Re: Personality changes due to extensive anesthesia

I read your story above as a result of googling "can anesthesia cause personality disorders ?" I am extremely disturbed/upset by the changes I recognize in my 33 yr. old daughter......it just clicked with me that maybe her extensive anesthesia could be the culprit ! She has had 3 open heart surgeries within 4 years to correct chronic aortic disease.....between 2009 and 2013. She had 2 surgeries within 8 weeks of each other in 2013...the 1st lasting 14 hrs. and the 2nd lasting 8 hrs. She was a very sweet likeable and popular girl who developed a bad temper in her late teens. However, I notice a remarkable worsening of her temper and a newfound aggression since these 2 most recent surgeries. She more than over reacts to situations that before the surgeries/anesthesia, would not negatively affect her. Her behavior is irrational, nasty and extremely hurtful. She has mood swings that she cannot seem to control. She exhibits unusual anxiety that I have never previously detected in her. She is not aware of these changes....equally upsetting because if she does not think she has a problem then how can she seek outside help.....

She accepted and understood the dire necessity for all 3 surgeries. She was amazingly brave through it all and according to her nurses and through my observation, was a very good patient.
She is grateful for the very positive physical outcome of her experience and has come a long way in her physical recovery in the 5 months since her surgeries.

I don't know what to do to help her with this emotional turmoil that she has been dealing with since these surgeries. I am more than thankful that her doctors were able to operate to save her life !!!
But I do find it interesting and suspect that nowhere does the medical profession acknowledge or take responsibility for the fact that anesthesia can make significant changes in a person's personality / emotional state other than the dementia / irritability seen in the elderly.

I am convinced that my daughter's emotional health and personality have been seriously negatively changed by the extensive anesthesia that was necessary to perform her 3 open heart surgeries.

Any comments, suggestions or shared similar experiences would be more than welcome. Thank you :)
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