4 ms·

My suspicion would be that the general anesthetic is the primary cause.

billti 7y ago
I think cardiac surgery is the worst offender because they often have to bypass the heart while performing the surgery, and this can result in blood supply issues while diverting/restoring flow through the heart.
madaxe_again 7y ago
I have been sedated a few times for minor procedures, propofol, I think, with no issues, and I’ve had a general once, for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy - about as trivial as abdominal surgery comes, only a few hours under. It had side effects. For the better part of a year afterwards, I kept finding myself unconsciously substituting completely incorrect words into written correspondence, I was irritable almost constantly, my short term memory was shot, and I had hallucinations and attacks of aphasia - I’d be walking down the street, or in the shower, or in a damn meeting, and I’d not only forget where I was but I’d lose object permanence and recognition - couldn’t tell taps from cats, cars from shoes. It got better, over time, but there was very definitely a long mental hangover from it. I do have medical quirks, like I can’t tolerate opioids (they worsen pain and make me vomit), and I’m a carrier of a whole bunch of degenerative diseases (thanks, inbred aristo dad), and when I had surgery I was weakened from years of still mysterious illness - they thought my GB was the root cause, but no - stress - leaving tech fixed me. Anyway. I can readily see how, with someone with a poised avalanche of genetic mental disorder, it can be enough to completely push them into the abyss.
- xupybd 7y ago
  I've experienced this too. I had a tumor removed from my head. It was pretty serious. I'm not sure if it's due to the anesthesia, physical stress of the operation, changes to brain blood flow or radiation that my brain was hit with. Either way my memory has not been great since. My wife is disappointed when I forget meaningful conversions from a week ago. I struggle at times to notice trivial errors, really struggle. I can look over the same email and miss several mistakes. Other days I'm clear, I don't make many mistakes and I can spot them easily. I still managed to get an Engineering degree and hold down regular employment as a software developer. But there are periods of time where my focus and productivity are just not there. I suspect this will hold me back in my career. But I'm thankful I can function as well as I can and have survived to this point.
  - afc 7y ago
    I just wanted to say that I'm sorry you're going through this. It must be very difficult. I hope you do recover. Best of luck!
  - meowface 7y ago
    I'm sorry, that sounds awful. I think it definitely could be any combination of those things. The brain is a very delicate and sensitive machine. I don't have specific recommendations, but I think that the potential for recovery should be much higher than what people with neurodegenerative diseases suffer from, like what was described in this article. There're a lot of risk and uncertainty trade-offs, and everyone reacts to things differently due to their genetics and what they're suffering from, but nootropic substances could potentially help here. They could possibly help as a short-term aid that improves memory and attention to detail while the nootropic is in effect, and some can actually potentially create long-term improvements. They're very under-studied, and they definitely require a lot of careful research, gradual self-testing, and acceptance of some risk (some nootropics have almost no risk, and some have a moderate level), but it could be worth looking into.
    - stef25 7y ago
      > The brain is a very delicate and sensitive machine Something as simple as a prion can completely destroy it and then there's Phineas Gage, someone whom all neurobio students learn about on day one of their course. Neuroplasticity can be quite amazing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage
      - meowface 7y ago
        Yep. A lot of it is personal biology and a lot is also chance. You can be shot in the head and survive with not much cognitive impairment, or you could hit your head against something and be unable to speak or feed yourself for the reset of your life. We are very pliable but it's sad that we're also still so fragile, at the level of the "mind" / "soul". Hopefully there'll eventually be a day where consciousness can be hosted in a much more safe way, for both biological and total immortality. I don't think it's exactly correct to say "a prion" can destroy it. One single prion I don't think would cause significant damage in most cases, if there could somehow be only a single one. The issue is that it's believed a prion will gradually cause nearby proteins to misfold and also become prions, and then it probably starts recurring exponentially like a pathogen infection, and your brain physically deteriorates and falls apart with no way to stop or reverse it. A very similar deterioration process appears to happen with other disorders like Alzheimer's and the form of dementia discussed in this article, though the root cause still isn't understood.
- tomrod 7y ago
  Omg. I've been under 4 times. I think the last two had similar impacts, and I still have a hard time finding proper words from time to time.

I think cardiac surgery is the worst offender because they often have to bypass the heart while performing the surgery, and this can result in blood supply issues while diverting/restoring flow through the heart.

madaxe_again 7y ago

I have been sedated a few times for minor procedures, propofol, I think, with no issues, and I’ve had a general once, for a laparoscopic cholecystectomy - about as trivial as abdominal surgery comes, only a few hours under. It had side effects. For the better part of a year afterwards, I kept finding myself unconsciously substituting completely incorrect words into written correspondence, I was irritable almost constantly, my short term memory was shot, and I had hallucinations and attacks of aphasia - I’d be walking down the street, or in the shower, or in a damn meeting, and I’d not only forget where I was but I’d lose object permanence and recognition - couldn’t tell taps from cats, cars from shoes. It got better, over time, but there was very definitely a long mental hangover from it. I do have medical quirks, like I can’t tolerate opioids (they worsen pain and make me vomit), and I’m a carrier of a whole bunch of degenerative diseases (thanks, inbred aristo dad), and when I had surgery I was weakened from years of still mysterious illness - they thought my GB was the root cause, but no - stress - leaving tech fixed me. Anyway. I can readily see how, with someone with a poised avalanche of genetic mental disorder, it can be enough to completely push them into the abyss.

xupybd 7y ago
I've experienced this too. I had a tumor removed from my head. It was pretty serious. I'm not sure if it's due to the anesthesia, physical stress of the operation, changes to brain blood flow or radiation that my brain was hit with. Either way my memory has not been great since. My wife is disappointed when I forget meaningful conversions from a week ago. I struggle at times to notice trivial errors, really struggle. I can look over the same email and miss several mistakes. Other days I'm clear, I don't make many mistakes and I can spot them easily. I still managed to get an Engineering degree and hold down regular employment as a software developer. But there are periods of time where my focus and productivity are just not there. I suspect this will hold me back in my career. But I'm thankful I can function as well as I can and have survived to this point.
- afc 7y ago
  I just wanted to say that I'm sorry you're going through this. It must be very difficult. I hope you do recover. Best of luck!
- meowface 7y ago
  I'm sorry, that sounds awful. I think it definitely could be any combination of those things. The brain is a very delicate and sensitive machine. I don't have specific recommendations, but I think that the potential for recovery should be much higher than what people with neurodegenerative diseases suffer from, like what was described in this article. There're a lot of risk and uncertainty trade-offs, and everyone reacts to things differently due to their genetics and what they're suffering from, but nootropic substances could potentially help here. They could possibly help as a short-term aid that improves memory and attention to detail while the nootropic is in effect, and some can actually potentially create long-term improvements. They're very under-studied, and they definitely require a lot of careful research, gradual self-testing, and acceptance of some risk (some nootropics have almost no risk, and some have a moderate level), but it could be worth looking into.
  - stef25 7y ago
    > The brain is a very delicate and sensitive machine Something as simple as a prion can completely destroy it and then there's Phineas Gage, someone whom all neurobio students learn about on day one of their course. Neuroplasticity can be quite amazing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage
    - meowface 7y ago
      Yep. A lot of it is personal biology and a lot is also chance. You can be shot in the head and survive with not much cognitive impairment, or you could hit your head against something and be unable to speak or feed yourself for the reset of your life. We are very pliable but it's sad that we're also still so fragile, at the level of the "mind" / "soul". Hopefully there'll eventually be a day where consciousness can be hosted in a much more safe way, for both biological and total immortality. I don't think it's exactly correct to say "a prion" can destroy it. One single prion I don't think would cause significant damage in most cases, if there could somehow be only a single one. The issue is that it's believed a prion will gradually cause nearby proteins to misfold and also become prions, and then it probably starts recurring exponentially like a pathogen infection, and your brain physically deteriorates and falls apart with no way to stop or reverse it. A very similar deterioration process appears to happen with other disorders like Alzheimer's and the form of dementia discussed in this article, though the root cause still isn't understood.
tomrod 7y ago
Omg. I've been under 4 times. I think the last two had similar impacts, and I still have a hard time finding proper words from time to time.