← Return to What is it like to die with an aortic Aneurysm?

Discussion

What is it like to die with an aortic Aneurysm?

Aortic Aneurysms | Last Active: Nov 6 10:18am | Replies (25)

Comment receiving replies
@moonboy

I'm so sorry you experienced this. It is SO HELPFUL for you to share this experience though, since a lot of folks out here on the listserv underestimate just how horrible it is. I hallucinated too after they spiraled me up from the coma. I remember everything in the coma but it was complete nightmare. I would doze off and they wake up to a solid blazing white light followed by spinning psychedelic patterns and all I could hear was screaming, screeching tires, terrible traumatizing sounds. I wanted to die so badly but I did not know where I was and assume I was in H*ll or worse. So, it is really helpful to hear about your experience. Back in 2012-2015 time frame when we both had our dissections, there was a massive amount of opioids used for sedation. When I left UCSD I left the hospital NOT KNOWING I was addicted to opiods and had never ever taken one before. I don't drink or take any drugs of any kind, so I spent more than two months going through withdrawals and thinking it was the effects of two open heart surgeries. I think there should be a federal law that requires hospitals who give people opiods of any kind to give a complete written disclosure of what opioids were administered and the precise amounts. I stopped taking everything cold turkey when I left the hospital. It wasn't until a year later when I read every page of my 1,300 medical records that I realized I had been given a massive amount of different opioids when I was in surgery and in the 3-week coma. It would have been invaluable to my wife and kids to know why Dad was in bed all day, puking, not eating, and hallucinating because he had been unwittingly addicted to opiods. I went through almost 2.5 months of withdrawal without even know I had been given opioids. When I was discharged they gave me 240 Oxycodone which I promptly refused since I do not take drugs and assumed I could take Tylenol if the pain was too intense. Boy was I wrong. I hallucinated, had the shakes, had the sh*ts, puked constantly, couldn;t eat since everything tasted like metal, lost 60 lbs, was depressed, was in a complete opioid fog. So, I learned just how bad addicts have it when they detox cold turkey. Now, I understand that they saved my life, but they failed to tell me that I was going home to an opiod addiction with my little kids 3, 6, and 9 years old at home. Think Trainspotting (the movie). Here a list of exactly what they gave me when I was unconscious and never once disclosed to me after I was discharged and sent home in a wheelchair. I read all of my records a year after the surgery and found out:

Dilaudid
Haldol
Fentanyl
Remifentanil
Midazolam
Morphine
Naloxone (14 doses)
Narcotic Cocktail Drip (Google this)
Oxycodone
Roxicodone
Seroquel
Trazodone

Don't ignore your doctors if they tell you you need surgery! Peace. Here's the rest of the drugs they gave me (just in case you have read this far)

Acetaminophen
Albumin
Albumin Bolus

Albumin Human
Aminocaproic Acid
Amlodipine
Antacid
Anticholinergic
Aspirin
Atorvastatin
Aztreonam
Calcium Gluconate
Cardene
Carvedilol
Cryoplegia
Dexmedetomidine
Dextrose
Dextrose-Sodium Chloride
Docusate Sodium
Dopamine
Electrolytes
Epinephrine
Esmolol
Famotidine
Furosemide
Glucagon
Glucagon Injectable
Glucose
Glucose Chewable
Glucose Oral Gel
H2 Blocker
Heparin
Hydralazine
Insulin
Insulin Glargine
Insulin Lispro
Labetalol
Lactated Ringers
Lidocaine
Lidocaine Viscous
Magnesium Sulfate
Metoprolol Tartrate
Neosynephrine
Micardis
Nitroglycerin
Nitroglycerin Paste
Nitroprusside
Norepinephrine
Ondansetron
Oxygen
Phenylephrine
Phosphorus
Potassium Chloride
Propofol
Packed Red Blood Cells
Reglan
Rocuronium
Saline
Senna
Simvastatin
Sodium Chloride
Vancomycin
Vasopressin

Jump to this post


Replies to "I'm so sorry you experienced this. It is SO HELPFUL for you to share this experience..."

@moonboy do you have diabetes? Which type if so...

I am so sorry about the narcotics! They just dump them in when you're inpatient. 240 pills is unbelievable.
I was lucky when I went through narcotics withdrawal I had Ativan to help w symptoms.

It's horrible withdrawing.
I'm glad you made it through.

God bless

I'm learning so much from you and your experience. I believe all of us in this group are and I thank your for your openness about a very difficult subject. All those drugs! And not to know about what you were given! All I can think is, they didn't expect you to make it and wanted to keep you comfortable. But you survived! What a terrible ordeal for you and for your family. I've heard about the likelihood of hallucinations after open-heart surgery and thought, like you, they were due to the surgery itself. Now it seems it's the drugs that cause so much trouble, but how can pain be managed without them? It's a Catch 22.