Help - post op delirium

[Ewife]

Hello,

Husband has sudden onset of post op delirium - please can someone tell me how life threatening it is or if its just some funny thing. No-one at the hospital is saying, theyre just doing head scans and blood cultures etc.

Its absolutely awful to watch and i find it deeply distressing but i dont know how dangerous it is - should i stay near the hospital?

Mt if someone can reply quickly,

Ewife

[carmik]

Was the op a transplant.? Need to know b4 I replyCarole

[Ewife in reply to carmik]

Thank you, yes it was Liver transplant. A week ago

[carmik in reply to Ewife]

OK this happened to my hubby.transplant was in 2011. Terrified me .He wrecked the ward. Still going strong. Was caused by the morphine. It is early days yet hopefully his body will settle down.always here if u want to talk.Wish u both well

Carole

[Ewife in reply to carmik]

Thanks. Did it last long?husband isnt on any strong painkiller which is what i thought normally caused it. I thought we'd dodged the bullet on this one. He wouldnt take any meds last night.Theyre checking for infections but his temp is ok atm.

[carmik]

His was due to too much morphine build up. Possibly allergy to it. They regulated it. Hope this helps.

[Ewife in reply to carmik]

Thanks, i guess ill just have to wait and see what they find 🙏

[Katielou14]

Hi Ewife,Omgoodness huge huge sympathy with you , my husband was awful just about 2 or 3 days after transplant. He said robots were coming to get us, I tried to convince him they weren't but he was so convinced. He would look at me with just a blankness even spit orange juice at me. My husband is the quietest man you will ever meet however he was stroking the doctors legs whilst she was at the side assessing him. I literally thought he had gone mad. Got the liver transplant co ordinator who said it was normal ( in my husbands case, as in so many others) I know each case is different.my husband was on really high steroids amongst others. Thoughts prayers are with you my love. My husband got through it , remember its still a rocky road take a day at a time. It will hopefully pay off as it did for us 10 years post transplant. Ps my husband had absolutely everything Post transplant but the fantastic teams get us our husband back..

[Ewife in reply to Katielou14]

Awwe, thank you. Such a comfort hearing others stories. I thought this thing was to do with the painkiller med in the initial days so was such a fright suddenly a week after.Drs are confident it is the anti rejection drugs and will take a few days to settle. That first night was horrendous and i just felt so mortified for him, even though he was totally unaware. They actually phoned for me to go in because he was so bad, ive been here ever since and managing to keep him grounded by surrounding him with the things hes familiar with, music, programs etc. Every now and then he drifts a bit. Hes incredibly weak and his brain seems exhausted 🥲

Ewife xx

[Katielou14 in reply to Ewife]

So glad your feeling a small tiny bit reassured. However, please remember you need to sleep and look after yourself, ask for support at the hospital if you need someone to talk to. Your husband like mine was getting excellent care at kings, amazing as are all these specialised centres. You will need your strength when he's feeling a bit better. God bless

[Yellowsydney]

Hi, due to the pain meds I was on, oxycontin, I had horrendous nightmares and hallucinations for the two weeks post transplant, even now 7 years later I have trouble knowing what actually happened and what happened in my head. Had the same after hernia repair I accused a doctor if trying to murder me when he was trying to give me drugs in the middle of the night. All disappeared when I stopped those horrible pills.Hilary xx

[Fides]

My delerium from liver transplant went on for weeks in hospital, I said some really stupid things 😀 and when I got home I still had nightmares and vivid dreams from the anti inflamatory Prednisolone.