Post ITU Syndrome : My husband went into hospital... - ICUsteps

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Post ITU Syndrome

Darcy200 profile image
7 Replies

My husband went into hospital on the 26th of December day 9 of being Covid positive he was on a ventilator for 17 days and has recently been moved to the ward .

What I have experienced today is what I think they call post ITU syndrome he rang me confused , refusing to have NG feeds as they upset his stomach, very negative I thought getting out of ITU would be a hurdle has anyone else got experience of this would be grateful for advice

Thank you 😊

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Darcy200 profile image
Darcy200
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7 Replies
Sepsur profile image
Sepsur

ICU delirium? & PICS?

Have a look at the info on this link - this may fill in the blanks 😊. If it doesn’t - come back to us.

icustepschester.org/informa...

BBDEBS profile image
BBDEBS

Very, very, common. The psychological trauma of the "dreams" or experiences tend to be the longest hurdle to recover from as a patient.

Have a read of the docs sepsur recommends and if you need any further advice or a patient's viewpoint, I'm sure many of us can help x

FamilyHistorian profile image
FamilyHistorian

I came out of hospital mid March ‘20 and the after effects of ICU still continue but not to the same extent. I was on feeds until the day I left once home it took ages for my stomach to get use to anything remotely looking like food “loose” wasn’t the word for it and just as you think it’s settling, off it goes again.

I found that once I had stepped down to the ward:- the nursing care is not one to one, many of the nurses don’t understand the ICU experience (it’s very obvious those that do) and on top of all that all I wanted to do was leave and I would try anything to be released.

I pulled my feeding tube out and in the end once they got back in it was bolted (can’t remember what it was called) into my nose. I was lucky as I had visitors and so my wife use to come in and support me. It took us an hour to wash / shower as it was so exhausting and that was time the staff just didn’t have. It was bad enough for them as they had to grind my meds down 3 times a day and give them to me through my feeding tube this took an age in itself.

Darcy200 profile image
Darcy200

🥰 Thank you

Ferham profile image
Ferham

Hi, have a look at some of my post, I have also just posted a link that our OT has compiled post ITU covid page 24 . Here it is againview.joomag.com/otnews-janu...

8SofMB profile image
8SofMB

ITU syndrome is quite common after someone is brought out of sedation the whole experience is so confusing, the combination of medication and lack of sleep is horrendous. Although sedated, its medically induced so he will not have got the regenerative sleep that we all need. Although he looks awake, he may not be totally aware, and may not even remember this after he's recover enough. I spent time in ITU with meningococcal bacterial meningitis, sepsis and pneumonia. The hallucinations can be very weird, I was in a temporary psychotic state for around three weeks. Although his behaviour may sometimes seem way out of character now, I know it may be difficult but try not to worry about this. As I've said he'll likely not remember, this is all unfortunately quite normal, not for the relatives of course, but do talk to this nurse.If a critical care diary isn't being kept by the staff, I would recommend doing this yourself, you'll feel more involved and it will help making sense of it all, if you need to afterwards. Full recovery once home is unfortunately a long haul. I got a lot out of writing about my "journey" afterwards, it really helped. That eventually turned into a book that I published just before Christmas its called Eight Seconds of MenB, not now but if you feel inclined please read it, it will give you an heads up on the sort of thing that may happen, but believe me keep positive at all cost. When you and your husband are ready go to the ICU Steps meeting you will find one locally I'm sure. Always be positive and the very best of luck to you both.

Pete

Darcy200 profile image
Darcy200

Thank you all for replying to my question ❤️

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