Waking to a nightmare
Although rare, awareness during surgery can be a traumatizing event. Some patients are able to feel and hear but unable to alert their doctors.
Judy Foreman
Health Sense
February 21, 2005
Seven years ago, Carol Weihrer, a flutist and office administrator, had her right eye removed. She had been living in pain from a severely scratched cornea for years and had already undergone 17 surgeries to try to fix it.
Just before she was given general anesthesia, Weihrer remembers, she was feeling relieved that her trauma would soon be over. Suddenly, she woke up hearing disco music and thinking, "I must be done."
The next thing she heard was someone saying, " 'Cut deeper. Pull harder.' I realized: They are not done. They are just starting."
She felt no pain, but was absolutely terrified. "I can remember praying to God, screaming, but no sound came out," said Weihrer, now 53, whose vocal muscles had been paralyzed by the anesthesia.
Such anesthesia awareness is not as rare as one might think. An estimated one to two out of every 1,000 patients — or 20,000 to 40,000 Americans a year — wake up under general anesthesia, according to a large study by Emory University researchers published last year. (Patients given local or regional pain blocks plus "conscious sedation" are not unconscious to begin with and therefore cannot have anesthesia awareness.)
General anesthesia is a combination of several drugs that block pain, paralyze the muscles so surgeons can cut tissue more easily, and render patients unconscious and unable to remember the operation.
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, which accredits 85% of American hospitals, recently described the condition as "under-recognized" and "under-treated" and said hospitals and doctors should develop policies for avoiding it.
To this day, Weihrer, who now runs Anesthesia Awareness Campaign Inc. from her home in Reston, Va., says she can't sleep more than a few hours without nightmares and can recall verbatim doctors' conversations in the operating room.
Like many patients who wake up during anesthesia, she is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, which includes flashbacks, irritability and exaggerated startle responses.
"
I'm still in love with the show and not at all bored.
hopefully tonight will be good
Who could it be?
can't believe it was him. Is it me, or did that kid have a major growth spurt?
I missed that! Too many interuptions at my house last night. It was a really good episode. 
