Purposeful Movements

[BHDFlower]

Does anyone have any experience with how long it took you or a loved one to start making purposeful movements after sedation and pain killers were withdrawn from treatment in the ICU?

[Rhyl1 Partner Moderator ICUsteps]

There are a lot of things that can affect waking up. Some sedation drugs take longer to clear than others, especially if the patients’ kidneys aren’t working very well. So many drugs are cleared through the kidneys which can be affected by critical illness. So for some patients it might be hours before they start to wake up and others is might be days. Sorry I can’t give you a definite timeframe.

[Sepsur in reply to Rhyl1]

As @Rhyl1 has said, each patient has differing circumstances that influence length of time it takes to wake - from sedation used, length of sedation, kidney function, age & complexity of critical illness ( comorbidities etc). Your father ( thankfully) has been sedated for a relatively short time - I’m sure you probably have started to see improvements. 😊