The REAL Reason You Can't Sleep After Surgery

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[Deeplycloseted]

Also, your body thinks you’ve just had life-threatening trauma, even though it was a planned and intentional procedure. While you’re groggy from anesthesia, once awake the stress hormones are flowing in order to counteract the inflammation and mobilize glucose. The anesthesia spares you the mental trauma, but not the physical trauma. Its definitely a strange experience, your brain is barely working, but your body is in crisis mode.

[BillyKamp]

After a while seeing patients waking up from anesthesia I differentiated sleeping from going under with a following analogy.

Sleeping is turning your PC off, it still has power, and when you turn it on, the clock is still adjusted. Going under is turning it off, unpluging and removing the motherboard battery.

When you turn it back on eventually, there is not the feeling of time elapsed.

[xeros]

Perfect time for this video. My dad had a surgery few days ago and he was complaining that he cant sleep after it.

[Mfr]

My circadian rhythm is more of a suggestion

[Avendesora]

I have delayed sleep phase syndrome and both times i’ve had surgery I ended up with a more typical sleep schedule for a week or so before slipping back to my usual. It’s funny to think that the general anesthesia may have “fixed” it temporarily.

[xerxies]

I have significant delayed sleep phase, so I'm going to sleep at 6am when others are waking up. I've been put under for procedures a few times and it made me sleep earlier than normal, then I went back to my typical rhythm. I work nights so this rhythm is useful to me, not so much a disability.

[dorianthegrey]

I've had insomnia since I was a kid, which is very common with neurodivergence. Every major surgery I've had usually ended up resetting me closer to a normal person circadian rhythm.

[MattS-sr]

My circadian rhythm is already trash on a good day, so I've never had issues falling asleep after surgery. I've taken long naps after surgery both times I've gone under. A superpower that is absolute garbage day to day.

[MayaJeanne]

like so many neurodivergent people, i do not have a typical circadian rhythm naturally. and i'd also bet that i'm not the only neurodivergent folk that has their inner clock "reset" after getting general anesthesia! i truly never get better sleep than the few days post op.

[Kleineganz]

Update: I was under sedation for another outpatient procedure yesterday. I got a good 8 hours of sleep last night. So, my streak of not having issues with this continues.

I have honestly never had an issue sleeping after surgery. In fact, I'm usually very sleepy and gets lots of sleep after surgery (I've also generally not spent the night in the hospital after most of mine... even my top surgery and total hysterectomy were done as outpatient procedures). The first one I had way back in 2000 (when I had an ovarian cyst removed), it was very much nurses constantly pestering me, because I was fast asleep and they had to wake me up. Opioids like morphine just knock me right out.

But then, my brain/body doesn't process things the same way as most people, and in some cases metabolizes them far slower than most as well. I also have delayed sleep phase disorder, so my circadian rhythm has never been "normal."

One additional thought: I'm also autistic, so I wonder if that might also play a factor?

[PolymorfDragon]

i never sleep as good as general anesthesia

[paulkinzer]

I've had four back surgeries that necessitated general anesthesia and overnight hospital care afterwards. For me, the thing that brought decent sleep quickest was refusing, for the last surgery, to have opioids as part of the of the process. None before, during, or after surgery. In the first three, I had not found the side effects to be worth the benefit (especially the messing up of my digestion -- after my third time, I needed to be checked back in for another night because of intense abdominal pain and an inability to have a bowel movement [sorry if that's TMI]).

Of course, I'm just me, so I may be an outlier. I'm also someone who has never had a firm circadian rhythm. I'm 64, but can still pull all-nighters without any trouble, or get by with just three hours sleep. Or sometimes sleep 10 or more. This is really convenient, since I'm also an avid amateur astronomer, and a 'maker' who sometimes doesn't want to stop until a job is done. Will this kill me before my time? Who knows; but it's been a helpful kind of superpower so far.

[arthas]

i'll never forget the time i needed a minor procedure and they knocked me out since it was standard practise there at the time. They told me i needed to wait an hour but rush hour traffic was about to hit so i somehow stumbled out of there right after the procedure, walk down the halls bumping into walls like a terrible drunk, texted my ride a bunch of nonsense, found the parking garage, climbed into the back of his car, and passed out for nearly an hour waking up at my home. The nurse who turned her back on me probably got in trouble for that.

[CarolineCarnivorous]

I have non-24 sleep wake disorder, and I had to be put under for a C-section - I was doomed, lol. I physically couldn't sleep for more than an hour at a time for a couple of weeks! But funnily enough, the extreme tiredness that pregnancy and being a new parent caused helped a lot with my disorder.

[MrWombatty]

When I was young, I was always extremely nauseous & constantly vomiting post-op, but prior to the several operations I've had since my mid 30s, I've informed the anaesthetist about the problem. As they've been able to customise the mix & dosage of anaesthesia, following the last few major surgical procedures I've actually slept really well, especially as the pain-levels were well managed & lower than the constant agony which I was enduring every hour of the day!
However, there's one thing I strongly recommend for anyone going into hospital, is to purchase one of those plastic-containers that comes with two pairs of silicone ear-plugs, as those will stay in better & are easier to clean, plus a 2nd pair means it's not an issue if one is misplaced!

[Raykkie]

1:34 And amnesia! The effects on the short-term are well known, but the long-term ones are less documented and can be somewhat insiduous in their form

[DeathlyTired]

"General Anaestheia isn't going anywhere"
(RFK Jr, waiting offstage, rubs hands together slowly)

[nicholasharvey]

I had to be under general anesthesia back in September. I was able to come home after the surgery and go right back to bed. It helped that I only slept about 3 hours the night before the operation.

[nathanwoodruff]

I was hit by a car while riding a bicycle home from work July 2023. I spent 14 days in the hospital and slept like a baby. Sometimes all day. It took 4 1/2 months to start walking again and another 2 1/2 months to walk without a walker. The bad news is that I only got enough prescription pain medication for 2 weeks after I was discharged from the hospital.

[beinglazyMD]

This is great interesting info for me right now, about to be a surgical resident.