I certainly never said that all docs will agree to it, but it’s not a matter of opinion. There certainly are anesthesiologists who will accommodate the patient’s wishes if/when it is appropriate to the situation.
You guys are brave. It would never enter my mind to stay awake. I’m definitely in the wake-me-up-when-it’s-over camp.
When I had my eyelids done, they told me to say something if I started to feel anything during the surgery. I can’t recall the details–although the anesthesiologist was very informative in advance–but I believe that I was under fairly light anesthesia, and the desire was to keep it as light as possible. At some point during the procedure I became aware and started to feel some thing, so I said so and they immediately put me further under, so I was totally out of it until I was in recovery. It worked out well. I have no idea what they gave me, although they told me at the time. 
I have had three surgeries/procedures in my life, one put out and two with sedation. It took me hours and hours to come out of the one where I was put out and I didn’t feel “normal” for days (four impacted wisdom teeth extracted). The other two were much easier to recover from. If less anestheisia is a viable option, I know that I respond better when there is less.
Yes, for me, my lung docs and I REALLY prefer the least possible sedation. I tend to get nausea form general anesthesia and take longer than I like to recover.
After MJ died, I saw an interview with a doctor who said that propofol gives the patient the impression that they had a good sleep, but that you don’t have the normal sleep cycles you need. He said MJ would probably have eventually died because of that. He’d already gone 60 days without real sleep, and a person cannot do that indefinitely.
I don’t know if that’s actually true, but it seems logical.
If you want to see some real surgery-while-awake, check out the Season 2 finale of The Knick, available on Amazon Prime. You’ll never look at it the same way again.
I remember going into the operating room and getting on the table during my last surgery. That freaked me out enough. Nope nope nope to actually being awake during the procedure lol
I’ve never had bad reactions to anesthesia though. I wake up quickly and am fine after that.
When I read the title, I was like “NO way I would be comfortable with that!” but then I remembered I had a C Section and was awake through it and it wasn’t an issue. Yes, you feel tugging and such but no pain. So, yeah, I can see where it makes sense.
I had a spinal anesthetic plus conscious sedation to have complicated surgery on a broken leg. I don’t remember a thing. From my viewpoint, it was the same as general anesthesia. But from the doctors’ viewpoint, apparently it isn’t. I believe this approach is preferred for a lot of below-the-waist surgeries.
Retired anesthesiologist here. Less is better. The idea is to provide good working conditions for the surgeon and the least pain and emotional et al discomfort for the patient with the quickest recovery afterwards. Some procedures are best done with the patient awake enough to follow directions while others best if the patient is more “out of it”. Since every individual is different part of the process is titrating drugs to use the least amount with the best conditions. Nrsdb4 has some good comments.
Some patients will think they were totally out when they did carry on some conversations. Others seem out but remember some things. Every form of anesthesia has its risks and benefits and every procedure has the most preferred anesthetic regime as do patients’ overall health considerations. There’s a reason there is a years long residency in anesthesiology for physicians! Plus a reason to enjoy that practice of medicine- the myriads of decisions big and small made in a timely manner.
Different people tolerate different awareness of what’s going on. Being awake is fine if the stress doesn’t cause problems- physically or emotionally.
Three basic parts to an anesthetic- awareness, pain and movement. Sometimes it is the pain medicine that causes the nausea and sleepiness. There is a tradeoff in drugs and methods used and side effects.
Being awake for a C-section is best- for baby and for mom to see her baby. That’s the happiest part of medicine and I enjoyed it.
Drugs that induce sleep may mess up the REM sleep we need in addition to being addictive. The science behind anesthetics is interesting- so many factors to consider.