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My husband has had two serious operations this summer.
He is confused, constantly asks me the same questions thru out the day, talks 1/2 the nite in his sleep,(ALOT) Can't remember what was said 10 minutes ago. And first I thought it may be his prescription cocktail of meds. But he is being weaned off them and not much change,
I was told by his Doc it does happen after surgery in seniors. He said it "should" improve with time.
He was slightly forgetful before, and dementia has run in his family. I just wondered if anyone experienced such a thing, and was there improvement over time? It was like the surgery unleashed the Dementia.
Is he ever coming back? He Is several years older then I, but now seems he has aged by decades.
Thank you
Yes, dementia after surgery is very common. It completely depends on the individual. My mother had numerous surgeries as a senior and never showed even a tiny bit of dementia after anesthetic. However, I have know others where it greatly hastened the progression of their dementia or seemed to start it.
For some/many elderly people it may take a few weeks or a few months to recover back to their baseline. Some (maybe even most) doctors say that it may take up to a full year before the patient completely gets back to their former level (of course, most of the change is in the first months).
I am sorry that this has happened to your husband. But, I believe, that there is no way to really predict how much or how fast he will recover.
While my hubby's situation is different (a Traumatic Brain Injury and he already had brain damage/dementia) I very, very aggressively sought therapy to improve his skills. He attended speech therapy/cognitive therapy (as well as physical therapy and occupational therapy) for many months (in our case 100% covered by Medicare & our private insurance), plus I followed through on all the extra practice at home & I tried to keep his brain active through other social, physical and cognitive activities.
I now pay out of pocket for him to attend classes that focus on cognitive/social/physical activities for people with early dementia/early Alzheimer's twice a week. Ask his doctor if he feels that cognitive or speech therapy would be beneficial for your spouse and if yes it may be covered by Medicare. You may need to be insistent that your husband needs services.
Good luck.
Last edited by germaine2626; 09-04-2016 at 12:35 PM..
Yes, dementia after surgery is very common. It completely depends on the individual. My mother had numerous surgeries as a senior and never showed even a tiny bit of dementia after anesthetic. However, I have know others where it greatly hastened the progression of their dementia or seemed to start it.
For some/many elderly people it may take a few weeks or a few months to recover back to their baseline. Some (maybe even most) doctors say that it may take up to a full year before the patient completely gets back to their former level (of course, most of the change is in the first months).
I am sorry that this has happened to your husband. But, I believe, that there is no way to really predict how much or how fast he will recover.
While my hubby's situation is different (a Traumatic Brain Injury and he already had brain damage/dementia) I very, very aggressively sought therapy to improve his skills. He attended speech therapy/cognitive therapy (as well as physical therapy and occupational therapy) for many months (in our case 100% covered by Medicare & our private insurance), plus I followed through on all the extra practice at home & I tried to keep his brain active through other social, physical and cognitive activities.
I now pay out of pocket for him to attend classes that focus on cognitive/social/physical activities for people with early dementia/early Alzheimer's twice a week. Ask his doctor if he feels that cognitive or speech therapy would be beneficial for your spouse and if yes it may be covered by Medicare. You may need to be insistent that your husband needs services.
My 77 year old mother broke her hip in March and had surgery. She was already showing some signs of early dementia, as well as uncontrolled and unmedicated bipolar disorder - which had a lot to do with why she broke her hip to begin with, but I digress.
Anyway, she was BATS%@T crazy for about two months after her surgery - I mean completely off her rocker. We seriously thought we were going to have to put her in a nursing home or ALF. However, we got her on some good meds to slow memory loss as well as meds for her bipolar disorder, and she is much better.
In her case, her dementia continues to progress slowly, but she's a "happy drunk." What I mean by that is that she's happily forgetful and benignly confused. She does whatever she wants whenever she wants to. She eats when she wants to and goes to bed and gets up when she wants to - which could be any hour of the day or night. It's taken my dad some getting used to, but he's learning to roll with the punches.
Today she was over at our house and at about 2 pm she said, "Let's go home - it's almost my bed time." I laughed and said, "It's only 2 pm!" and she just smiled. I then said (sincerely) - "Are you at the stage in your life where it doesn't much matter what time it is?" and she smiled sweetly and shrugged and said, "Yes, I believe I am!"
She has a very difficult time doing anything in any sort of order - but she doesn't seem to be concerned about it or self conscious (but she's living in a very protected cocoon of an environment). For instance, she has taken communion at church for her entire life. Now she suddenly cannot remember that you eat the bread first and then drink the wine/juice. She also has totally forgotten about the entire congregation singing "Blest Be the Tie That Binds," together at the end of the service - something we do every single Sunday. As soon as the preacher concludes the service, and right before the song we sing every Sunday, she jumps up and starts trying to push my dad out of the way and starts saying (pretty loudly in fact) "LET'S GO - IT'S TIME TO GO." My dad whispers, "We still have one more song," and she looks confused and then amused and then just shrugs and may or may not sing with everyone else.
She asked my dad the other day, "Would you like for me to iron your pants?" He said, "Sure." (I could have told him that was a bad idea.) Anyway, no, she didn't burn them, but she ironed them, and then wadded them up and hung them completely haphazardly on the hanger. Many of her shirts are hung up with the hanger hook sticking through one of the arms, or with the shirt hanging on the hanger buttoned up totally randomly and hanging all sideways.
She often wears mismatched socks and I've caught her several times wearing two left shoes (she has a bunch of shoes that all look pretty much alike - LOL).
But she's not a danger to herself or others so we just let her do her thing.
She WAS very agitated and confused and paranoid and angry for about six weeks after the surgery though and she said some truly horrible things and was VERY suspicious and uncooperative. But that aspect went away nearly completely.
Blood flow to brain tissue may be reduced by a partial blockage or completely blocked by a blood clot. Symptoms of vascular dementia may develop gradually, or may become apparent after a stroke or major surgery, such as heart bypass surgery or abdominal surgery.
Open heart surgery is notorious for causing memory problems afterward. In many people, it does improve with time. A lot depends on your husband's age and his baseline physical and mental health before the surgery.
Heart surgery caused a lot of anxiety in my DH after he underwent it at the age of 58. He did not have symptoms of dementia but he became anxious about odd things, and he was emotional as well. He went back to work too soon as well, and found that he had trouble doing normal work.
I have heard of people moving into dementia after major surgery. It is not uncommon.
I hope your husband improves. After reading Germaine's post, I wonder if you can find some sort of rehab program for him.
And, he needs to exercise, as well.
Good luck.
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