Does anyone know if anesthesia has long-term effects of the mind following an operation? I have concerns.?

Question

My grandmother had an operation for diverticulitis in late 2005 and again in early 2006. She had been fine mentally before this, but ever since, she has been very forgetful: forgetting to take her medications, when she eats, misplacing things, and she has a preoccupation with needing to have bowel movements. She's always complaining of not feeling well, especially right before we're ready to take her somewhere. She has a car, but drives it less and less even up to our home for dinner and she lives right in town. She hardly goes out of her house. My gram's short-term memory is just terrible anymore. My mom is the only one in the area who takes care of her and is getting frustrated. My uncle lives 2 hours away, rarely comes in, and only calls my gram once a week. She was supposed to have an MRI done, but cancelled, and it's difficult to get her to go to the doctor. She sees nothing wrong and gets upset when you think something is. Could this possibly be the start of dementia?

Answer 1

Absolutely, there are long term memory losses with just about all, if not all, general anesthesia. And a proper anesthesiologist will advise his patient of this while opting for the kind of anesthesia the patient will get. The memory loss side effects are one reason (among others) patients often opt for local, rather than general, anesthesia.

However, having said this, memory loss is normal in the elderly. Even without going through the trauma of an operation, many, if not most, elderly in their 80's and up will show signs of memory loss. Losing things (actually misplacing them) is a prime symptom of normal memory loss. Forgetting to take meds is as well in most cases. This is why good care facilities have a medication program where the caregivers come around to ensure the resident takes his/her meds.

Dementia is an extreme case of memory loss...especially short-term memory. It can be caused by a number of things; but a loss of circulation in the brain is one major cause. That MRI would have found that, but a sonar gram of the artery in the neck could also detect a blockage.

Vascular dementia, which I just described, should not be confused with Alzheimers disease, which results in stringy protein in the brain. Alzheimers victims are often angry and will do harm to others if left unattended. Early Alzheimers can strike as early as the 60's in age.

While normal memory loss is annoying (especially to the family and other care givers), dementia causes the person to be dysfunctional. A demented person cannot keep appointments, cannot remember to eat or stay sanitary, cannot find her way home from familiar places in town, cannot look up phone numbers and make calls, cannot keep track of days and dates, and so on. And, so called looping, where the demented asks the same question or makes the same statements over and over again, is a major symptom of Dementia. In other words, a demented person cannot function normally in day to day activities.

But before you get concerned about dementia, check out this definition:

"Dementia is defined as the loss of mental processing ability, including communication, abstract thinking, judgment and physical abilities, such that it interferes with daily living. Symptoms include:

short-term memory loss
long-term memory loss
lowered motivation
forgetting to turn off ovens, lock doors, and other "automatic" responses
personality changes
mood changes
difficulties with money and math
disorientation
becoming lost or disoriented in familiar surroundings. " [See source.]

In my home town, we had a welfare/health service where a trained person came to the house to conduct a brief and really simple test of the suspected demented person. The test consisted of asking the possible demented to perform some simply tasks (like look up a phone number and make a call). Perhaps, your gram's home town has the same service...or something similar.

Answer 2

Many elderly people suffer from mental status changes when confronted with ANY medial intervention.

There are a lot of people who live in a state of delicate balance. If nothing upsets their daily routine, they seem just fine. If early dementia is present, they can compensate for it, and it will not be apparent.

When taken out of their familiar surroundings, things start to fall apart for them. We see this all the time in people who were "perfectly fine" until something (heart problem, broken hip, whatever) put them in the hospital, and they decline mentally.

Anesthesia, pain medications, other medicines, new routines, or medical problems can alter a person's mental status.

What your grandmother needs is a thorough exam by someone who specializes in caring for older people. She may have a thyroid problem, depression, or some other easily treatable condition that is causing her forgetfulness. She also may have early Alzheimer's disease, and there are medications that can ameliorate the symptoms, so it's good to find out.

She needs someone to take control of the situation (probably your mom), make appointments and take her to them, and pay attention to what the doctors say. She may need to be in an assisted living situation, to avoid medication errors or burning the house down accidentally. It might be a good idea to take away her car keys before she wipes out a group of children waiting at a bus stop.

The time to deal with the situation is NOW, before something tragic happens. Plans can be made and her wishes taken into account while she is still with it enough to express them.

Best of luck to your family.

Answer 3

I've had five operations in the past few years,im very young and it doesnt seem to have had great affect other than on my emotions.Afterward you are extremely emotional and confused both because of the anesthesia and the trauma of being worked on. My memory is poor but I don't think it was because of that but perhaps due to the emotional changes.

Answer 4

I don't know about the effects of anesthesia but I have seen elderly people who are like your grandmother. It does sound like dementia. Someone will have to make the appointment for her and accompany her as well because people in that situation generally don't know how to help themselves. It can be subtle changes or very obvious ones. You have to take the initiative and help her now.

Answer 5

Usually not, when done right. Of course some people even die on the operation table. There were many cases in cosmetic surgery, people died due to excess anesthesia.

Your grandmothers forgetfulness could just be a coincidence.

Answer 6

It could be the start of dementia. I am not so sure that this is a direct result of anesthesia. I would suggest talking to your doctor and trying to get her into a doctor herself.

Answer 7

I do not know you grandmothers age, but many older people can remain healthy and vital for many years, and then once they start to have medical problems, they begin to get depressed, and this will attribute to the types of problems you are mentioning here.

She has endured two major surgeries in a very short period of time, and diverticulitis is a very debilitating condition, causing internal bleeding and a great deal of complications with bowel movements. When an older person goes to a doctor body function such as urination and healthy bowel movements are very high priority topics as they are evidence of good health and body function.

With the diverticulitis, bowel function has now become the first priority for your grandmother, as I am sure it was discussed every time she saw her doctor each time she was hospitalized.

She does sound as if she is beginning to suffer from early dementia, and should be taken to the doctors as soon as possible. She really does not feel well, how could she after these types of surgery, but she is honestly more frightened of being taken away from her home and not being able to go back.

She will not tell you this, but older people will have this fear. I went through a very similar set of events with my Dad, who passed away a few years ago, but once he had started with the memory loss and kept locking himself out of his home, and I finally had to intervene after a couple of incidences, get him to the doctors and have several evaluations done.

The doctor had to enforce taking his vehicle away, for his safety and the safety of others, and I had to find him a placement in an assisted living facility. I did not have any medical training and was unable to take care of him in my own home, and this was the best and safest choice for him.

I am sorry that your Mom is facing this alone, without the help of her brother, but that is what occurs in most families, no matter how many siblings are involved, there is generally one caretaker; most usually a daughter as women are more experienced caretakers and naturally step into that role. People deal with the fact that their parent is aging and getting closer to death very differently. Your uncle may feel that he cannot face what is going on with his mother, and chooses to stay away as a method of dealing with it.

Your Mom needs to get to your grandmothers lawyer, and make sure that all of your grandmothers papers are in order, her will and insurances, and deed to her home. I do not know if your grandmother has given your mother her power of attorney or not; but your mother is going to need to have all of that in place before she can get your grandmother placed in a facility or nursing home.

Your Mom has to be practical about all of this too, as it may sound cruel to be thinking of the financial side of things at a time when her mother's health is failing, but your Mom needs to protect herself from being involved in fights over the bills and care of her Mom later on.

Your grandmother definitely needs to either have a home health care person going in every day to administer her meds (she could overdose herself without meaning to) or be placed in assisted living as soon as possible, she will be skipping meals and not taking proper care of herself very quickly with the short term memory loss she is experiencing.

I do not believe that the anesthesia is the cause for any of this, your grandmother is experiencing dementia which is more age related than anything else.

Your Mom needs to start nagging the doctors about getting the MRI done, and them she needs to become her Mom's best advocate to make your Grandmothers remaining time on earth as safe and happy as possible.

This is not easy, I lived through it with my Dad, and I am an only child, so had to do it all on my own; with the advise of a few close friends who had gone through similar things with their family members.

I wish you and your family the best, I will say a prayer for all of you.

Answer 8

It could be coincidental. Generally no more brain cells die than when you drink booze.