Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) - Let's talk

@qsam61404 First, thank you for your service.
I can only imagine how difficult it must be to have recurring nightmares. I was having occasional nightmares before my transplant. They would wake me up and my heart would be pounding. I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep for hours. They were so real too. One night I was sure someone was pounding on our front door but my husband never heard a thing. It scared the life out of me.

Thank God that this past week you have been feeling better. Hopefully you are beyond that hurdle and things will just continue to get better and better.
JK

I found myself in ICU following a laparoscopic Hystorectomy back in January 2010. What I thought would be a brief stay at the hospital, ended up being almost three months hospitalized. After being taken to ICU,I was intubated, two days following surgery, my health was declining quickly. Kidney failure, sepsis, Pulmonary embolism, are amongst some of the complications. I was taken into surgery again, nine days after the initial surgery. I have struggled with sleep issues every since. I also have had pretty significant memory loss.

@crhiggins, sleep and memory loss are very common amongst patients who have been critically ill. What you are experiencing seems to encompass more of the "cognitive" effects of post-intensive care syndrome or PICS. Memory loss and problems with thinking following critical illness can greatly affect a person's quality of life. Occupational therapists (OT) are very skilled at helping people work to regain cognitive function that might have been damaged from certain events - like critical illness. Working with an OT might be something worth mentioning to your primary care provider. More information on this and other topics related to PICS can be found at our Page: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/page/pics/#/!tab=newsfeed
In addition to this forum, we also hold an in person support group here in Rochester, MN if you are local. You might find it helpful to meet others who struggle with issues related to critical illness. More on that can be found here: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/page/pics/#/!tab=resources-50
Thanks for sharing your story with us!

@qsam61404, Welcome to Mayo Connect. Thank you for joining this discussion and sharing. I know that there are others who will benefit from reading this. It helps when we learn that we are not alone in dealing with these memories.
I hope that you continue to improve in health and in relief from the flashbacks and nightmares.
Rosemary

I did not have PT or OT following my transplant. I don't even remember having it in the hospital. Either my caregiver or the nurses were always available to assist me in walking, which was the only approved "exercise" for quite some time. Once freed to exercise I restarted my at-home program as much as possible.

@2011panc I guess that was pretty much all they did with me too, along with making me go up and down the stairs. I have a two floor house so perhaps they do that only then. She was really good though and the following physical therapists I had, first at home and then at a physical therapy center were both absolutely wonderful.
JK

@janicepike I had something coming out of my neck. To me was like an IV but they called it something different. My sister and her husband came to visit me and I found out afterwards that she was stunned at it and asked her husband if he thought I know I had something coming out of my neck! I guess by then I had just gotten used to it so thought nothing more about it.
JK

For the life of me,now I can't remember the proper name . It's not a picline,but .....

@janicepike
I just googled it with your term, and you are right, just the spelling is incorrect. It is a "Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter", PICC line.
Thanks. 🙂
JK

@crhiggins have you found anything in particular that has helped with either your sleep or memory difficulties?