Confusion after hypoxic brain injury - CA

[Maithalouni]

Hi,

I've asked in another post about if it's okay that mom has gained conscious at the hospital after a cardiac arrest and until now (3 weeks after) she is very confused, agitated and does not remember family members or names of objects. We been told that this is a healing process that takes time and we can see that she now knows her name and can read some words and numbers.

My question is, could somebody tell me how long this might take, preferably from your own experience or others you know? Also she can set up with aid but refuses to try the swallowing test or to stand up. Is this normal? The latter is important for getting her accepted into rehab.

Thanks in advance.

Best,

M

[absa]

hello,

I believe I posted on your other post. There are a small number of people on this board who have suffered hypoxic brain injuries, myself included. I was down for a total of 26 minutes.

When I woke up from my induced coma, i was very confused. My family later told me that I would be answering questions that they would be asking me, and then i would 'drift into unawareness, and just stare blankly' - which had them very concerned about the long-term prognosis for recovery.

Apparently, before i regained awareness, I was very combative.. I was completely restrained to the bed i was in. I had my wrists and ankles in restraints, and i was wearing a posey vest.

This period lasted a few weeks. After that, I slowly regained my faculties, and was back to work as an accountant a couple weeks later.

while I am not 100%, I am vastly better than i was. I spoke to a young man who went into cardiac arrest after a routine procedure, and was without oxygen for quite a while. When he awoke from his coma, his eyes were facing opposite directions... he is doing much better now as well - years later.

has your mother been able to get an MRI?

[Maithalouni in reply to absa]

Hi absa,

Thank you for your response and I am very glad that you are doing well with the recovery.

She had an MRI scan nearly a week after admission and it didn't show much but it did say 'suspictable hypoxia based on description of incident'. Her CT scan was also normal. We been told it's better to do it again a month later.

May I ask if your incident occurred in or out of the hospital? Also did you get hypothermal treatment because my mom did not as the doctors said that she had GCS of 9 at arrival and pupils were reactive to light. She is still very confused today and often has hallucinations.

Best,

M

[absa in reply to Maithalouni]

My story is undoubtedly unique. I may have mentioned this before, but the ol' memory is not what it used to be.

I had my cardiac arrest when i was 28 years old. I took some ambien (a sleeping drug), and got in bed and went to sleep. From there, I apparently got out of bed, and took a lethal overdose of some drugs that I had in my bedroom... all while completely unconscious thanks to the ambien. From there, I drove to the grocery store, where someone saw that I was totally out of it, and called an ambulance. I was already in the hospital when my heart stopped. However, due to the severity of the hyperkalemia that was caused by the drugs that i apparently took, it took approximately 26 minutes for them to get a pulse back.

they did what they could to cool me, but an effect of the drugs i took is hyperthermia. My temperature got up to 105 at one point... so im not sure how successful they were.

I had an MRI approximately 3 weeks later - which indicated edema in my brain. I plan on going to UCSF to get additional testing and information.

[HungryHufflepuff]

A friend's mother had a heart attachlk and she was confused and combative for several weeks, not really recognising anyone, my friend said it was almost as if her mum had suddenly developed dementia. She's fine now. Wishing the best for you and your mom.

[sca2013]

>My question is, could somebody tell me how long this might take, preferably from your own experience or others you know?

Not to be rude, but straight with you. It takes as long as it takes. It is different for each person. For me immediately after being resuscitated, for about 48 hours I was actually hyper able to communicate and had high cognitive abilities. Then I had an immediate drop off of all those abilities after that. So much so that when I attempted to go back to work just 3 days later I couldn't remember how to use my computer what my password was or even how to use a computer. Short term memory was and still is very very limited 6+ years later. During the first couple of years I got irritated, angry and impatient especially when I was tired, fatigued or just didn't feel well, very quickly. Since then I've learned plenty of compensating techniques and figured out what my limits are. When I stay within my limits, you would't know there was ever a problem. When I don't everything goes badly. I have trouble finding words, figuring things out, no patience, complete exhaustion, etc. I was back at work within a couple of weeks on a very limited basis 1-2 hours a day. Tried to do full-time and just could not do it. My sweet spot seemed to be 3-4 hour a day 4 days per week. When I did that and took regular breaks I could be pretty productive.

>Also she can set up with aid but refuses to try the swallowing test or to stand up. Is this normal?

It can be for some people. Since every brain injury affects the person differently.

The main thing I would tell you is don't expect your Mom to return to the way she used to be. Otherwise you may experience some huge disappointments. Instead expect that she will make improvements from where she is at today. She most likely will regain some abilities, figure new ways to do things she can no longer do like she used to and then there may things she just can no longer do. She may also develop new abilities too. As she continues to progress she will figure out ways to compensate for some of her changed abilities. She may be hypersensitive to lights, sounds and movements around her and need a quite place to go to recover from that. And when in doubt plenty of rest and breaks will be her best friend.

I am very sorry your family is going through this. I wish you all better days ahead. If you have other questions, please feel free to ask me.