Any other members out there that have been put under for 1+ full days? I was in ICU and put completely under for four days from August 3rd-6th. Kind of a crazy situation that went south. I came home from the hospital on Aug 9th. Problem is I still have this dizziness/disorientation that doesn't seem to be getting any better. It's not terrible but bad enough to disrupt normal life and its getting really old. Trying to figure out if it's a normal side effect that might clear with time or a separate issue. My memory seems ok. Any other personal experiences would be much appreciated. Thanks!

I have no experience here, but sorry to hear you were in the hospital. Hopefully you get it resolved.

A medically induced coma? Or anesthetized for several days?

I�m not a doctor, so maybe there isn�t a distinction, but I thought they were done with different drugs.

Hope you feel better. Sounds like a nightmare.

�If you do this for an extended period of time, the drugs can accumulate and it may take them a while to wash out of the system as well. As long as you're mindful of these things you can see someone through a period like this.�

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-a-medically-induced-coma/


Edit:

�It's hard to sort out, because if you're going to these extremes you're already dealing with a very dire situation. If there are effects later on, it's an extremely difficult distinction to make whether it is an effect of the drug-induced coma. People who do this are very mindful of watching and monitoring. They make every effort to only use this option for as long as they need to.�

I was under for 72 hours, I experienced some of those side effects for a few days, then back to normal, sorry about whatever happened and hope you get back to normal soon

Dang.
Longest I've been under was 8 hours.
In your position I would be calling my Doctor tomorrow.

Have you talked to your dr about this?

No doctor here either but have worked in icu's for 28 years. Yep, there is a difference between sedated and anesthetized . Please do call your doc but they will most likely tell you to give it a few days and I have been a little foggy for a few days after anesthesia post surgical. Just guessing you were most likely on something like diprivan (propofol) and or versed. CALL THE DOC... Don't really take any advise from here. EXCEPT FOR CALLING THE DOC

I was in an induced coma for 4 days as a result of an open skull fracture received in a car wreck. Had no issues afterward other than inner ear problems related to the accident that caused occasional dizziness.

I am absolutely in the �call the Dr� camp, the dr knows the situation and meds you were given-
That being said, was any of your meds adjusted/changed that could be causing this?

Yes, there is a distinction. Terminology and technique. What the OP is describing is sedation. At our hospital we sedate intubated (mechanically ventilated) patients to diminish the gagging/discomfort from a 3/8"-1/2" tube being in the mouth traversing the throat and terminating in the bronchus. There should be a level of more awareness when under this sedation. Our hospital requires (per protocol) the stopping of the sedation every 8 hours and letting the patient wake up. 99% of the time we use propofol which has a short half life and most of its effects are gone in 15 minutes. The medical term is moderate to heavy sedation.

Anesthesia is a combination of meds (of which propofol is one), including gas, to anesthetize a patient. This process is used for surgeries. Anesthesia is a deeper sedation state than even heavy sedation ... which I would appreciate if someone is cutting on me.

People react differently to medication(s). Some drugs build up levels which your body doesn't use and then the med is stored in the fat cells and are "time released" even when no longer getting the med. You (OP) should notify your doctor of these effects. These symptoms could be related to other things than lingering effects of sedation but could be related to your original malady or procedures your body underwent.

Ray Bob,

Have read a bunch of your medical explanationS over the years here, that said,

THANK YOU

Never been under . Been up for longer than a week tho saw shadow ninjas and stuff it wears off eventually lol....

On a serious note any amounts of drugs/chemicals that have been pumped into your system take a significant amount of time to �leave� the body. Maybe you should start to detox to try to speed this proccess up so you won�t have deal with this �haze� . Sounds horrible and frustrating . Good luck and prayers up

Thanks for all the thoughts and info.

I was placed on a ventilator and I know propofol and midazolam were used. Basically, I went in for a deviated septum surgery, sinus clean out, and tubernate reduction. A week later I returned and the surgeon removed the stints. That afternoon it started bleeding and I couldn't get it to stop. We met up two times and he couldn't get it to stop. The next morning he decided he needed to go back in for surgery to get it stopped. Up to that point, I had felt fine with none of my current symptoms. He cauterized some stuff and said that he had to pack so much in and the location was so that I wouldn't have been able to leave it alone if awake and would likely cause it to start bleeding again so they kept me under to allow it to heal for a couple days before removing most of the packing and bringing me back up. I know they said it took a lot of medication to keep me down and it took a while for me to come back around once they stopped administering it. Obviously, anything ENT can cause symptoms similar to mine so maybe that's the root of the problem. I do have a follow-up appointment with the ENT this week but I know from his comments that he had never dealt with a situation this severe so his anesthesia knowledge is probably somewhat limited.

I guess I need try to get an appointment with the critical care doctor that took care of me. While I was physically recovering and still feeling down I accepted the perpetual dizziness/disorientation as part of the recovery. Now, I'm feeling much better physically but the dizziness is pretty concerning. The thought of something as simple as taking my kids fishing in the coming weeks is bad enough that we are continuing to cancel plans for weeks out for pretty much everything. My job requires me to drive and that's not an option for now. Just hope to not be battling this long term and looking for any info I can find. The stress of possibly struggling to take care of my family is really starting to wear on me.

sorry that happened