ICU & Cardiac Arrest

[Beccamac]

Hello,

I was just looking for information on other people’s experiences in ICU. A couple of weeks ago I put on a post and it was very helpful. My Father took a heart attack on the 23rd June, and luckily made it to hospital. He has been in Critical care unit since. They struggled to reduce is sedation with the tubes in so carried out a tracheostomy. This successfully help them reduce his sedation and he is now not on any, and that’s been like that since 5th July. Once he finally seemed to be a bit more aware he started obeying commands such as wiggle your toes, stick out your tongue etc. That was on the 6th July. Which they were very please about. However since they he has been doing these commands very intermittently. He does seem to opening his eyes and is aware of the nurses & doctors. Since he stopped being so responsive to commands they took him for another CT scan on the 10th as they were worried, however this has come back normal again. He is still doing the commands intermittently. They think he may have hypoactive delirium. He seems to be quite tired and sleepy. With Covid restrictions being reduced slightly we get the chance to see him on Wednesday. There is also talk of him maybe being moved from ICU in the next coming days.

Thanks in advance for any information on people’s personal experiences.

Becca

[MarthaKos]

Hi Becca, that might have something to do with the strong sedative medication they are giving them, which can take a long time to be expelled from the body. I wouldn’t be worried at this time it’s only been a week, and the ct was clear. My boyfriend was the same, he opened his eyes after they’ve done the tracheostomy on June 5th and he properly woke up and started talking and being aware on the 30th of June, and he doesn’t remember anything before that. Hope everything goes well, just give time, I understand how frustrating it is, but be patient! Best wishes for speedy recovery for your dad, and take care of yourself.

[FamilyHistorian]

I agree with Marthkos. Things haven’t changed much since I posted to you last. It takes time I’m not too sure who it is worse for. At the moment your boy friend may not have a clue while he is in early stages of recovery but you will have all the worry of not knowing what to expect. It does get better.

[Sepsur]

Hi Becca

I had hypoactive delirium, no fun & no-one diagnosed me because they were unaware of what I was experiencing because my outward appearance looked calm as anything ( although I appeared suspicious of everyone apparently) what I was seeing was scenes of people trafficking & butchery all jumbled up. Not at all pleasant but it went ( in my case) very quickly. Emotionally & mentally took a little longer because the sedatives, antibiotics, antivirals etc etc all play havoc with your head.

I hope your Father continues to improve as he is 😊

[RockRunner]

Hi Becca it’s great news that he has progressed. Fully waking can take weeks because the drugs they are given to go on a ventilator have sedative, paralysing and amnesia effects which are incredibly strong. In addition he may be on opiates like morphine and if the kidneys aren’t functioning 100% will also take longer to be processed out of the body. My husband also showed signs of responsiveness and then for days nothing. They told me that wouldn’t happen with brain damage it would be a consistent non responsiveness. Continue to talk to him because even though he will likely not remember it they can hear and subconsciously I’m convinced it helps. He will probably also be delirious. It can feel like forever but this stage will pass. X

[Pmub]

Hi Becca, similar to what Sepsur said after being woken up I was quite capable of responding to commands and it was pre-covid so I did have visitors. It's a strange in between phase of recovery, I was calm but suspicious as to why I was being looked after in the basement of an old school friend's house and at other times I was in a training hospital in Greece. My mum and partner would visit me and go off for lunch, which I thought was quite nice because they would be able to walk around Athens to find somewhere nice for lunch. It wasn't until I wasn't until I was moved into the high dependency unit that I actually started knowing that I was really at the royal Brompton hospital in London.

In my case I was calm like your dad and I could communicate on a simple level but I think because of being strapped to a bed basically by tubes I just spent a lot of time I'm in my mind drifting in and out of sleep while my head was slowly getting its bearings.

Being able to see your dad is brilliant as although I may have seen my loved ones in bizarre scenarios and different countries even. The fact is it helped me stay calm because with all that confusion in the mind loved ones still remained loved ones which is really important at that stage I believe.

I know that your dad will be very pleased to see you even if he can't express it fully at the moment as I was when people came to see me. Good wishes to you all

[BBDEBS]

Delerium or psychosis is quite possibly the worst part of being in a coma, and just reading some of the comments here take me right back.

What is desperately sad is this occurs in so many patients in recovery from coma, but hardly anyone knows about it.

Please join ICU steps meeting, there is a zoom one which is run from sepsur's region.