into the theatre. He was adamant it was the way out and he was leaving and he wasn't having surgery (that he had already had)

I've never had GA or sedation, so I'd hate to think what I'd be like - my subconscious can be quite mad enough as it is, but at least it is usually kept inside!

We had a teenager come back from theatre yesterday, as high as a kite. Announcing to everyone that he felt wonderful. It made us smile!

I flirted outrageously with the surgeon and the anaesthetist- had heavy sedation with spinal for a knee replacement
i also went on and on and on and on about seeing everything. They had to show me the new joint parts, the bits they removed, everything
i have no recollection of it
only know cos the recovery nurses were laughing their arses off once o got back to normal
i then wet the bed.
so that was fun

Ahh I bolted upright, accidentally flashed and threw up on the consultant who operated on me..

The consultant and nursing staff who I know very well as I'm admin staff who works very closely with them... My work colleagues have literally seen my boobs and had to clean chunks off themselves because of me 🙈

I thought the clock was turning backwards. It freaked me out. I told everyone about the backwards turning clock. The man in the bed next to me was screaming about how he didn't want to wake up he wanted to die, which was dark. Sounds like recovery has been weird for a lot of us.

I want to start by saying I'm very anxious and a people pleaser....🤣
I came round after GA and saw there was an Asian nurse. My brain was telling me not to say anything racist (I am not racist) but it was only later the nurse told me I was actually saying it all out loud 😳😳
Completly mortified and apologised repeatedly to her.

This thread is gold. Made me recall my mum hallucinating that the ward cheese plant was a triffid trying to attack her.

I cried and then when I was asked why I was crying I sobbed my heart out because I didn't know why I was crying!

As others have said GA can cause weird reactions!

I have after every GA I have had a few!!! Come round screaming 😱. Then often descend into wailing uncontrollably before vomiting 🤮. The only time I didn’t vomiting in recovery was when they gave me too much muscle relaxant and I couldn’t feel below my neck so screamed more 😂😂😂
the staff were always lovely. my last notes the anaesthetist put down screamer to warn staff

The screaming 😱 must be a gene quirk as my son did it too.

On gas and air delivering DC#1 I sang all the verses I could remember of What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor then treated DH and the midwife to a disquisition on it's importance as a cultural marker in the 18th century 😁.

After GA when I had my wisdom teeth out, I giggled hysterically for half an hour.

After my hysterectomy, I woke up, saw the clock, and burst into tears because I hadn't collected the DC from school / nursery.

I'm sure the staff have seen it all before!

Several years ago, I had to have quite major surgery and was terrified as no one was sure how it would go (luckily it turned out to be the best-case scenario). I told the anaesthetist when she came to see me that she looked exactly like Kate Middleton. She did, but still. Once I woke up I had to spend the night in ICU because I needed a nurse sitting next to my bed reminding me to breathe every few seconds. I was annoyed because all I wanted to do was sleep but he was having none of it, funnily enough.

On another occasion, I had my tonsils out and politely refused to go home until the nurse had given me "another cup of that nice clear liquid". It was oramorph and my mum was so worried that I was turning into a heroin addict that she confiscated the bottle they prescribed me almost as soon as I got home!

I cried, shouted for my mum, vomited then peed myself! It’s happens to the best of us!

Ohh this proper made me laugh 😂

Don't be embarrassed OP. I think weird behaviour post sedation or anaesthesia is quite common. When I was about 20 I had an endoscopy (think that's what it was called- camera down throat and into stomach) and was put under heavy sedation for it but not general anaesthetic. I remembered nothing after I got to 3 from the countdown they asked me.to do from 10, until I woke up in the recovery bay area following the procedure. I had a vague recollection of people saying my name over and over but was quite spacey when I woke up so no idea if that memory was accurate.
Once I'd been moved to another area my mum was able to join me and the nurse checking on me revealed I had been quite 'fighty' as the sedative wore off and they'd had to terminate the procedure earlier than usual and so hadn't been able to view as much of my stomach as planned. She said I'd 'conked one of the attending nurses quite hard on the side of the face' whilst flailing my arms about. I felt absolutely mortified- my mum was a nurse and so I knew how bloody hard the job was without violence from patients, albeit unintentional violence! Needless to say that when I needed a general last year for a procedure, I warned the anaesthetist who assessed me prior to procedure- she reassured me they would put things in place to protect staff (didn't go in to details though of what that would be and I was a bit too anxious about everything to ask at time. Still quite intrigued though- arms tied to side or something?!). Must have worked as no one told me I'd caused any injuries after the surgery!

You seem nice