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Whats it like being under and waking up from surgery?

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I heard that how you fall asleep is how you wake up. If you were a nervous wreak going under, you are going to wake up emotional and under stress. The chemicals activated by stress are still in your body when under surgery, and the neurotransmitters fired in your brain cells are still there so you wake up feeling like crap. On the other hand, when you go under feeling positive and refreshed (hard, I know), but the positive NT, or even lack of stress hormones will make you wake feeling better. Of course no matter what, you will wake with pain or nausea but generally, not having cortisol (from stress) and positive brain chemicals (neurotransmitters such as GABA, serotonin, epinephrine) will give you a better experience AS WELL AS recovery.

Moral of story: Be calm going under, think happy thoughts, and think how good you will feel 3 months from now and you will wake feeling better and have an easier recovery.

They gave me some medicine to relax which actually made me very sleepy I remember moving from the gernie to the table and them telling me to push down on the feet pads like pedals at least I think I remember that it may have been a dream lol....the next think I remember is waking up in the recovering room with a lot of pressure in my chest and wanting to run my eyes and them telling me not to...the. I was out for awhile I don't remember being moved to my room or anything my boyfriend came in about an hour later and that's my first solid memory of anything....it literally feels like your asleep for like 2 mins then your out and done i was shocked how quick it was....good luck you'll do great!!!!!

I remember getting on the table and positioning my feet. I was surrounded by people - they took my arms and I saw a blood pressure cuff. That's it until I had my first coherent thought - that my chest hurt. I said that to the nurse and the pain immediately began to subside. That was probably hours before I really woke up though. Everything was pretty blurry vision wise for about a minute then settled out. I thought - this isn't bad. And it got better after that!!

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Like waking up from the best sleep ever...and wanting to stay there. This was my 4 th surgery and the only one that was rough was the open hysterectomy. This laparoscopic thing is the best.

I don't remember leaving my room I got on a gurney a shot of something and I woke up in my bed out of it with oxygen on I had to pea bad and they helped then I slept off and on all day I walked in circles in my room the first day slept a lot the next day we burned up the hallways I felt some discomfort this day and asked for pain meds twice they made me kind of sick so I sucked it up. I asked for a sleep pill that night and slept most of that night I was having ice and water the second day I hated it I was ready for day three grape juice and discharge! I had a three hour bumpy ride to san Antonio it was a bit riff but I rested and drank my juice I did not even finish that small amount that day.

Surgeon said count to ten and i got a couple numbers out then Instantaneously awake and it was over. Unbelievable how quick it felt

The behind the ear patch comes in a pack of three. I put one on the night before surgery and changed it every 3 day til they were gone. Absolutely no nausea at all. Highly recommend. Good luck

Good to know my dr Rx this too. My surgery is Tuesday. This is the first time I will be put under....little nervous

Good to know my dr Rx this too. My surgery is Tuesday. This is the first time I will be put under....little nervous

It's a strange feeling- especially the first time.

I didn't feel anything when I was under. They anesthesiologist said, " you're going to feel a sting." And that was all she wrote. I woke up in recovery in A LOT of pain!! And I couldn't fully open my eyes (picture a newborn slowly blinking). I was also very nauseous and kept saying "I wanna throw up. Just let me throw up. Why can't I throw up?" All of this seemed to last maybe 45 minutes but turns out I was in recovery for 3 hours! They had a hard time getting me to calm down and controlling my nausea and pain. Keep in mind before this surgery I had never been admitted into the hospital, never even had an IV. And I thought I had a high tolerance for pain…apparently not.

Ok..well going under was no problem. They gave me some great drugs to calm me and that was AWESOME couldn't stop laughing and then fell asleep.

I don't have much of a memory coming out of anaesthesia. But according to my family who were waiting for me in my room they wheeled me in and I was swearing like a sailor. I was shouting f***** me over and over again. I shouted " where's my pain pump I want my fn pain pump" they then gave me pain meds ad I slept until the next day.

It was a little dramatic. I remember the pain but they couldn't give me nothing for it because my oxygen levels were too low. But once they did I was out again.

I had surgery inTijuana and the anethesiologist asked if i wanted to wake up quickly or sleep for awhile after surgery and i said " i guess wake up right away so i can start walking" Weeeeeell that was not fun. He told me to close my eyes and take a nap and then its like i woke up a second later and i was screaming " Paaaaaaaain Naaaaausea Paaaaaaain Naaaaaaausea ...im gooooooing to barf... " I screamed for what felt like 30 minutes..I could see a nurse putting somthing into the iv...but oh man...it was bad...i couldnt be given morphine so i was on a painkiller that neither made you drowsy or helped with the pain that well...so i was in pain...

It was a traumatizing first experience..it didnt help that my heart was tachicardic for an hour or two either

I've had a cyst surgery and gallbladder surgery (most recent), and I had a difficult time with the anesthesia bc it made me so nauseous. But it seemed seconds after when I woke up. Very groggy.

Good to know my dr Rx this too. My surgery is Tuesday. This is the first time I will be put under....little nervous

My first time being put under I awoke thinking I was swimming through mud to the surface.

I tried kicking my legs, swimmer style, to get through the "mud". I'm not sure if I was really kicking my legs or if it was apart of my anesthesia fog.

My surgeon and anesthesiologist loved my description of coming to tho.

And I puked. Every time.

Edited by AmandaRaeLeo

I don't remember anything. They wheeled me into the operating room (which was a very cold and sterile room, not at all like the nice pretty rooms they operate on in Greys Anatomy). The anesthesiologist told me to put my left arm out and then my right..

..out like a light..

Woke up in recovery, I remember not being the only one there and telling the nurse in a very groggy, very matter of fact "PAIN, do something about this!" and she jumped right up and started pumping me full of morphine (which was my best friend for those two days) and that was that. If I said "Nauseous!" she pumped more meds into me. Thats ALL I remember from the recovery room. Next thing I knew I woke up in my hospital room.

I went in and under easily, but my surgery only took about 45 minutes and as they were wheeling me into recovery I came to... Later the doc said most patients stay out at least 30 min to an hour giving the body time to adjust to the shock of the surgery. I wish!!

The first thing I felt before I even opened my eyes was a terrible burning sensation on the inside of my body. I kid you not, the first coherent thought I had was "spontaneous combustion".. And I started to cry, vocalizing the my insides were on fire. I begged them to knock me out but they didn't, and it took about 2 hours before I was moved to my room. I was truly miserable and the first pain meds they have me didn't help. They ended up giving me dilaudid wich made it bearable.

In hindsight, they just cauterized 80% of my stomach and removed it, I guess it's not surprising that I felt like my insides were on fire. It's funny, I've never heard anyone else on this forum complain of heat or fire like sensations... That and my surgery was at 7 pm at night and they released me at 11 am the next day. No dilaudid for me :-(

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