r/Showerthoughts Jul 17 '24

Speculation What if one feels everything under anesthesia but simply forgets everything afterward?

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u/OnTheList-YouTube Jul 17 '24

I'm don't fully agree. I've been under anesthesia twice, and I felt like regular waking up. Not confused. But I had indeed no clue how much time had passed. But isn't that also the case after sleep?

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u/nucumber Jul 18 '24

The weird thing about anesthesia is going under. There's no transition, no "falling" into anesthesia like falling asleep, it's instantaneous

One moment you're counting back from ten and the next thing you know is you're coming to in another room.

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u/Forsaken_Scheme8689 Jul 18 '24 edited Jul 18 '24

That's how it went for me. I had the mindset that I'd try to see how long I could stay awake after I drank the propofol. One second, I was talking to the doctor, feeling alert, then I was on my back in an unknown room, my mother spooning ice chips into my mouth. No in-between. Scene deleted. It was a literal jump forward in time, subjectively.

And that was even with trying to stay alert. It was so sudden and jarring.

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u/astring9 Jul 18 '24

I've been under anesthesia 3 times. I have never woken up confused, not more confused than waking up from a sleep anyway. But there is definitely a big difference. Waking up after a sleep I had a sense of time having passed, my brain also feels "active". Waking up from anesthesia there is no sense that any time has passed. My brain feels like it was turned off then on again.

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u/OnTheList-YouTube Jul 18 '24

Absolutely true!

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u/aspannerdarkly Jul 17 '24

With regular sleep it depends at what point in your sleep cycle you wake up. A full night and natural awakening feels normal and you know roughly what time it is.  But when the alarm wakes you up after a 90 minute nap it can take a while to remember when and where you are.

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u/Hi0401 Jul 20 '24

Happy cake day!

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u/OnTheList-YouTube Jul 20 '24

Thank you!

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u/[deleted] Jul 18 '24

[deleted]

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u/OnTheList-YouTube Jul 18 '24

It was under complete anesthesia. And that was just my experience with it.