Delirium tips

[Claudiad]

I watched your webinar on delirium.. what an amazing resource! Thank you!! Does anyone have any tips for reassurance and orientation for delirium within these covid restricted times? My brother in law has tried to get out of bed the last 3 days in a row and seemed to my sister to be very low yesterday.. do you think that there's anything that she could bring in from home possibly?

I've read that you should reassure a lot and talk about time of day and routines and remind them of things about themselves and home. But I guess you don't want to pitch it wrong and sound patronising. Is it wise to speak very slowly.? I wish there was a script for this!

Would you say it's wise to presume he's having scary hallucinations and to say "the hallucinations aren't real and the doctors and nurses are there to look after you" that kind of thing?

We just want to do our best of course but the not being there makes it so tough of course.

Thanks all ❤️

[Sepsur]

Stick on his favourite radio station or Tv programmes, photos of you all and try and speak with him regularly. Everyone experience of delirium is unique although many involve some form of imprisonment, abduction. Some people have periods of lucidity. In retrospect, I may have appeared to have moments of lucidity, subjectively, I was in complete lunacy for a period of time, completely immersed in it, then suddenly I was in reality. The transition moment for me was discombobulating to say the least. In my ‘dreams’ I had been multiple characters including a Japanese super hero who had lost his super powers back in Japan and was desperately trying to get back to them to a hostage desperately trying to escape or constantly being hunted.

Because of muscle waste, I could barely move, all my muscles had atrophied. I could see my hands that looked like claws because my skin was peeling and my fingers were fused. At that moment I couldnt remember ‘what’ I was ie was I human. That how confusing it is.

[Ferham]

Hello my husband suffered dreadful delirium which was equally distressing for him as it was me. I was asked to take him a memory board, we put photo's of friends and family on it. Initially he didn't know who his best friend was , or many of the memory board .

I also took him some of his own clothes. I sprayed his handkerchiefs with my perfume and took in as many personal possessions as I could .

As Sepsur says his favourite radio station and TV show should help .

[FamilyHistorian]

Hi Claudia

My family created a memory board with family pics that’s 5 children, 12 grandchildren 2 grand dogs and 2 grand cats. The staff used to ask me about them. So I tried to learn their names and tell the staff something about them. It was really difficult to do. Oh nearly forgot and my wife. Then they changed some of the pictures ....

[Suede505]

Hi Claudia,I would advise you to talk with your Brother in law if you can and try and assure him that he is safe and it is the drugs and illness that is making him hallucinate and frightened.

I was in a coma and on a ventilator last July. My Delirium was horrific. (Kidnapping ,sexual assault, cannibalism to name a few of the truly mad things I thought were happening to me.)

I was not told about Delirium until I had pretty much recovered and was about to be discharged. My whole stay in hospital was one of extreme fear of certain members of the hospital staff.) After having it explained and a lot of research, flashbacks and hearing some others experience I strongly feel that the patients should be constantly reminded that what they are thinking and dreaming are not real.

Hope this helps.

[Dabofoppo]

My advice would be to acknowledge what they say go along with it (unless it gets too ridiculous) if they accuse staff of stuff which is very common reassure then you'll get it looked into you don't actually have to do it it just gives the reassurance that they are being listened to and taken seriously. What we see when we are delirious is not real but it feels and is 100% real for the person experiencing it i was absolutely certain I was in Canada I live in scotland and I have never so much as been out of Europe nevermind anywhere near Canada.

[Claudiad]

Thanks all, lots of brilliant insight here.

[daffy23]

I also think, that anyone who is close to your brother in law needs to know that delirium is a very real world that we inhabit for a space of time, even going in & out of it as we recover, so some things are the real world & some are definitely not! I can now feel sorry for my nephew - he rang one day & I was telling him my car needed taxing & insuring & would he deal with that, then I asked him if he really had sold me for body parts!! His quick reply was 'no, I didn't do that but my sister might have'!! I went on to talk about the strange world that I had inhabited. This was all very new for my family & friends, so the more people understand the better. It was only when I got to our local hospital for final recovery that some of the nurses there talked to me about delirium & helped me understand what had happened. I was troubled by flashbacks a long time. At one point I was having counselling & decided that I would write down everything I had 'experienced'. I gave it to my counsellor to read & she was amazed. So, as time goes on, do let your brother in law talk about what he has experienced. It needs to come out.

[Claudiad]

Yes I'm really keen on this not being overlooked.. you how especially as some blokes don't talk about feelings so much..

[FamilyHistorian]

It is very distressing and emotional to relate what happened to you. As a male who has relived all my hallucinations and still can’t always differentiate between what is real and unreal I am very open to what happened to me and I am the better for it.

So one of my roles when talking to others is to give them the opportunity to live what I experienced and also share what happened to them once they start talking they won’t stop.

It’s a bit like skinny dipping the first time you are very wary the next you wonder what all the fus is about