Changed?

[Chapis]

hello, i post this under the crna forum and didn't get an answer, and that is why i am posting it here, to hopefully get some answers.

i have a question and sorry if its silly. i just had to ask as i just heard a co-worker of mine say this to another co-worker. my co-worker's dad is going to have an open heart surgery tomorrow-and long story short she was saying that 'anesthetic' can change people mentally. is this true? she went on about saying that her step mom was talking to her saying that, "well, you know these big surgeries can change people", and she told her that it's not the 'type' of surgery but rather the anesthetic being used that people come back different?

thanks in advance for taking the time to answer this

[Tait, MSN, RN]

We get a lot of post whipple procedures that are completely different (like crawling out of the bed, NAKED TIME, looking to Jesus different) for a few days to a few weeks, to forever after surgery.

One patient told me he knew everything he was saying made no sense, but couldn't control it until a few days later.

Tait

[NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN]

Everyone has different reactions to medications, and they can affect them in various ways, including mentality.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

I floated as med/surg hospital as the psych consultant. Sometimes patients, post-surgically, experienced what we called (imagine this) post-surgical psychosis. It was due to anesthetic, and for some reason happened more often in people who had heart surgery than others. It wasn't common, just a sometimes thing. It went away after a day to a few days, but sometimes required antipsychotic medication, or at least something with a calming effect.