AMA
User505351 · 23/02/2023 21:15
As an aside, NEVER put radio 4 on to coma patients. I think that’s where a lot of the weirdness started
I think that's probably really good advice! Although maybe Harry Potter is not the best alternative, there's lots of weird stuff in there too. You need to think up a list of calm, comforting and rational books to listen to in such circumstances 😀 I'm glad you made it op. Thanks for answering questions
Eyelashesoffire · 23/02/2023 21:16
GhostFaen · 23/02/2023 20:47
Yes. Major ptsd for years, but I’d say I’ve got to a point of comfortably coping now. Hospital visits, for any reason, really set me off.
Talking therapy was the worst thing I could have tried and set me back a lot, but I know works for a lot of people. You will get through this. If you want to talk please pm me (if that’s a thing on mn).
adriftabroad · 23/02/2023 20:31
Do you have PTSD do you think?
I was in a coma for 5 weeks, 5 years ago and can genuinely say I have never been the same since.
I've heard talking therapy close to the traumatic event is sometimes not a good idea. What did help you recover? Or what do you wish you'd done instead?
catherinewales · 23/02/2023 21:22
I was in a coma when my baby was a week old. I had double pneumonia and heart failure. They are still not sure if it was peripartum cardiomyopathy. I am fully recovered and had another baby since. The only thing I remember from my coma was Amy winehouse had died. I thought I'd dreamt it but it had been on the radio none stop. I was away from my baby for 10 days and now he's nearly a teenager and we have the closest bond ever, we always have. Me being away from him never effected us at all.
GhostFaen · 23/02/2023 21:23
Lougle · 23/02/2023 20:56
I just want to say you're amazing. To survive a month long coma including ECMO is such a big thing. You must have worked really hard on your rehab to regain function.
Soooo…about the physical rehab. I got to the point of taking two (very aided) steps in the icu. I was then moved to the heart ward where suddenly I wasn’t in a single room.
I was on clicky morphine (that was glorious) at the time but asked to come off it because I didn’t want to use a bedpan and they took my catheter out.
My entire physical therapy was me walking to the loo because I was too proud to shit behind a curtain 🤦♀️🤣
GhostFaen · 23/02/2023 21:25
mysunandstars · 23/02/2023 21:01
My husband suffered a cardiac arrest last year and after 3 shocks from an AED with some CPR they managed to get him back. He spent some time in ICU in a coma. He remembers absolutely nothing the day of the arrest and a good week after he woke up.
Post ICU delirium is a real thing though, he absolutely wasn’t himself for a while after he woke and we weren’t sure if he’d suffered brain damage from his down time. However he was convinced he was at the beach and his nurse had been in the sea. Thankfully he fully recovered.
I would say at times he feels frustrated that he can’t remember anything and wishes he knew more, other than black nothingness for that time. I sometimes feel jealous he doesn’t remember how traumatic that time was for us all. His nurse told me the hearing is the last thing to go so to talk to him when he was in the coma - I played him videos of his daughter in his ear, convinced it anything would stir him it would be her. Guess we will never know if he heard her.
It’s absolutely worse for the loved ones. You went through far worse than we ever could, because you had a full brain and consciousness throughout. Sending you all my love
GhostFaen · 23/02/2023 21:29
pippinsleftleg · 23/02/2023 21:07
What happens physically when you come out of a coma? In films they always jump out of bed and fight off the baddies, but I suspect that isn’t entirely true…
Depending on how long you’ve been under…no fighting the badies. I couldn’t lift my head, hold a spoon, couldn’t swallow. The worst diarrhoea you could imagine. Everthing atrophies and the drugs ruin your poor insides. I do do the thing of “that would never happen” with coma tv/films 🫣
GhostFaen · 23/02/2023 21:31
User505351 · 23/02/2023 21:15
As an aside, NEVER put radio 4 on to coma patients. I think that’s where a lot of the weirdness started
I think that's probably really good advice! Although maybe Harry Potter is not the best alternative, there's lots of weird stuff in there too. You need to think up a list of calm, comforting and rational books to listen to in such circumstances 😀 I'm glad you made it op. Thanks for answering questions
Genuinely if I give one piece of advice I’d give this. Maybe we should make a coma playlist 🤣
GhostFaen · 23/02/2023 21:33
Eyelashesoffire · 23/02/2023 21:16
I've heard talking therapy close to the traumatic event is sometimes not a good idea. What did help you recover? Or what do you wish you'd done instead?
GhostFaen · 23/02/2023 20:47
Yes. Major ptsd for years, but I’d say I’ve got to a point of comfortably coping now. Hospital visits, for any reason, really set me off.
Talking therapy was the worst thing I could have tried and set me back a lot, but I know works for a lot of people. You will get through this. If you want to talk please pm me (if that’s a thing on mn).
adriftabroad · 23/02/2023 20:31
Do you have PTSD do you think?
I was in a coma for 5 weeks, 5 years ago and can genuinely say I have never been the same since.
Perhaps I was too close to it at the time. I think now I’m too far so it’d bring back things I don’t want or need. Do you know how long they suggest is most helpful? Timings must be so important.
Tourmalines · 23/02/2023 21:36
PurpleButterflyWings · 23/02/2023 13:45
This. ^ @GhostFaen You didn't 'die.' 🙄
Minteraye · 21/02/2023 16:59
Sorry know this isn’t the point of the thread but this is a bugbear of mine – you only die once, if you’re still here you didn’t die.
This
GhostFaen · 23/02/2023 21:39
catherinewales · 23/02/2023 21:22
I was in a coma when my baby was a week old. I had double pneumonia and heart failure. They are still not sure if it was peripartum cardiomyopathy. I am fully recovered and had another baby since. The only thing I remember from my coma was Amy winehouse had died. I thought I'd dreamt it but it had been on the radio none stop. I was away from my baby for 10 days and now he's nearly a teenager and we have the closest bond ever, we always have. Me being away from him never effected us at all.
I had cardiomyopathy afterwards. If it helps, when I had my last baby they said if it were peripartum I’d have likely died with her (helpful to know 😬). Which left septic cardiomyopathy, which is a much kinder kettle of fish. How’s your heart now, if you don’t mind me asking? I had to have an ablation but it’s back to mostly normal now. I have scarred lungs from the sepsis, but only notice it when I have chesty bugs.
Love bypasses everything and whether it’s instantaneous or takes time, so long as they’re well looked after they know they’re loved in the early days. The rest comes ❤️❤️
GhostFaen · 23/02/2023 21:40
Bunnyfuller · 23/02/2023 21:22
Really interesting, OP. Glad you came out the other side. I had a major heart attack in 2019; as symptoms are so atypical in women I might be inspired to do my own AMA!
Please do! That’d be incredibly interesting (and important as I believe heart attacks can be so different for women)
GhostFaen · 23/02/2023 21:41
Tourmalines · 23/02/2023 21:36
This
PurpleButterflyWings · 23/02/2023 13:45
This. ^ @GhostFaen You didn't 'die.' 🙄
Minteraye · 21/02/2023 16:59
Sorry know this isn’t the point of the thread but this is a bugbear of mine – you only die once, if you’re still here you didn’t die.
RTFT
xigris · 23/02/2023 21:51
Fantastic thread! I’m an ICU nurse and so much of this is really useful and helpful to know. So glad that you’ve made such a good recovery.
Regarding the pressure relieving mattresses that can make you “sea sick” <— please pedants note inverted comments: we don’t actually nurse our patients on boats as a rule…. I looked after a man years ago who woke up from all the drugs feeling marvellous. He was utterly convinced he’d been on a ten day cruise round the Med rather than ventilated with a nasty pneumonia. He was hilarious!
Also, @pippinsleftleg - believe me, some patients (usually the ones who’ve only been ventilated for a day or so) DO think they can leap out of bed and fight the baddies…..I’ve had the bruises to prove it 😬. Not their fault in anyway of course.
GhostFaen · 23/02/2023 21:57
xigris · 23/02/2023 21:51
Fantastic thread! I’m an ICU nurse and so much of this is really useful and helpful to know. So glad that you’ve made such a good recovery.
Regarding the pressure relieving mattresses that can make you “sea sick” <— please pedants note inverted comments: we don’t actually nurse our patients on boats as a rule…. I looked after a man years ago who woke up from all the drugs feeling marvellous. He was utterly convinced he’d been on a ten day cruise round the Med rather than ventilated with a nasty pneumonia. He was hilarious!
Also, @pippinsleftleg - believe me, some patients (usually the ones who’ve only been ventilated for a day or so) DO think they can leap out of bed and fight the baddies…..I’ve had the bruises to prove it 😬. Not their fault in anyway of course.
Haha, that must have been some cruise 🤣
Thank you (and all ICU nurses) for what you do. You are utterly amazing.
We went back to visit mine with presents and when I walked in (wheelchair ready to catch me) there were a few tears.
Honestly, you are the most incredible people I could ever hope to meet.
pippinsleftleg · 23/02/2023 22:06
xigris · 23/02/2023 21:51
Fantastic thread! I’m an ICU nurse and so much of this is really useful and helpful to know. So glad that you’ve made such a good recovery.
Regarding the pressure relieving mattresses that can make you “sea sick” <— please pedants note inverted comments: we don’t actually nurse our patients on boats as a rule…. I looked after a man years ago who woke up from all the drugs feeling marvellous. He was utterly convinced he’d been on a ten day cruise round the Med rather than ventilated with a nasty pneumonia. He was hilarious!
Also, @pippinsleftleg - believe me, some patients (usually the ones who’ve only been ventilated for a day or so) DO think they can leap out of bed and fight the baddies…..I’ve had the bruises to prove it 😬. Not their fault in anyway of course.
Must be terrifying to wake up from a coma and not know where you are or why you’re there.
verballyincompetent · 23/02/2023 22:53
Did you have any sense that you could "choose"? I was very very I'll in ICU and I had a feeling I could choose - and I felt perfectly at peace that I would die - but could choose to fight which would be harder. I was 18 at the time... chose to fight and here I am!
emptythelitterbox · 24/02/2023 05:18
GhostFaen · 23/02/2023 14:42
Gosh, only 8? How was he recovery wise, if you don’t mind me asking? I hope he’s happy and healthy now ❤️
emptythelitterbox · 23/02/2023 14:35
What a very interesting thread.
I recall after my late husband's cancer surgery him being in the ICU on heavy doses of morphine. He was definitely hallucinating.
He knew who I was and all but he insisted there was a cat in the room and the litter box needed emptied!
My son was in an induced coma for nearly a week after an auto accident. A month later I'd received the police report and the report was a death report. Needless to say I lost it reading it.
After they removed the breathing tube and brought him out of the coma he said he was thirsty, had a bad headache and sore throat and asked me why he was in the hospital.
He didn't really say much about it as he was just 8 years old and I was super focused on his recovery.
He's mid 30s now!
Thank you asking. He had a traumatic brain injury and had quite a bit of rehab and had to relearn things. Occupational, physical, and other therapies which he loved.
He had a weakness on one side of his body that looked similar to a stroke. I moved into his bedroom where we co-slept as I felt he needed reassurance and protection. I also resigned from my job to help him recover.
I remember we were outside and it started snowing and he asked me what it was. I told him and he said he thought it was feathers. It must have been frightening and confusing to an 8 year whose world used to make sense and waking up and it no longer made sense.
He still has slight effects today but in our opinion, he had an amazing recovery.
Lougle · 24/02/2023 06:13
I remember my very first shift as an ICU nurse. A patient called me over very sincerely and told me that his nurse was trying to murder him. I had no idea about delirium, so quietly took my education lead to one side and asked her advice, when she told me about it.
I think the biggest thing for us to remember is that the experiences are absolutely real for the patient. No amount of explanation and reasoning will take that 'lived experience' away. It's just time. We used things like memory boards with our longer term patients - photos of loved ones, etc. We made sure there was a digital clock with the day of the week in sight at all times.
WarmestRegards · 24/02/2023 06:21
I send my love and admiration to any of you who have been through this. 
Fascinating thread OP. I hope it’s not offensive to say that I’ve found it uplifting to read. The experience sounds traumatic and heartbreaking, but what really comes across is your resilience and the strength of the human spirit.
The battles you endured, not only physically but through the trials in your dreams sound completely overwhelming.
For what it’s worth, from one mum to another, you passed all the tests. X
My question is, have you changed your opinion on death/the afterlife/religion, particularly after what you were put through by a ‘god’?
Sophoclesthefox · 24/02/2023 07:43
Fascinating thread, OP, thank you.
Am a bit embarrassed for the posters who appear to need you to know that your chosen terminology for your experience is not “correct”, (seriously, way to utterly miss the point you total numpties) but hats off to you for telling them to GTF. Wholeheartedly agree.
I’m unfortunately having a crash course in the workings of an ICU this week and this has been really timely and helpful. I have made a note to steer well clear of Radio 4, my loved one has a vivid enough imagination without providing further ammo…
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