Waking up after ECMO

[Copse77]

Please can anyone help with advice. A member of my family has come off ECMO following treatment for Sepsis. It seems to be taking a long time to wake up but I understand patients are heavily sedated and paralysed and treated with opiates for pain relief. His kidneys are not working so I understand that the drugs will take longer to go out of his system. He has some small bleeds in the brain and the impact will not be known until he wakes up. Please can anyone advise me. Thank you.

[Haley1]

All I can say from experience is to Be patient and try to avoid stimulus. Avoiding touching or talking from the loved ones seemed to help my husband come off after the first attempt failed. Erratic behavior after is also to be expected just be patient. Mood swings and depression will also pass.

[Haley1 in reply to Haley1]

Stay strong sending lots of love

[Copse77 in reply to Haley1]

Hi Haley

Did your husband need a tracheostomy and if so how did he cope with that. Many thanks for your messages which really help.

[Blessings28 in reply to Haley1]

Less stimulus is better? I thought it would help them to know they aren't alone and to encourage them to keep fighting and wake up. ? Just curious since my husband is trying to wake up from 16 day induced coma.

[Copse77 in reply to Blessings28]

Even if the person can’t respond they may be hearing. We felt it was the right thing to do for us as a family. If you read in shock you will see the ICU dr could hear them talking about her but she was not able to respond.

[Copse77]

Dear Haley

Thank you for replying. I feel so powerless so it’s comforting to hear from someone else who has experience of this . The withdrawal from ECMO was very smooth or seemed so. His kidneys are not working properly yet so it’s taking a long time for the strong sedatives and opiate pain medication to be removed from his system so he is slow to wake up. Thank you so much.

[Blessings28]

Omg. My husband is having a hard time waking up too just as your brother did and yesterday the CT scan showed some small bleeds in his brain like your brother. Did the bleeds resolve on their own? Did they get worse?

[Copse77 in reply to Blessings28]

Yes the bleeds did resolve. We weren’t told about that : that they could resolve. Bleeds are a side effect that can happen with ECMO. . I hope the same for your husband.

[Blessings28 in reply to Copse77]

Thank you ❤️