My brother got into a car acciddent and nurses put him back to sleep eveytime he gets agitated (please help)

[casleyva]

Hi guys over the weekend my brother crashed into the free way with the wall concrete that divides the cars its been reported he wasnt able to breath properly so they medically induced him into coma the 2 day they finally removed his breathing tube and seems like he had a minor injury in his head and its inflammed on the 3rd day they started reducing his medication and now hes is waking up aware who is who and talks for a bit and then gets very agitated and they put him black to sleep we are on our 4th day the whole day he was very calm with me but from the most part he was sleeping on the 5ht day he was doing good and got very agitated saying he wants to get out of here and leave and told my mom that he doesnt want live no more . My mom hearing that from her son was very devasting but i told her to stay calm and that he is drugged and doesnt know everything he is saying . It feels like a never ending trip for all of us . I know every patient is different but my main concern when Is he ever going to get better when they keep putting him back to sleep everytime he gets very agitated

Any suggestion?

[Clunk]

I’d definitely ask them what their plan is for weaning the medication given he is getting agitated.

You are right that he is not himself - it’s serious drugs they give you for coma and pain so when they start reducing them, people go through a withdrawal. Often they experience something called ICU delirium, worth looking up. So the process of reducing medication - figuring out the right way to reduce - varies by person. My husband was similarly getting agitated due to delirium and because he became a danger to nurses - he tried to leave - they also put him back under, you can see my past posts if it helps. Over the whole time they kept tweaking the meds and reduction however - so when he was first agitated they added a calming drug as well then but he was too delirious. The next time they gave him an additional drug that stays in your system longer to keep him calm past the initial wake up etc.

In the end i had to be at the hospital with him all day and night - so grateful to the dr allowing that - because he was still getting agitated and i didn’t want them to redrug him. And ended up discharging him straight from ICU as soon as we could - within hours of getting home hia delirium started clearing and he was mostly himself the next day. A year on and he is doing great, minus some nightmares due to coma and the ICU.

All that to say that what you’re going through isn’t unusual but it absolutely sucks, I’m sorry. Glad to hear your brother is mostly fine. Definitely fight for him by asking the dr about what’s happening and how they are planning to help him overcome it, and what their plan b is if it doesn’t work.

[casleyva in reply to Clunk]

This helped so much thank you today he is very much more conscious he’s aware the he’s at the hospital he just keeps talking about he wants to get out of here that he’s good and then he talks about none sense and he says I’m confused because of the medication but he’s trying to be corporative but he wiggles a lot and wants to get out and he makes sense but I just feel very desperate not being able to help him because he wants me to untie him and tells me to don’t listen to the doctors what they say I feel like he’s just very desperate to get out of here and I feel like he’s understanding more but I just hate how he’s tied up and uncomfortable and I feel like that’s what gets him very agitated and his heart rate goes up

[Clunk in reply to casleyva]

I get you. My husband was saying similar things even getting upset with me at times because I wasn’t helping him leave the hospital - he now doesn’t remember that because he wasn’t himself. His memories are all jumbled up (what’s real vs fake) because of the coma. So while these things are awful to hear and he might even get mad at you, he probably won’t even remember saying that stuff once he’s recovered. I hope that helps.

[casleyva in reply to Clunk]

Do you remember how many days it’ took him to start understanding why he was at the hospital and why they had him tied up and the motives for everything?

[TBIcaregiver]

Hi, I just thought to share about my experience in hope it gives u some reassurance. My 19 year old was in a car accident and in a coma for a while. They tried bringing him around but he wasn't responding and finally when he did, he would get agitated and they had to give him meds to sedate him again. This is not uncommon and I felt it was the only option because rest is so important to help the brain and other injuries to heal. The doctors will keep trying and maybe even switching his medication but he will get there. It will be hard but it will gradually get easier. When my son was fully awake he would say things that would alarm me and have outbursts of anger but we were told this was normal due to the medication he had been on whilst in induced coma and it takes a while to leave the system.

Tell your mum it will get better, it might not be easy but he will get there x

[FamilyHistorian]

in my case it was nearly 2 moths before I was properly awake. It does take time.. having delirium means that you hallucinate, you are living another world which has no bearing on reality. Apert from dreaming you may also say things to people that you don’t understand or mean

[Sepsur]

people can overcome devastating accidents, putting him back into a coma might help his chances of healing - I was comatose for 57 days - it took them 11 days to wake me, some was agitation and being reliant on life support still.