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Post ICU Nightmares / Hallucinations
Intensive Care (ICU) | Last Active: Jun 16 1:51am | Replies (36)Comment receiving replies
Hi I joined this group to help others and yes get addidtional support. I was intubated and tracheotomy.I was in I.C.U. and step downs for 6 weeks. I left to a nursing home to continue my recovery. I was in a wheelchair after returning home. I was severly weak and confused.I was also grateful to be alive. I was also running from my own fears and thoughts. I have P.T.S.D. that I manage at home.I have agoraphobia. I have nightmares. I also have extensivly read and spoken to therapists. I can walk now with a cane.I have cognitive issues. I have some residual effects. I now try my best to write, i make alot of mistakes . Im going to read each persons post and reply if I can. Thank you for reading.
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@trauma57, thank you for adding your experience to this thread. I was intubated/trached and in a coma for 7 weeks this summer due to Covid. I did not know I was being intubated, and had no chance to prepare or ask questions. The dreams I had while unconscious are still so vivid, 5 months later. I still can't tell if some of them were dreams or reality, but some of them were clearly rooted in what was happening around me. (For instance, I thought that a team of nurse's aides were following me around town, popping up to say "Mrs Smith, do you know where you are?") The most common denominator was that I was paralyzed in the dreams; I was propped against things or laying down while things happened around me. I wonder if you were unable to move in your dreams?
I try to think of the positive: we had an experience that most people will never know. (Not one we would have chosen, of course, but still unique!) I am no longer afraid of dying as I knew I was dying in my dreams, and was at peace. I also have such a heart for the other Covid-19 sufferers going through their own ICU experience. I hope to be a volunteer resource for families at my local hospital, once we're able to do that again. I hope you are doing well!