I woke from a 5 day induced coma exactly 4 weeks ago today. Nothing as sinister as COVID or heart failure, just a nasty abscess in a hard to reach part of my throat & the swelling took a while to go down.
I lost 4 kg in the 5 days & feel like this was all muscle. Day 1 & 2 I couldn't walk un-aided & slowly progressed from a general old-lady shuffle to now walking normally. My problem is, I'm still exhausted all the time. I've only just had the stamina to do yoga each day, but still don't feel strong enough to start back on my previous practice of a 3-5k walk/jog each afternoon. Also because I've completely detoxed from alcohol & tobacco (so easy to do in a coma!!) I'm sleeping better than ever, but still wake up feeling foggy & I'm making silly mistakes at work. I'm eating wonderfully healthy foods & avoiding bad stuff, so I just don't understand why my body isn't playing the game. Just yesterday my BPM shot up to 130 just by standing in a meeting for 10 minutes (my normal resting rate is 90+ so this isn't as scary as it sounds, but still...)
I see on here that people have gone through some terrible health trauma's & mine feels so minor in comparison (my heart goes out to all of you). Has anyone else been through something similar & has taken longer than expected to feel pre-coma healthy? I'm starting to wonder if there's something else wrong. A colleague even made the comment "you're milking this coma card quite a bit aren't you".....classy.
Internally I've felt amazing joy & gratitude for being alive since "waking up" & want to live life to the fullest now, I just need my body to catch up!
Written by
Lulu1975
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
I was told it would take me 10 days to recover from everyday I was in hospital.
Whatever the reason for our illness - it doesn’t get anymore serious than a stay in ICU - you don’t get put there unless you are at death’s door. So don’t feel that you’re not worthy 😜.
If you are ventilated ( especially) it is possible to lose 40% of your lean muscle in the first 10 days. Like you I had to learn to do everything again.
Critical illness is the biggest trauma a body can survive - no wonder it takes a while to get back to normal.
Be kind to yourself and don’t reproach yourself for how you are now - you’re doing the best you can.
Cognitive dysfunction, fatigue, ICU acquired weakness happen to a lot of us - so join the club 😀
Thank you, that's really helpful 🙏 I still don't think I even fully understand the seriousness of what happened, exactly what went on during the coma (although my mum has shared snippets with me) & the scope of recovery. Excuse my naivety but until today I didn't even realise a machine was breathing for me....
I have a long story about my experience of icu so won't go into it now. Like you I haven't realized how close to dying I was. Both hospitals done a diary for me so i know who looked after me who went in ambulance with me when i was transferred from Carlisle to Freeman when my daughter rang. It's very good to look at.
Yes - it's normal. I was told it would take 18 months to get 'back to normal' after a stay in ICU of about the same length as yours (and an operation). They give you some very strong drugs in ICU that take time to work through your system.
To be honest, I'm surprised you are back to work already. It sounds to me like you are recovering really rapidly. Be gentle with yourself. It will get better.
Thanks for your reply. It helps hearing from someone who's been in the same situation. Perhaps I'm recovering rapidly as you say because I didn't have an operation as such to also recover from. They treated the abscess through my nose...how, I don't really understand either. Hoping to find out more details with my ENT surgeon tomorrow.
My episode was three and a half years ago now - and it did take about 18 months for me to feel I was back on top of things (though, somehow, I'm still not quite perfect! :)).
It's often difficult to separate out the various effects: physical, emotional, etc. You say you've given up smoking (Well Done!) and alcohol. That too has effects on all sorts of levels. You've had a major upheaval in your life. After only four weeks, it sounds like you're doing really well. Keep up the good work!
Yes I'm quite pleased with the smoking/drinking thing! I was never a pack a day smoker & was already questioning my relationship with alcohol, so the fact that my body detoxed while I was 'sleeping' was a bit of a bonus. It's not even been a temptation since.
Seems we have to get used to a new 'normal' after things like this & be ok with being less that perfect 😅
Thanks again for your feedback & encouraging words!
Totally ok to ask But I actually don’t know. I think it started as a bacterial infection around my tonsils. I have my follow up with the ENT surgeon today & that will be question number !
I asked so many questions & still don’t have many answers! He said it was Quincy, which is when tonsillitis turns bad, but there wasn’t any puss on my tonsils so it didn’t actually start with tonsillitis. The actual surgeon who drained it told my mum it was a retropharyngeal abscess. Either way, I found out they actually cut in to my left tonsil to drain it & after three days the swelling hadn’t gone down enough so they kept me under for a further two.
He couldn’t give me a definitive answer as to how I could’ve gotten the bacteria, but said it would’ve been a nasty strain & thinks someone has probably coughed or sneezed on me, rather than anything I did like drank from a dirty cup or something.
Another follow up in 3 months when he’ll decide if he wants to take my tonsils out or not. Definitely not keen on another hospital stay 👎
Haha, that's true - my response was "& exactly when was the last time you were in a coma?"
I think I'm questioning the slow recovery because the whole thing was such a shock as well. I was put in the coma less than two hours after being choppered way from my remote home, thinking that I just had tonsillitis & I'd be put on a drip. I had no time to ask many questions & was told I'd be out for a day or two....then 5 days later...
I can't remember why I went into hospital nor the several weeks before being admitted to ICU. In fact 3 months from before ICU is a blank and despite what some may say that isn't good.
I think its amazing you are back at work I just cant concentrate for long enough. I'm trying to write a short article of a few paragraphs and it ahs taken me 2 days so far. Hopefully I will finish it today. I am also doing some decorating one room an old garage instead of taking 2-3 days to do took me 3 weeks. I am currently doing a bedroom and the time its taking mehas improved and I shoud finish after 2 weeks.
Wow, 3 months!?? I've forgotten a lot of things from the week pre-coma as well. I wondered if it was the infection or the trauma of it all? & 12 hours after I was brought out of the coma I could've sworn it was 2011 (I'd love to be 10 years younger, wouldn't you? 😉)
You sound like you're doing a great job of keeping yourself active. Good luck with the article & decorating. & thank you for your input, I really do appreciate it & it's definitely putting my concerns into perspective.
I'm almost 2 years to the day of recovering from a very similar thing (my abscess was caused by a broken wisdom tooth) I also had a 5 day coma I took a bit longer than you to recover by the sounds of things I was in hospital for a further 3 weeks and I didn't get back to work for about 4 months ( I worked in the care sector). I was a good 2 months without feeling up to much I started going back to the gym 2 weeks after getting out of hospital I didn't return to the weights I used to move until about 6 months after I got back to the gym.
Wow, I'm really starting to realise I'm doing better than I though & I need to give myself a break over it. & have MUCH more patience with myself!
If I had a physical job there's no way I'd be back at work full time, but I spend most of the day at a desk - flitting between 5 different tasks, & Facebook, & personal emails, & instagram, & staring into space, & today involved a bit of crying. My concentration & focus has definitely taken a nose dive.
Did you find yourself shaky when you first stared working out again? My arms are shaky after a 20 minute yoga sesh, & my legs still need a bit of a mental reminder that they can in fact do their job & carry me...
Yes very much so I think it's down to a lot of the stabilising muscles aren't used at all when you are in a coma or resting. It does come back however it takes time. The same can be said about concentration I only recently found my attention span was back to what it was before my illness.
hi Lulu. I don't know where to start! The first thing to spot is that you were put into a coma for any reason other than your medical condition meant you desperately needed that precious space. Do not let the ignorance of others diminish this experience. I share all your post-icu issues; sleep like a baby, utterly brain dead for first 45 mins from waking (like I have drunk bottles of whisky the night before!), mental processing issues that in turn make me judge myself harshly, loss of physical ability etc etc.
My advice would be as follows:
1. when and where you can be bothered, explain to people the impact on your mental processing, physical abilities etc. I don't tell everyone, but have told my family and friends and would tell a boss if I was in that situation. We can do the tasks as we have not lost our knowledge, just accessing the knowledge can be slower.
2. I and many others believe there must be something else wrong. I call it medical anxiety; I don't know if this is an actual term? The full effects of recovering from icu are massive and diverse. My approach is to check out some (eg: blood tests) but also to get balance by not reading the fear machine known as google or facebook
3. Don't judge yourself when you make an error and link it to some fear about your recovery. This is hard and by the way, i often fail. However, even without the joy of recovery all humans make mistakes. It's called being human!
4. I don't know how long recovery takes; it's deeply personal and whenever I listen to generalisations, they normally end up in me having depressing false expectations. Our bodies and nature aren't working to any human timetable and doesn't listen to our desires that we want to be well for birthdays, xmas etc. You are doing everything you can to get better and beyond that, the exact timescale i suspect is not in your control. You sound like you have made great improvements, keep it up and remember your achievements.
Thank you! Once I was ready to respond to all the messages I received during the coma (I just 'vanished' for some people) I made the conscious decision to bulls#!t my way through & be positive, like..."yes this has been the most traumatic thing my body has been through & I feel like I've been hit by a truck... but I'm on the mend!" or "I look like a pin cushion & have bruises everywhere...but I finally showered myself alone today!!" I felt if I focused on the negative & outwardly expressed how bad I actually felt, it was going to slow down my progress. It's been a tough stunt to pull off & I've definitely wallowed in self pity alone at times, but I think it's definitely helped.
I hope your husband is doing well, whatever stage of recovery he is in 🤗
The tactless comment by your colleague exemplifies the depth of ignorance about critical illness and, until it happened to me, I include myself in that. I had no idea; only those who've been through it really know.
As others have commented you're doing amazingly well, but recovery takes time, so be kind to yourself! 😊
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
But I actually don’t know. I think it started as a bacterial infection around my tonsils. I have my follow up with the ENT surgeon today & that will be question number !
Tired and emotional after coma
How many attempts will they try to wake my husband?
And the doctors treated me like I was crazy !!
COVID: doesn't wake up from induced coma 
Still feeling mentally lost after almost 2 yrs
