[jimmymcgee73]

Anesthesiologist here: what you are referring to exists, but is rare and is not related to general anesthesia (equally likely in operations performed while patients are awake with regional anesthesia or under general anesthesia). It is more people with pre-existing cognitive dysfunction that are elderly do not handle the inflammatory milieu generated by surgery. You can Google “postoperative cognitive dysfunction” for more information.

Any phenomenon more widespread than the above is simply not supported by scientific studies to date.

I’m honestly a bit disappointed to find this comment on hacker news, as I feel the level of discourse here is usually higher. I wish you all the best and hope you recover from whatever you’re experiencing, but this is frankly fearmongering.

[cryzinger]

If I'm understanding the "inflammatory milieu generated by surgery" part correctly, does this imply that the cognitive effects would be equally likely if surgery were performed without any kind of anesthesia? (Or to put it another way: the anesthesia isn't directly implicated, it's just that anesthesia and surgery tend to go hand in hand...?)

[jimmymcgee73]

Right, there are operations that are sometimes performed with minimal (or sometimes even 0 sedation) with just a nerve block (regional anesthesia) which impairs sensation locally (like you get when a dentist numbs up your mouth, but you’re still awake). They have the same rates of cognitive dysfunction afterward.

[spacedoutman]

I know its not meant to be common, but literally everyone i know that has had to go under woke up not the same person anymore.

Honestly, i doubt its as rare as you think.

My bet is just poor training in my country.