Is it common to wake up during general anesthesia?

[ennui84]

I went in on Wednesday to have all 4 wisdom teeth extracted. They put me under GA and at some point I woke up. I didn't feel anything they were doing to my teeth but I saw the surgeon and the nurses hovering over me and talking. I tried making eye contact with one of the nurses but I had something over my forehead covering part of my eyes from the bright lights.

I knew I wouldn't be able to talk so I tried to make a noise, I don't think they heard me but then I lifted up my right arm and I heard they surgeon say something about seeing my arm move and that's the last I remember. I guess they put me under again after that. When they woke me up, I asked them if I'd waken up during but I don't remember what they told me. I must have fallen back asleep because I asked again the second time I woke up and the nurse said I had asked that when I woke up but they didn't tell me if I had or hadn't. I don't think it's something I dreamed. I remember the bright lights and the surgeon talking to his staff.

How common is this? I figured that after they were done and they woke me up, my whole mouth would be numb but I was feeling discomfort/some pain but not too horrible. Does this mean that I have a high tolerance for these kinds of meds, that I might need a stronger dose?

 

[wednesdaystinks]

I also woke up when they were taking my wisdom teeth out and fell back asleep. I guess it might be pretty common. I had mine taken out two weeks ago.

 

[Gordon]

It's not that common to let patients wake up during a GA, some anaesthetists will let the patient "come up" a bit while we're changing sides, ie we've finished extractions on the left side and are getting sorted out for the right.

As for the pain meds, your mouth shouldn't feel numb, just the pain should have been dealt with, which sounds like what's happened, so I wouldn't worry about that.