Did you ever have any kind of strange dreams while under anesthesia? Or was it all black void?

Many thread topics that we have here call for a theoretical response from you all, but for those of us who have had some kind of surgery requiring general anesthesia, whether PCa-related or otherwise, we'll have something concrete to say about this question. Because we've been there, done that.

Even a quick literature search on the web indicates that there is a spectrum of mental experiences that people can have, even when under heavy, general anesthesia. Or simply total unconsciousness, no experiences at all. Apparently it really varies.

But searching also reveals that there have been a fair number of articles on the matter of dreaming/awareness/memory in the anesthetized state, and while many of those articles are technical, dealing with issues such as strength of anesthetic, operation parameters, etc., others present a more general picture of what happens.

From one of the more general articles:

"The dreaming reported by many patients during surgery, in most cases, does not mean the anesthesia is wearing off."

"Twenty-two percent of patients reported dreaming ... Patient characteristics that were associated with dreaming during anesthesia included younger age, male gender and frequent recall of dreams at home. Dreamers were also more likely to be treated with the anesthetic propofol or receive regional anesthesia and were more likely to open their eyes sooner after surgery."

"Dreams experienced under anesthesia were similar to those during sleep, were usually pleasant, and the content was unrelated to the surgery."

"The similarities between the patients’ dreams while under anesthesia and during natural sleep suggest that the dreams during anesthesia occur during the early recovery period when patients are still lightly sedated, but are in a definite sleep state."

"These findings, the researchers conclude, should reassure patients who may think dreaming during surgery is a sign of inadequate anesthesia."

Source:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-dreaming-anesthesia-iduscol06020420070220

And a comment from another website on why some people dream while under anesthesia:

" ... dreams during anesthesia are probably the result of episodic memory consolidation of events immediately preceding anesthesia."

(Also, unrelated but interesting: it is very rare for patients to "talk-in-their-sleep" during anesthesia, and operating room staff are ethically bound not to reveal such talk beyond the OR for those few times that it does occur).

Personally, it was complete unconsciousness for me during my TURP operation (2011) and follow-up surgery for accumulated scar tissue developed after IMRT (2018). But the endoscopy under propofol that I had in 2013 to correct an esophageal stricture was a different story.

The article linked below reports on gender differences in mental imagery under anesthesia that have been observed during this particular procedure (endoscopy).

From the article:

"The results showed that the incidence of dreaming was significantly higher in men (31%) than in women (17%)"

"In men 45% of dreamers reported positive emotional content and only 6% reported negative emotional content. In contrast, in women, 18% reported positive and 29% reported negative content. Men reported dreams that were more vivid, meaningful, familiar, and memorable."

Source:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249997215_sex_differences_in_dreaming_during_short_propofol_sedation_for_upper_gastrointestinal_endoscopy#:~:text=in%20research%20on%20100%20men%20and%20100%20women,and%20memorable%2c%20with%20a%20higher%20incidence%20of%20recall.

Well, during my endoscopy I did indeed have a dreaming experience that matches the general description for such "endoscopy dreams" given above.

I dreamed while under propofol that I was on a vast, open plain at night in northern Canada. I looked up and saw the northern lights high in the sky. But these northern lights were huge, dazzling, flashing brilliantly in every color, and totally filling the night sky. I had what in the 60s might have been called a "psychedelic" dream experience.

But it all ended quite abruptly when I awoke, almost jarred back really, into consciousness, and suddenly hearing the voices and sounds of the operating room.

But an extraordinary experience nonetheless.

So what about you? Have you ever had a remarkable dreaming experience or extraordinary consciousness event while under anesthesia? Or has it always been an empty blackness?

Tell us about it if it was interesting.

I went to sleep and woke up, didn't seem time had moved.
No dreams whatsoever.
But that's the way I sleep most times.

In my case it was probably the propofol that caused the colorful dream. This has been noted before:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19528807/

I had a boss once that refused any sedatives for dental work.
She had bigger ones than I do! LOL

One of the best bosses I have ever had.

"Your Friend",
Even root canals?

My mother reported that when she had a hip replacement, she had a spinal + sedative for twilight sleep. She recalled being aware that there was hammering going on, and wondered who was building a new house.

Me, never a dream during anesthesia. I'll let you know next week if I have one when I have my upper GI endoscope.

“see you in the recovery room”

<snap>

Hours later i am in the recovery room and it seems like a minute.

No dreams. Just the recovery room.

TomTempe,
I've thought about describing it like that to family, but I figured they wouldn't like it.
But yes, that's how I thought about it.
Suddenly asleep, 5 hours later suddenly awake. My mind was sharp, as the first thing I said was to my daughter, she was the first person I saw, "So sweetie, did the Cats win?" They didn't.
I've only been under 4 times, same experience each time.

A little more on this, after doing a little more reading.

The article linked below describes fairly clearly what's going on in the brain during the dreaming process, and insists that it is not possible to dream while under anesthesia.

However, it also offers an explanation of what's actually happening when we seem to be dreaming while anesthetized.

From the article:

" ... you tend to have your best, richest and most memorable and recallable dreams right at the end of a night's sleep."

"(Anesthetics) ... increase the activity of inhibitory nerve signals in the brain and they decrease the excitation in the brain and, as a result, they basically just shut down your brain for the most part."

but then there's the explanation:

" ... so you do not dream when you're under an anaesthetic, although, when you're waking up, you may have some bizarre experiences because your brain is just beginning to kick-in and return to consciousness. And so some people do describe some rather strange memories as they wake up from an anaesthetic, but that's not when they were actually anaesthetised."

So it's as if the anesthetic wears off, your brain is returning to normal, and then it sort of "gets-in-a-quick-dream" before it totally wakes up.

That's the way it seemed to happen with me.

So, no, we don't really dream while under anesthesia, but the way we wake up sort of makes it seem like we do.

Maybe that's it.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/can-people-dream-under-anaesthetic

I really don't want to hijack this thread, but when I was very young and very sick, I kept drifting in and out of consciousness.

I sensed some sort of overwhelming experience that I've never been able to explain nor replicate.
To this day, I think that may be what I'll experience right before death.
Would that have been related to a "fever dream"?

I know I did have a high fever at the time.

If this causes a problem, mods may remove this and make a new topic out of it.

I normally dream like a SOB most nights... My dreams are very detailed and intense.... During a medical situation - Nadda.

As Jack64 mentioned - Ether is another story..... I was given Ether twice as a child by my dentist. AND I can still recall the "noise in my head" that it cause... The real fun part is that it's guaranteed to make you nausea.

Relaxed warm feeling going out then Total blackness. If never awoken from surgery, I suspect death would be the same. Not a bad way to go out. Good book on the subject(death)
Nothing to be frightened of by Julian Barnes. The title can be taken two ways nothing the be frightened of or nothing pause , to be frightened of.
If you fully expect to wake from surgery you don’t have that instinctual dread of death and non existence