http://felicitoussk8er.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] felicitoussk8er.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] chomiji 2007-10-26 08:12 pm (UTC)

Unsolicited advice: still dazed & confused

Cho-ji,

I'm so glad things went well yesterday!


Remember your dreams may be unusually wacky for a while. Two metabolic (brain chemistry) reasons:

1) narcotics.
2) anesthesia.


BTW, general anesthesia really wacks out your memory for a while. How long this persists seems to be directly related to the length of time you were "under". It is a common phenomenon, & well known to those who work in the field. So -- if you think you are losing your mind, & can't remember things, even info you know well -- blame it on the drugs. For what it's worth, my surgery that lasted 1.5 hours seemed to affect memory for ~5-6 weeks. A 45" surgery seemed to have effects for ~3 weeks.

Also, there is typically a post-op "crash" -- a day in the next few weeks or so where nothing will be wrong & everything will be wrong: a day a terrible unease & deep depression. I'm not sure if this is a direct result of surgery/anesthesia, or simply the day that recent medical trauma catches up to your psyche. In any effect, if this happens to you, please know it is common & normal. I've gone through it myself with every general anesthesia, and literally could not stop crying. The surgery I had spinal anesthesia for, it didn't happen -- so I suspect it is the anesthetic drugs messign with your brain.

Unsolicited advice: If this crash happens to you, just spend the day crying & wallowing in chocolate. Reassure your loved ones that it isn't them, it's the drugs. Have faith that the next day you will feel lots better, because you will.

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