http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/anesthesia/basics/definition/prc-20014786

Always one to take advantage of interesting situations I told myself before surgery to remember what the docs in the operating room were saying when they worked on me while I was "out". I also had a joke ready for the recovery room nurse which I would ploy her with at the first moment that I had recovered any control of mind....( "Was it a boy or a girl?" ) .

Counting down from 100 in the room...99..98..9------------------------

"C'mon, Gary...breathe!" Said the nurse in the recovery room.

I checked my memory banks for doctor conversations. No nothing. Not even a sense of passing time. This most definitely is not like sleep. It is a venture into oblivion. The closest conscious equivalent in my experience was a time when smoking grass in the 60's when I was far away from where I was a second ago....apparently.

I said OK to the nurse and when I realized I could talk I hit her with my hilarious birth joke. Not even a polite chuckle came out of her. Either she had no sense of humor, too professional to laugh, or she had heard it way too many times by men who thought they were oh, so original.

I have relived that time warp feeling many times in my mind. It is like that missing tooth area that your tongue can't help going into after extraction. It is certainly a very interesting experience.

Edited January 10, 201412 yr by gmanbat

Yeah, it was like that for me too - no memory of the OR whatsoever. I did prefer the stuff they gave me for the EDG. There was no countdown with that one. When they gave me the stuff, it felt like I had blinked, I closed my eyes and opened them... and it was over. The staff laughed at me because I put the bite guard back in my mouth, thinking I had let it slip out before the surgery had started. They had taken it out.

Ok...I got no time warp...As they were wheeling me out of the preop room, it was "here is something to help you relax" and next thing I know I hear, "her blood pressure is too low". I barely recall opening one eye and seeing a form of a person and then closing said eye. Then I wake up in my room with the hubs whispering in my ear. Whatever happened between these 2 points, I have no clue.

Maybe time gap would be better wording.

It is what you wished you could have had in school to skip that last torturous hour before the liberty bell rang.

Idk but I tell you it is fascinating! I mean even in a deep sleep you can tell that time has passed. You may not know how long you've been asleep but you have a sense of time. When we are put under, where do we go? Why are their no dreams? There is literally just nothingness.

Yes! It was my first anesthesia and it was way more drastic than I expected. Its like absolutely no tine passes

Yes, I have had this exact same experience during the few surgeries endured so far. It is like hibernation on a computer - everything freezes in a state until the computer is woken up from hibernation. No sense of time passing. It is like anesthesia puts your consciousness into hibernation mode. Everything just freezes, yet you still breath and your heart still pumps. It is a fascinating process.

Edited January 10, 201412 yr by Fiddleman

(I know this is off the wall) I've been under so many times and have actually experienced death twice. With this so called hibernation of time I have concluded one important thing.. I do not fear death. It just happens.

(I know this is off the wall) I've been under so many times and have actually experienced death twice. With this so called hibernation of time I have concluded one important thing.. I do not fear death. It just happens.

You have experienced death twice?

(I know this is off the wall) I've been under so many times and have actually experienced death twice. With this so called hibernation of time I have concluded one important thing.. I do not fear death. It just happens.

whoah! Do tell!! Umm if u want.... Lol sounds like an incredible story. So glad u made it though. If it's horrible and will really upset you then you don't have to talk about it.