WAKING UP DURING AN OPERATION IS NOT UNCOMMON

Waking up in the middle of an operation could happen a lot easier than you think. New research published in the journal Anesthesiology suggests that humans are not fully unconscious when under general anesthetic. Instead, it is similar to a sleeping state. A team of researchers at the University of Turku in Finland discovered that something like a loud noise or being briefly shaken could be enough to bring people back to consciousness, with 42 percent of participants able to be awakened. All of this took place after the patient reached either loss of responsiveness or loss of consciousness and while the drugs were still being administered. The study found that nearly all participants reported dreamlike experiences that sometimes mixed with the reality. Some of the participants were even able to recall parts of the operation, though their memories were hazy.
* Hi, doc, just checking in. How’s it goin’ so far?
* If I wake up in the middle of my surgery, I want to be concious enough to tell the anesthesiologist, “That’s 50 bucks off your bill!”
* Nowadays, if you wake up in the middle of your operation, they tell you what your co-pay is REALLY going to be, and you pass out again.