How long to recover from ICU?

[Feelingnotok]

I have just come home (yesterday) from a 2 week hospital stay for virus and sepsis which saw me in take vasospressor drugs, endless antibiotics and then more for sepsis.

I begged to leave yesterday as I missed my DC so badly. I couldn’t sleep all night with flashbacks of ICU. I can barely walk up and down the stairs as I am so stiff and weak.

when will I feel normal again and how much should I push myself? DH is taking care of all of us so I can do as more or as little as I need.

YABU- push yourself to get going
YANBU- your body has gone through so much, don’t lift a finger for weeks

I contracted bacterial meningitis and septicemia many years ago (as an adult) and was in ICU in an induced coma for 10 days, high dependency for 4 days and a ward for another week. I'd been given a 30% chance of survival. My biggest piece of advice is: listen to your body. If you need to sleep, then sleep. Yes, you need to get up and move around but small baby steps. If you try and push too much at this stage, you will take 2 steps forward and 5 back. It's a long road to recover. Take each day at a time. You may have Post ICU Stress (yes it is a thing!), very similar to PTSD. I recommend having some counselling with perhaps a Sepsis charity or via your own Employee Assistant Program (if you work and have one). I didn't, and I should have done. You may find you're emotional, angry, worried it may happen again - these are all absolutely normal and to be expected. There's no 'set' amount of time to recovery, it's very much an individual thing. It took me 3 months before I could go back to work but a full year before I felt 'normal'. I have been left with a lot of side effects too.

It took DH a Good few months when he had pneumonia and sepsis. He did as much as he could after a couple of weeks at home, but did rest a lot, the sepsis trust says it depends on each person, from a few weeks to a few months.
DH had other health issues though and the pneumonia made his existing lung issues worse.
I hope you soon feel better and, after a few days at home, are able to sleep a bit better. The nightmares from the drugs and ITU were awful for DH but did ease relatively quickly. O sorry you’ve been through all that

You need to rest as much as your body wants to.

Some days you might want a walk out for a coffee. Others you might need to nap on the sofa.

Maybe read or listen to “Wintering” the book. It’s very apt for your recovery.

My son was in ICU two years ago for nearly a month itctook him a few months to be back up to full strength, he also started losing hair and having very dry skin but we were told that was normal due to the trauma of being so unwell
.

Rest! I’m 2 weeks post op and still don’t feel right

don’t be surprised if you have hair loss in around 3 months as well, it’s temporary and because your body has been focusing on important stuff

I’m so glad you’re home. My boss took 6 months after sepsis to be totally back to herself but she was super fit and well beforehand. I’d think it would be longer if not. Think she was off work for 3 months then a shorter day for another 3