Anesthesia Awareness

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I just saw the movie “Awake,” which is about a guy who undergoes heart surgery, and because the anesthesia doesn’t work right, he’s completely aware of everything that’s happening to him. A real nightmare – obviously – and since I’m semi-claustrophobic, it somewhat freaked me out. I also happen to be a journalist, so I decided to look into whether something like this could really happen (I was skeptical), and was completely freaked out to discover that not can it happen, but it’s a real phenomenon with a real name (“anesthesia awareness”) and official recognition by doctors. “Good Morning America” ran a segment on the whole thing last week, following a meeting of experts in New York on the subject, and while there seems to be some disagreement over just how common this is, there’s no disagreement that there are things people can do to reduce the risk. I spent the next days boring everyone I know with the subject, and it turns out one my friends is very involved in the issue. She turned me onto a website called ORLive.com, which has lots of info.
The actual link is: http://or-live.com/anesthesiaawareness/index.cfm, and I would definitely suggest checking it out (especially if you’re planning to see this movie. Or have surgery any time soon).

 

[Coastie]

Spam.

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[geogil]

I just saw the movie "Awake," which is about a guy who undergoes heart surgery, and because the anesthesia doesn't work right, he's completely aware of everything that's happening to him. A real nightmare – obviously – and since I'm semi-claustrophobic, it somewhat freaked me out. I also happen to be a journalist, so I decided to look into whether something like this could really happen (I was skeptical), and was completely freaked out to discover that not can it happen, but it's a real phenomenon with a real name ("anesthesia awareness") and official recognition by doctors. "Good Morning America" ran a segment on the whole thing last week, following a meeting of experts in New York on the subject, and while there seems to be some disagreement over just how common this is, there's no disagreement that there are things people can do to reduce the risk. I spent the next days boring everyone I know with the subject, and it turns out one my friends is very involved in the issue. She turned me onto a website called XXXXXXXXXXXX, which has lots of info. and I would definitely suggest checking it out (especially if you're planning to see this movie. Or have surgery any time soon).

It's a testament to your ignorance of these forums that nobody has bothered to repsond to your asinine post. Bravo.

 

[norwood]

Same posting appears verbatim in at least one other place, per a quick Google search...

 

[A-non-y-mous]

It's a testament to your ignorance of these forums that nobody has bothered to repsond to your asinine post. Bravo.

Is this the answer you'd give to your patient???

It may be annoying and a nuisance, but the OP seems genuine to me. NO need to jump down his throat.

 

[Planktonmd]

Is this the answer you'd give to your patient???

It may be annoying and a nuisance, but the OP seems genuine to me. NO need to jump down his throat.

This subject has been discussed already but here is a few facts:
1- Awareness under general anesthesia does exist but is extremely rare. and that number they are circulating (40,000/ year) is imaginary.
2- Most people who claim they had awareness don't realize that they never had general anesthesia and that when you are receiving sedation you might hear or feel things which is absolutely normal.
3- There are monitors that measure the electric activity of the brain and produce numbers that are supposed to correlate with the level of consciousness according to the manufacturers of these machines. Unfortunately there is no scientific evidence that any of these monitors actually prevents awareness contrary to the misleading advertisements.
4- The best course of action for a patient is to trust that there is a physician specialist in charge of their anesthetic and that this highly qualified professional is going to take every step to provide them with the care they need.

 

[Noyac]

This subject has been discussed already but here is a few facts:
1- Awareness under general anesthesia does exist but is extremely rare. and that number they are circulating (40,000/ year) is imaginary.
2- Most people who claim they had awareness don't realize that they never had general anesthesia and that when you are receiving sedation you might hear or feel things which is absolutely normal.
3- There are monitors that measure the electric activity of the brain and produce numbers that are supposed to correlate with the level of consciousness according to the manufacturers of these machines. Unfortunately there is no scientific evidence that any of these monitors actually prevents awareness contrary to the misleading advertisements.
4- The best course of action for a patient is to trust that there is a physician specialist in charge of their anesthetic and that this highly qualified professional is going to take every step to provide them with the care they need.

I would add one thing to this, a board certified physician specialist in anesthesia.

I just received an email from work regarding this topic. It is a crna no less from one of our sister hospitals and on the Risk Management committee telling all the risk managers to visit the aana website on awareness. No other links, just the aana.

 

[coprolalia]

My bet is that the OP represents some sort of spam-marketing campaign for a movie that is doing badly at the box office. Showing up and posting once, block letters, and this exact same letter available at other places on the Internet... This is a well-known strategy, and dates back years (namely going to internet forums to drum-up "interest" in a subject in order to advertise a product, movie, TV show, etc.) and occurs on places like MySpace, YouTube, etc. as well.

The problem this movie has/had is that they did not coordinate its release with an Aspect medical marketing blitz, when that company has sent B-roll to news outlets in the past under the guise of a "important news story". (This is actually where I think the writer of this movie probably got the original idea for the plot.) Now, the shills for the film company are trying (I surmise) to get people interested in this film AFTER it's been released.

I will include two links, the first with factual information on the subject:

http://www.asahq.org/patientEducation.htm

The second, a collection of reviews about this movie for which there is general a consensus that it sucked:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/awake/

-copro

 

[gasnewby]

so what exactly happens in this stupid movie? is the wife in cahoots with the docs? why? how are they going to kill him?

 

[mshheaddoc]

Spam.

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if you guys see crap like this, use

because it sends a message to the forum mods about it so they can get rid of it ASAP. Thanks!