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RE: America's Funniest Post-Anesthesia Stories #1 (Surgeon Blog Entry)
Eehhh what's up doc? Got a question.. can multiple dosages of anesthesia (from surgery) cause some degree of memory loss in the long-term?
I'm not sure we have the greatest data on that. My answer is thus going to be 'maybe', but the question is: what degree of memory loss, and for how long? It may be very minimal - you might never remember your surgery ever, or you might just kind of be forgetful for a few months after general anesthesia.
On a brief sweep of that question, there may be some data in mice that shows anesthetic agents can lead to some post operative cognitive difficulties for a variable amount of time.
The bottom line is - we don't know for 100%, but the vast majority of people tolerate anesthesia - even multiple or extended doses, without noticing permanent effects. It's still something we try to limit and avoid anesthetizing everyone unless absolutely necessary (especially kids), because nothing we give in medicine is 100% without risks, and we have to be cognizant of that.
Sorry missed this one. Thanks for replying. I have been through three surgeries, two with general anesthesia and one localized (arm). They were at 10 years, 24, and the last was passed 30. I always felt it was difficult to access names, and other info from memory. I even tried taking those memory enhancing supplements. I understand that it's quite a complicated area of study and we may not have concrete findings in the near future.
Thanks for sharing!