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Comment by GordonS | Hacker News Reader

It felt exactly the same way to me.

> Before it's grown to your whole arm, you've vanished

I wonder about this bit though - I wasn't sure if I really had gone out that quickly, or if I talked for more time but just don't remember it.

After my operation I apparently woke in the recovery room and said some things (I heard the nurses talking about it afterwards) - but I have no recollection of it at all.

Also, you're spot on about the passage of time - when I finally woke and was actually lucid (well, fairly!), it really felt like no time had passed.

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> I wonder about this bit though - I wasn't sure if I really had gone out that quickly, or if I talked for more time but just don't remember it.

Something about the sensation of returning felt like it was on the waking side of the experience, rather than the falling asleep side.

And because I did it twice I did see that the doctor had practiced it, it wasn't just smalltalk. He got me to do a biographical spiel because you tend to have one (grew up there, moved for uni, blah blah) ready. So when it came time to give it, I sort of vanished while talking about myself. No slurred speech like I was drunk, just sort of "oh shit I'm falling asleep" after maybe a couple of sentences, and then gone.

I can see why Michael Jackson might have liked it. It really does KO you super fast.

Since you brought it up I'm really curious why you suppose MJ would prefer to be KO'd so often.

You can get addicted to propofol, and some people who self harm frequently and severely report the propofol as one factor for their continued self harm. (although it's often only one of many factors).

I guess he was a troubled character? Couldn't sleep normally, perhaps due to some trauma?

Arguably the most talented and most troubled child prodigy/musical genius of all time. Obvious trauma right off the top would be a childhood of physical/sexual abuse combined with an unprecedented level of early fame and success.

Reportedly, he had some botched plastic surgeries which made it hard to breathe normally, and in particular, made sleep painful.

probably lots of reasons, but I can certainly see someone who's used to having anything they want at any time also wanting to be put to sleep (pardon the term) whenever they want as well. if all of your life is 'on demand', why wouldn't sleep be as well?

I understand he suffered from chronic pain, so sleep must not have been easy for him. I can totally see the lure of propofol in such a case.

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