Hey guys, dad is still on the road to recovery. He seems more himself now and it seems all the delirium has passed. Now he is having extreme anxiety. I know that is very common for someone in his position and I believe he is having such bad anxiety because he’s fully aware of everything now. They had started him on Buspar maybe a month and a half ago? Since his anxiety has gotten worse they had upped the dosage and have also recently added a second medication. The second one they added was Zoloft and it hasn’t had time to fully start working yet. He’s having panic attacks and when he does they have to turn his oxygen up a bit to recover and then once the attack is over, he’s fine. Just wanted to know everyone’s experience with this. It’s so awful and I hate it for him. 
Anxiety in hospital: Hey guys, dad is still on the... - ICUsteps
Anxiety in hospital
My husband started having panic attacks when he was being turned (after about 2 months of being in ICU). One day he just felt really frightened as they turned him and then after that he would have a panic attack worrying that he would have a panic attack!
The panic attacks lasted for about a week. He didn't have any medication but I think they may have increased his oxygen slightly before turning him each time and just tried to reassure him as much as possible before each turn.
It’s so hard to see them go through it, I’m hoping this medication will help him. I know it will get better, I just hate it for him.
I started having very short but pronounced periods of paranoia & anxiety. I believe it to have been a side effect of all the sedatives. I felt emotionally very volatile for several months. Very happy, very funny, very sad, very angry - all at the flick of a switch.
I’m glad you have prefixed your comment about the delirium with”seems”. In my case my reality in icu is very clear in my memory, whilst I’m not bothered by it now (15 months on) it did continue for some time after leaving and the hallucinations could have been triggered very easily.
I’m not to sure where anxiety and panic boundaries cross. I came out of hospital into lock down and have been shielding ever since. In a strange way I have been institutionalised in my own home. Doing “normal things” is very difficult. I don’t go to supermarkets. In the last 2 weeks is it is the first time I have eaten outside in public. We have been away in our caravan and that has been under the condition that I could turn round and come home at any time.
The whole icu experience, for me, just didn’t go away. In many respects why should it it was a very traumatic part of my life.
Right. It does make sense that something like that would stick with you a very long time, or even forever. He says he doesn’t remember some of it, which he wouldn’t bc of the sedative and also he’ll say things like I don’t want to talk about it. So I’m sure not remembering things, plus knowing the things he remembers, is so overwhelming. It’s sad. But the main thing is, you guys have survived! So that’s something to be thankful for, for sure!
Hi. The only simiarity I had was being given Mirtazapine, which is mainly an antidepressant, it can also be given for anxiety. My understanding is that I was given it to calm me down and help with ICU delerium I had been suffering. While the delerium stopped before I left ICU, I continued to take one tablet a night until I left hospital care November last year.
I can understand him not wanting to talk about it. He may well one day and be ready for an explosion of emotion. My experience so far is that men don't want to, can't expression their emotions. Many reasons behind that but is the tradional role of a man to "protect". For me the hardest thing to do was talk about it for the first time. I'm competely change when it comes to emotions and there are mant reasons for that.
My husband has gone through deliurm and anxiety. He had it really bad for about two months and now only gets anxiety now and then. They give him Adderall when he gets anxious. It makes him very sleepy which is hard because we never know when physical therapy is coming in?
It's hard because he needs physical therapy for his muscle athropy so that he can build up strength to get off the ventilator! We are in month 8 and it's been a long road to slowly recovering from this ordeal.
Hang in there!
We will! That would be hard not know when they’re coming in and him being tired when they do. Maybe ask them if there’s a different medication he can take, that won’t make him so tired. His anxiety seems to be better the last couple days. But he’s also got horrible back pain, which is to be expected for anyone laying in a bed that long. But he also has a bad back anyway. He has nerve damage, degenerative disk, and arthritis. He usually gets nerve block shots in his SI joints. He hasn’t been able to, but he can only take his pain meds that only work some. We are going to ask the doctor about getting the anesthesiologist in here to do his shots, I feel like that will help him a lot. So that’s another thing we’re dealing with. It’s hard for him to do a whole lot with PT, without his back killing him.
I had extreme anxiety as well when I was in ICU and when I was transferred to another hospital to continue my recovery. It took a long time to get over it and I was quickly diagnosed with PTSD, again something which is very common in ICU patients. All he and you can do is work through it and have lots of patience. I had a real need to understand what had happened to me and why. I was offered specialist ICU counselling which I was very grateful for. It may not feel like it now for either of you, but it does get better over time
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