Not waking after sedation weaned

[Thatgirlbrandy]

My sons father has been in the ICU 13 days septic and in multiple organ failure due to an unknown bacterial infection. At one point his cardio output was at 15%, was on full ventilator, and dialysis for his kidney. After about 10 days the infection and fever seemed to clear up. On Friday they stopped the sedation to try and bring him around… It has now been 72 hours and he has still not woke up. They did an EEG and told my in laws (I don’t consider them ex-in laws) that there was nothing remarkable to report…

what does that mean? Like nothing Wrong or bad to report, or NOTHING on the scan to report… like no remarkable activity?

And since he does have pretty severe liver damage, how long will the meds take to filter out of his system?

[Sepsur]

it can be longer than you think, in my case it was 11 days - kidney failure & 7 wks of dialysis definitely slowed my waking down

[FamilyHistorian]

in my case I was in a coma for nearly 2 months despite the doctors trying to ween me off. You can see more about me in my profile

[Copse77]

it took my brother sometime to come round after being in an induced coma after sepsis caused his lungs to fail and his kidneys weren’t working either.. By sometime I mean weeks. Everyone is different and individual in how they respond, but when your partner does start to come round it’s a slow process of responding. Little signs of progress like eyes opening are worth noting in a record so when he has bad days you can focus on the good progress he has made. It’s not like in films where people are instantly awake. I hope he makes a good recovery.

[Thatgirlbrandy]

Update: I spoke directly with the Doctor today and this is what he told me.

The EEG showed irregular activity and diminished activity with no remarkable causation. When I asked for clarity he said they do not know if the irregularities are due to brain damage or due to the slow filtering of his liver and kidneys. He is almost in complete liver failure. The doctor did say that his pupils were still equal and reactive, which is a good sign of course.

The reason I am so scared is that he was having what I now realize were some pretty severe and extreme delusions of grandeur for the last three years. He has always had a hyperbolic personality so I just brushed off all of his insane stories about being a mercenary for black water and having connections to the CIA. I was married to him for 14 years and know this was not true. He sincerely tried to convince me he had suppressed the memories… he believed this stuff.

Now I am going to give a little back story, because I think it could be relevant to his recovery .

He is currently admitted for what I believe (but could not be proven or disproven ) chronic untreated pancreatitis due to 25+ years of alcohol and anabolic steroid use. Which eventually caused the blood poisoning, which damaged the heart and then a domino effect of his lungs, liver and kidneys. When he was admitted I had to gather all of the meds from his house and found 5 different types of steroids in the open on his bathroom counter… and there was no food or water, juice, milk in his fridge, only alcohol and a 12 pack of soda for my son. The pantry had junk food he could make for himself, and don’t even get me started on the state of his home…

He and I are very cordial and get along. I am in fact his emergency contact and the executor of will. However, when he started telling me he was sick the beginning of 2020, saying that he was throwing up daily and that he was having really painful hiccups, I told him to have it checked out by a doctor due to its frequency. At that time he told me his doctor told him he had to quit drinking. He tried to quit cold turkey and found out that he was chemically dependent, experiencing DT’s so severe they bordered on convulsions. When he confessed this to me, I begged him to go a detox center and to rehab, but he insisted his doctor gave him a plan to ween himself off…that never happened. I believe this is when he received a diagnosis of pancreatitis and then just took antacids for three years while continuing to drinks heavily. In the three times he was admitted to the hospital in the six months before the sepsis admission, he had blood alcohol levels of .23, .27 and .33. All three times he was treated for pneumonia, never admitted to the ICU. I should also mention he vapes 4-6 juul pods a day. And was getting lipoid pneumonia, and never stopped vaping.

I am afraid that he has been in organ failure for longer than any of us were aware and that what has now happened is the culmination of him not being able to ask for help with his alcohol addiction… it makes me feel guilty for brushing him off and not believing him when he has been telling me that is is drowning on land and vomiting blood. Because he would simultaneously tell me he shot someone’s face off. And he has ALWAYS been hyperbolic. Always been and exaggerated bragger and exaggerated drama… I did not believe him…and I feel like if so had just paid more attention to his surroundings I would have seen things more clearly. However, I rarely go into his home. We tend to sit out side on the patio… I wish I had just taken a closer look…

I guess what I really want to know is how mic does his history of abuse play into his long term prognosis and his ability to regain independence?

I would appreciate your opinion and experiences please.

[Ladysurvivor1]

hi there I was in itu for two months after getting covid back in 2021 . I had multiple organ failure, pneumonia, sepsis, seizures, & was also on dialysis.

It took me quite some time to start responding to commands I had a MRI which showed that everything was normal ( which I think is what your test suggested) When a individual is heavily sedated they don’t necessarily respond as quickly as others may do everyone responds differently.

So please try not to worry & just take each day as it comes ,never give up & keep the faith

🥰🥰Sonia Uk 🇬🇧