Help. Icu

[Joccelyn]

Hi all I'm new here but I'm also lost and don't know what to do. My mom currently needs a liver transplant but she has pneumonia and they had her sedated now she's awake but won't listen to orders.

[Sepsur]

there can be lots of reasons why your Mom isn’t following commands, if she has been sedated, and having liver failure, her body maybe struggling to rid itself of sedative. She may also be experiencing ICU delirium - ask her medical team to explain what they think is going on,

[Joccelyn in reply to Sepsur]

They think she's upset cause we didn't see her for a couple of days. But been trying to as much as we can. And she has done movement like squeeze my grandpa's hand and move her eyes. She just doesn't do it to show the Dr's. It's not all the time though she'll listen to us either so I'm not sure

[Sepsur in reply to Joccelyn]

She may not trust the doctors to squeeze their hand - delirium does weird things with your sense of reality

[BigH63]

Hi Sorry to hear this.

Ok having been sedated she will be confused and also could have delirium, this is a consequence of the drugs she’s been or on. Things should get better as time goes on. Hopefully she’s not angry or grabbing at lines etc as they could put her under stronger sedation?

Ask any questions you have here the community have had a wide variety of ICU experiences and the knowledge base is huge.

Feel free to post anytime

Good luck

[Joccelyn in reply to BigH63]

Hi and thank you. This is the second time they sedate her so I was thinking the same like at first she seemed confused and shocked and this time it's kind of the same but more of it. So I'm not sure if that's normal

[BigH63 in reply to Joccelyn]

Yes it’s normal. Many of us were bought out of coma then put back in many times myself included. When this happens you are so confused what’s real or not and most of the time the delirium is very scary. Talk to the doctors or nurses about how far sedated she is?

Keep us all up to date on progress

BigH ❤️

[Copse77]

there is guidance for families and patients on ICU delerim published by ICU Steps.

[Copse77]

here it is

icusteps.org/information/gu...

[FamilyHistorian]

it sounds as if she has delirium which probably means that she is hallucinating. For me and others this means that you are living in another reality and nothing anybody says to you will change your mind about that reality. To try and explain that when I came round after nearly 2 months from my coma I firmly believed that I was in the Gailey motor museum. I was taken along a corridor in a wheelchair which only reinforced my reality that I was there. Nothing would convince me otherwise because I was right! The hallucinations can involve all sorts of realities including relatives not being relatives, being assaulted by medical staff and I could go on and on. As you come round it takes time for the body to clear the drugs.