Night Terrors After Coma

[Sophieleigh99]

It’s been nearly a year since my coma. My “dreams” when in the coma were nothing other than terrifying. These dreams still happen now in my “conscious” sleep brain. Is anyone else finding night terrors to be a big problem? TIA.

[Rhyl1 Partner Moderator ICUsteps]

Have you managed to get any help with this? Your brain is trying to process your “coma dreams” but getting stuck. A therapy such as EMDR ( eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing) can help to process the memories and reduce the recurrent nightmares. This is common after being in ICU.

[Sophieleigh99 in reply to Rhyl1]

I was one of those people where I wanted to see if my brain would process it on its own. It seems it doesn’t want to. I’ll look into the EMDR. Thank you for your advice it’s really appreciated.

[Gooddaysunshine]

I have been home for 14 months, and the coma nightmares can flash back into my brain when asleep or awake. Strange as it may sound, one of the reassuring consolations now is that they have become so familiar that my mind/brain knows I will not die in them.I also have talking therapy once a month with the ICU psychologist (there should hopefully be one attached to your former ICU).

And I did a eight week CBT course with my community mental health team, which was also useful.

Finally, I have written a few of the worse recurring ones down on paper, which also was useful in getting it out of my psyche.

Good luck with it, I know it can be terrifying.

[Sophieleigh99 in reply to Gooddaysunshine]

I’m glad to hear you’re back home and got through it. The flashbacks are horrific. I know myself that they’re not real and I can recognise that I’m dreaming, but sometimes I know I’m dreaming and can’t wake up and I seem to get stuck in a loop. There wasn’t much support offered at all after my ICU stay. I’m going to look into the CBT too. Thank you for your advice.

[Hidden]

Hi. Looking at the posts on this site many seem to have the same post ICU dreams and flashbacks. I had really bad delerium when in ICU for a prolonged period , often violent and near death experiences. I am lucky as although I can remember most of these dreams they do not haunt me now. I was given an anxiety tablet after I came to in ICU for about 3 months but stopped once I returned home. The dreams stopped once I came round in ICU and my nurse told me I had been in hospital all this time and not in various different countries. I did speak to an ICU phsycologist twice soon after coming home, but that brought back memories I would rather forget. I have got my hospital notes that gave me a good idea as to what was happening in reality each day. I wish you well in your recovery.

[Sophieleigh99 in reply to Hidden]

I had delirium too. When I came round I was determined I was my nana (who has passed away and was 88) and that I was in a fake hospital lol. I’m finding it quite hard to cope with them now, the intensity seems to be getting stronger rather than simmering. My ICU diary was interesting to read however sometimes I prefer not to know. I wish you well also. Thank you.

[CLM68]

I am now 8 years out from being in a 3 week coma and a much longer hospital stay etc with H1N1. I had profound and very disturbing "dreams" probably not helped by the fact that they tried to bring me out of the coma a couple of times. I visited the ICU to see where I had been and the kit that had been used on me as I had a lot of scars and needle marks in my arms! I also had time with an ICU therapist but that was 6 months after I had been discharged., that was a really big help and I couldn't have coped with it any earlier. Any time I spoke about what happened to me I would shake and cry...PTSD. I also found that just talking about my dreams helped as many had a link to the environment I had been in.It does get much better!

Give yourself time, make sure you rest as I still find I can have flashbacks if I get too tired.

[Sophieleigh99 in reply to CLM68]

I’m glad that you’re here and doing well. They tried to bring me round a couple of times too but my body would start seizing and my sats would drop. I actually exctubated myself haha. I find that I can speak about certain things but others my body goes cold and it’s like my brain won’t allow me to speak of it. I might look into seeing it I could visit icu some time as it could help.

Thank you for your advice. It’s nice to know I’m not alone in this. Sometimes I feel like I’m going crazy!

[Sepsur]

Sounds like you might need a bit of pro help - a year is a long time to suffer. My family members have been helped by EMDR & CBT therapies

[Sepsur]

I have a useful pdf which offers suggestions of how to deal with intrusive thoughts etc… in the end this doesn’t replace professional help whether CBT or EMDR therapy.

If you PM me your email - I will forward it to you.