由 home-healthhaven 
Imagine waking up and hearing voices around you. To your horror, you realize those voices belong to doctors because you’re on an operating table. You try to open your eyes or move your hands and feet, but you can’t. You’re fully conscious but completely paralyzed, unable to alert anyone. All you can do is hope you don’t feel any pain and that the operation ends quickly.
This might sound like a nightmare, but for about 1 in every 1,000 surgical patients each year, it’s very real. These patients experience what’s called anesthesia awareness, where they regain some level of consciousness during surgery. While some might be lucky enough not to feel pain, not everyone is so fortunate.
Consider the chilling example of Carol Weihrer, who woke up during surgery to remove her right eye in 1998. Though she only felt pressure from the surgical tools, the paralytic drug made her feel like she was on fire. Even more distressing is the case of a 22-year-old Swedish man who woke up during a lung surgery and felt increasing pain for 30-35 minutes of the 50-minute procedure.
But why does this happen? According to News Medical, anesthesia awareness often occurs because of incorrect dosing, where patients receive too little anesthesia to stay fully unconscious. WebMD adds that it’s also more common in specific surgeries like heart surgery, emergency operations, and C-sections, where lighter doses are used to keep patients stable. Factors like smoking, the use of prescription or illegal drugs, high body fat, and heavy drinking habits can also influence how one’s body responds to anesthesia.
The impact of waking up during surgery goes beyond immediate pain. Many patients suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) afterward, enduring nightmares, flashbacks, personality changes, and social anxiety.
One of the biggest challenges is that we still don’t fully understand how anesthesia works. Nancy Kopell, a professor at Boston University, along with researchers from MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital, is investigating this mystery. They aim to develop new tools to prevent anesthesia awareness. One promising solution is a sensor that can alert anesthesiologists when a patient is about to wake up. If successful, such technology could soon be a standard feature in operating rooms, helping to ensure no one has to endure the terrifying experience of waking up during surgery.