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@heartbreaker

It's been a year and 4 months since I was in ICU, and I still avoid any and all invasive procedures, including imaging. I just explain to doctors that I have developed an aversion to hospitals, providers, and procedures. Some times I feel so sorry for what my body went through that I weep. Amazingly, the hospital where I had the open heart surgery apparently has never heard of psychiatric reactions to medical trauma, and could not provide me with any support whatsoever -- calls to psychologists were never returned, follow up with discharge planner was minimal, until I finally called the suicide hotline 2 months after the surgery. If you can do anything about getting providers to include PTSD from medical trauma or post- ICU depression in their care plans, do it. You can send them this posting. It took a concerted effort for providers to do something about post-partum depression, and now we must do the same for post-ICU depression.

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Replies to "It's been a year and 4 months since I was in ICU, and I still avoid..."

Hello @heartbreaker,

I am sorry to hear that you have not been able to find help for the trauma you experienced. Some areas of medicine are certainly slow in catching up with the needs of individuals like yourself.

If you are still looking for a counselor/psychologist to assist you I would recommend that you contact NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness. Here is a link to their website, https://www.nami.org/

On their home page, there are crisis phone numbers listed as well as information regarding support groups. There may be others like you that you can connect with.

Will you post again and provide an update on how you are doing?