http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3034231/ 

"Cognitive disorders such as postoperative cognitive dysfunction, confusion, and delirium, are common following anesthesia in the elderly, with symptoms persisting for months or years in some patients. Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients appear to be particularly at risk of cognitive deterioration following anesthesia, and some studies suggest that exposure to anesthetics may increase the risk of AD."  

I have been thinking what could trigger so much Alzheimer's and remember having the amnesia anesthesia with a colonoscopy and did not feel right for some time. 

I also had surgery on one breast with what seemed a weird anesthetic where I woke up while surgeon was still sewing up! And then when a dentist fractured a molar and I had to have an oral surgeon remove the tooth - under anesthesia! 

Then I remembered having the same type of anesthesia during an oral surgery 25 years ago and I had cognitive dysfunction for some time after that. I even called the surgeon to ask her if it might possibly "have not worn off?" or if there was "an anti-dote". She said it had no lasting effects. 

My FIL has Lewy bodies dementia after an "incorrect" anesthetic was given for an aneurysm repair. 

Just wondering if how many of us have had that  hypnotic or amnesia type anesthetic. Also a long time friend has developed MCI after a heart valve replacement that went wrong and they had to put him in a coma for a week. He seemed to be doing fine, now 4 years later is having severe anxiety and memory loss. 

I am glad that I guessed right.  Propofol is one of the few anesthetics that does not negatively affect acetylcholine levels (acetylcholine is a critical compound for short-term memory).  Most anesthetics will negatively affect memory at least for the short-term.   

Propofol inhibits oligomerization [of amyloid plaques] at low concentrations but enhances only at very high concentrations. In addition, propofol does not enhance beta-A toxicity.16 These and other results indicate that both propofol and thiopental are considered to be relatively safe with respect to APP [amyloid precursor protein] metabolism. One of the difficulties in human research in this area is the fact that anaesthesia is not administered as a sole procedure but is almost invariably given to facilitate surgery and, as reported above, often in emergency conditions. Surgical stress, in turn, may accelerate development of clinical signs and symptoms of AD.43 

http://bja.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/4/445.full [a very technical article, but with some good information]. 

Propofol is a peroxynitrite scavenger (peroxynitrites are likely the main cause of Alzheimer's disease) so at the very worst it should not make the situation worse. 

Just thinking how many times I have had anesthetic! Forgot most of them, but it may be coincidence that after that colonoscopy was when the problems got really bad, and another down turn after a bout with shingles.

Having a hard time lately. Feel so altered and headache now constant and requires some sort of medical evaluation.

also read the novel Alice today about a woman with EOAD, got on amazon, kind of distressing but accurate enough from an outsider point of view of life with condition.

I have been doing quite a bit of research on this subject.  My husband's real memory loss started after he had his quad-bi-pass. He was having seizures (undiagnosed) with some memory loss, but after the surgery he was worse.  He never seemed to recoup. After his shoulder repair, he again seemed to become worse. 

My research has noted that many studies show it does have an affect while others say no.  He needs to have another shoulder repair and a hernia repair. Our doctors don't want to do surgery unless they absolutely have to. They agree that anesthesia can make his memory worse. They don't want to take a chance.

Lesley Jean

I had a 10 level back fusion in 2010. BTW, it failed. I am now leaning over like I'm 100 yrs old. No matter what I do I can't stand up straigt, so I need at least one more surgery, but I'm terrified.

 After the surgery I guess everything went basically okay for the first 3 days. I have never had even the slightest memory of those days. Then I stopped breathing & they almost had to revive me when I starting breathing on my own again.  They finally got my daughter in and I had no idea who she was. I demanded a drug test and they found 4 heavy drugs in me at once. I hadn't realized that I had an epideral in my back with meds, a box and oral ones. They took me off the box and took the epi out.

After that I think the nurses were (I think) taking my short-acting pain meds. Every time I asked for them they said they had just given them to me. I started writing down when I got them & at least that much I was right about. 

I got in so much pain that I eventually thought the nurses were trying to kill me. I heard them talking about giving me something to shut me up. I called my  daughter and she was no help because she was out of town  trying to start a new business. One of my best friends came and spent one whole night in the hospital with me. She was like a little angel because she also had horrible chronic pain.

 To this da y I don't know what was real and what wasn't. I looked it up when I got home and found that people who experience psychotic episodes after major surgery are often diagnosed with dementia within a few years. I don't think they knew which caused which. But I've never been so scared in my life and I'm afraid to go thru that again.It was exactly like those horror movies until finally I said to myself, "Oh, well, If I'm going to die, so what." That was the only thing that lessened my fear.