I recently had an ICU admission and was wondering, how long do the drugs stay in your system and can this affect your mental state? I was ventilated for a while and when I woke up, I was convinced that I was a dragon. I mean, not in terms of actually being a dragon but that I could see my breath coming out like fire. I was fixated on this for about 10 days, even post ICU discharge. I was otherwise totally lucid, on the respiratory ward, showering myself and generally acting completely normal except for being absolutely convinced I could "see" my breath. Fortunately, this has stopped completely but looking back, I'm wondering if this is a common occurrence.