My mom died from LBD in June. Her illness seemed to come on fairly soon after she had surgery a few years ago and was under general anesthesia. I've always had this suspicion that the surgery triggered the LBD into becoming active. My uterine fibroids seem to be back, and I have been avoiding calling my doctor because the last time I had them removed, she told me I'm probably going to need a hysterectomy. I'm scared that I will get LBD like my mom if I have general anesthesia since I have her genes. I did have general anesthesia when my fibroids were removed before and had no ill effects from it, but what if this time it triggers LBD? I've considered asking them to keep me awake like women are when they have C-sections. I don't know why this would be any different (except I won't want to cuddle what comes out!). Am I right to be concerned, or am I worried for nothing?

You will have a pre-surgery consult with your anesthesiologist and perhaps he/she can put your mind at rest about possible complications. With all the surgeries I've had in my life--way back to an appendectomy at four, when they were using ether, I'd be a pretty good candidate for Lewy if general anesthetics caused it. But I understand your fears. I read somewhere a year ago that stress can cause dementia! I thought, in that case, my mind is gone!

You might want to suggest to the anesthesiologist that he/she use only anesthesias that seem to NOT be suspects in triggering such events. You can find those if you research online. Use "anesthesia study University of Pittsburg School of Medicine" or search the topic of anesthesia here at the forum. Several of us have posted about those online articles and you can likely find them there.

That way you can have much less stress going into your surgery. I wish you well.

Pat