Hi
My mom is having ICU delirium symptom does anyone has someone or yourselves went through ICU caused delirium and if you did how long did last in your case?
Thank you and all the very best for anyone going through this or having a loved one in ICU.
I couldn’t tell you for sure how long my delirium lasted ( for me, I dreamed across a lifetime approx 60yrs)
My wife seems to think it lasted around 11 days - from the time they removed sedation to the moment I woke up.
My delirium went really quickly - others aren’t so lucky.
not everyone has delirium/ hallucinations. Those that do may have similar themes or very different. In my case I lived in another reality. That means that you totally believe that reality and there is no way that anyone will tell me different. Some elements can be horrific, some pleasant, some sexual, some believing poor treatment, some not recognising family the list goes on.
I was in a coma for just under 2 months, I don’t know when I had the delirium, some of it occurred when I was coming round and some continued when i went home. I’m not worried about my hallucinations now but can remember them all in detail.
I deal with it by accepting that I lived in another reality across 5 centuries - lucky me.
Thank you so much for your reply glad you ok now I just miss herself
my mom was in ICU for a good four months she definitely had delirium and it seemed to always start around sun down but once she was out of that setting, she was so much better. It definitely does get better.
Thank you is very reassuring
Hi, I was in ICU for three weeks and spent much of that time in or coming out of a coma. I remember my delirium dreams very clearly but can't say how long they lasted. There was a common thread to my dreams and agitation - raging thirst. Please do your best to ensure that the nurses to their utmost to address this and provide your mother with some relief. Good as they were, some of my nurses didn't address this.Good luck to you and your mum.
Unquenched thirst also dominated my stay in ICU, but of course while fitted with a trachy no drinking was allowed. The best you got was a wetted sponge stick applied to your lips. Sometimes my wife applied the sponge and I took the opportunity to have a surreptitious suck at the sponge. No chance I would get away with that with the nurse!
Yes we also doing this she gets her mouth so dry but thank you I be more aware this is a need must be so uncomfortable
I remember my delerium so very clearly. I accept them for what they were irrespective of the “themes” of them. They are still very vivid and real to me but I know they were not and accept that.
Must be so disturbing sometimes it feels she is there and speaks with difficulty because her throat is sore of the breathing tube that was there but other times she looks she somewhere else and doesn’t reply or engage. How long did it last for you , if ok to ask? Thank you for your reply
I’m so sorry you and your Mom are going through this. I’ve been through it a couple of times with my Dad. It took about 3-4 weeks but he totally recovered. It took a while. We were told every day in ICU meant for a week of recovery and that did pan out. We also found an infusion on vitamin B12 helped a lot. Take care
Hi Natacha82. I was in an induced coma for 3+ weeks and with a tracheostomy for a good part of that and all of what has been said about resonates with me and my experience. The delirium and thirst are very difficult to deal with. I look back on the delirium with resigned astonishment and they don't cause me much upset now but they were horrid and, generally, that seems to be the usual experience. In one I was paralysed and kidnapped by a doctor and nurse and taken to a beautiful garden on a hillside looking over the Mediterranean to have by internal organs harvested.
I hope things are improving for your Mum and you and your family. Everyone is an individual and responds differently. I hope the delerium eases.
It took me years and sometimes now I'm not sure if things happened or not, and it is just over 13 years since I was in ICU. They ranged from kidnapping, public humiliation, vomiting yellow paint along with a very strong paint smell, being force feed to a point my stomach burst, being interviewed on Pebblemill in the bed, left outside in the snow on the bed in a village I didn't recognise, extremely viscous snarling dog stood on my chest and in my face, two very strange looking creatures in wheelchairs that nurses pushed to the side of my bed, they had very calming voices and I was convinced they were guardian angels, just to say a few things that were going on.
I was also convinced that the night staff had a party every night, smoking and drinking what I called frothy tea, which was a cup of tea with a splash of chloroform, which I could smell. And chloroform was a smell I could recognise due to a previous job working in a dispensary mixing bulk medicines.
A thing what happened for years after was very real dreams, not strange they were just very real to the extent that I thought I was awake and already in work, and then I would wake up, normally late for work even though I thought I'd been in work for a while. This became a real problem that was hard to explain to work.
Dreams aren't that bad nowadays but not completely gone away, just not regular anymore.
I'm rambling a bit, but all I can say is talk to your mum, she'll tell you things that might be hard for you both to get your head around.
All the best Peter.
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