This means thousands of people have died thinking they were being tortured or in hell. That’s bleak.

"You need to RELAX and BREATHE or you're going to DIE." Oh ok, well I certainly can relax now, thanks.

My grandpa died while on a ventilator...I can't even imagine.

oh god, I’m autistic and the world is already so overstimulating to me this sounds like a horrendous nightmare

And if you think that the American physical healthcare system is severely unprepared for dealing with this, just wait until you see how painfully unprepared the mental healthcare system is in this country.

My mother thought she had been abducted into a spaceship, because everything was so white, the room was so white. ... My brother thought the nurse had tried to kill him because she'd had to put medicine in his mouth while he was tied down. A few days later when he was recovering he said to the nurse "you know it would work better if first you say 'I'm giving you medicine now' instead of just pinning someone's head down and putting unknown stuff in their mouth"-- he had a point

This is a tough watch. Stay safe and healthy everyone.

I had delirium twice when coming out of a medically induced coma. From the severe torture of the pain from my nerves growing back to the the very real torture of the delirium hallucinations. I am so scarred from the experience and have ptsd from it. I am no longer the same person due to the trauma. This is very real and is pure torture. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. I hope the people who went through this find a way through the darkness.

Another reason it’s so important for healthcare workers to explain procedures to patients, even if you think the patient can’t hear you.

I watched my brother die in an ICU in March of this year. I watched the nurses trying to talk to him as he struggled until they had to restrain him to keep him from pulling the tube out. I kept asking if he knows what's happening to him or have any awareness at all, and they told me nothing he would remember. I was so crushed at the feeling that he was trapped inside and suffering, and there was nothing I could do to help him or save him. They assured me that he would remember nothing, and not feel anything. This video has confirmed every nightmare I've had since that day. I wish I had never seen this video, but I will still give it a like, because people need to see it. EDIT to help answer questions below: He suffered a stroke in the last week of Feb. He passed the first week of March. My state was not under lock down yet, and had no reported cases so we were allowed in the ICU two at a time. He had a brain aneurysm while on the tube and was declared brain dead.

Healthcare needs to be reformed in the United States of America. If COVID-19 patients were nearly killed by their illness induced delirium, then imaging the living hell people living with mental illness go through. These COVID patients went through only weeks of delirium. Some people deal with DECADES of delirium.

I was in a coma for 12 days in 2010 and I've never been the same since and no one will listen to me but it sounds like I've experienced this. I have nevee slept a full night unless I've been sedated since because of the PTSD. I feel for these people massively amd just want to put my arms around them. So sad 😭

What's even scarier is knowing that people are experiencing this right now.

This is what should be on the news so that people won’t show up with their guns wanting a haircut!! I can’t believe they’re saying that it’s a conspiracy ! Ignorance is what truly killing us all!

I can’t believe that people are going through this right now. This is really scary. I sent my prayers for everyone❤️

Sounds like a bad acid trip. Can’t imagine being in one of those for days or even weeks.

This is possibly the worst thing I’ve ever heard.

I'm sure it's also why nurses showing signs of trauma - trying to help people in hell every day on those never ending shifts - I can't imagine

my mom is a nurse and she’s taking care of multiple Covid patients this second, and she told me that most of them when they get of the vent they have horrible hallucinations and some can’t even speak. it’s really sad because even though they survived, they’re not who they were before they got the illness.

I'm a retired RN and I'd be terrified to be put on a ventilator. They need to use paralyzing drugs so you don't kick, or fight the ventilator, but your mind keeps going. As these folks describe, it's a living hell. It pains me to know they went through that.

As an RN in the CVICU, no competent nurse would EVER say "You're going to die" to a scared, ventilated patient. Especially since it's simply not true. There are so many things you can do to ensure adequate ventilation without putting it all on the patient's shoulders. Whether that's pain control, paralysis and sedation, or worse case scenario ECMO. So sorry for the man who experienced this. As for ICU delirium, it is hugely prevalent in ICUs (not just COVID patients), but the majority of people don't experience such frightening hallucinations. Agitation and profound confusion yes, but gore and horror are not the usual. It's still frightening, but this video seems to take worse case scenarios, as if trying to instill public fear. Awareness is great, but fear mongering isn't necessary. Edit: Just to clarify, every ICU nurse and doctor will agree that ICU delirium is a major issue that needs support during and after the patient's ICU stay, including me. My issue with this video, as my original comment stated, is that ICU delirium does not only mean you experience terrible, frightening hallucinations, like the people in this video described. It certainly CAN mean that, but it MUCH more often presents as confusion, anxiety, and difficulty sleeping. People with "mild" cases of delirium, who are the majority, need support too, so I don't want this video to discourage people from speaking up to their nurses and doctors about their thoughts because they think they're not "delirious enough." Also, family at the bedside often helps mitigate delirium, so the COVID pandemic definitely exacerbates cases of ICU delirium - not just for COVID patients though: my hospital's policy right now is that NO patient is allowed visitors, with exceptions of 1 visitor allowed for pediatric patients and end-of-life scenarios. EVERYONE feels lonely at this time. The general message of the videos is good - patients who experience ICU delirium need continued support in and out of the hospital, especially now when cases may be more prevalent. But I don't want people to fear hospitals and ICUs just because they think it's the norm to go through living hell, as this video describes. Hopefully that clear up some confusion on my thoughts. Thanks for listening!

this video really helps shed the idea of covid patients being a statistic. they are REAL PEOPLE, and this could happen to any one.

I was in the ICU on life support (ventilator/ECMO) for 3 weeks due to Covid and I can assure you this is all so real. I will never be the same person I was before getting sick. I had dreams that I was so convinced were real it took me days to realize they weren't. When I woke up I thought I was in another country being studied in a research hospital. After therapy you return home and go back to work and everyone is the same, but you are not and no one really understands. From the time I woke up everyone has been telling me I should just be lucky to be alive. Survivors are grateful, but many of us have this dark place looming in the corner of our mind that I can only pray time will heal. God bless the healthcare workers who are keeping people alive and the physical therapists who are teaching people to get their mobility back after weeks of laying in bed.

Back in Feb I was sick and alone. I thought after only 5 days in my OWN bed that I was losing my mind. I can't IMAGINE what this may be like! No one even talks about this aspect of covid

The most heartbreaking thing about this disease is people are dying and their families can't be there to comfort and advocate for them.

I treated a patient who had been in a coma for 10 years at a hospital. We bathed him and changed his gown everyday. I always talked to him nicely. I know that people in a coma can hear but can't respond.

My mom is in the icu right now recovering from COVID and she is experiencing this. She says the nurses call her names and are trying to kill her. This is so scary and very real.

In 1981 I was comatose for four weeks following a car crash, and had hallucinations and delusions during and following the coma. I'm glad that people are beginning to study this phenomenon; it's nothing new.

This is an evil disease. First struggle to survive. Then struggle to live. I feel like whole world will be traumatized for a long time.

This is such an important story that no one else is telling. Thank you.

So basically you’re stuck in a fever dream for days/weeks!? Holy crap.

My beautiful sister had the nurse pray over me daily. I was dieing from covid. In a coma had sepsis pneumonia covid and two blood clots. I remember absolutely nothing. I was home 3 days after my lengthy hospital stay my sister died. I still have no recollection of what happened. I thank God for the blessing of my sister. I wish she was still here. I wish I could be with her. I feel lost.

MENTAL HEALTH IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS PHYSICAL.

I can't even. The horror of being *convinced* they are putting you in an oven.

We need a support group for ICU survivors. Every hospital should start this.

When my grandfather was in his hospice bed sedated the nurse told me "don't worry about it he can't hear anything" . I would tell him in his ear not to worry because the only reason why he is not able to move or talk is because he is sedated. I told him the reason why he was sadated. I would also tell him the date and time. I made sure to tell him my name who I am to him and that I am there every step of the way with him. I will make sure I nothing wrong happens. Even if I was going to the bathroom I would tell him. I bought him earphones to put him music so like that he won't hear the nurses or the machines surrounded by him. I remember when I told him I'm going to put you music very low so it can relax you. On my birthday I told him it's my birthday can you hear me and I saw his eye brows move. I told him "okay I see you moving your eyebrows! I no you hear me! I love you every thing is going to be okay". 5:55 am that same morning he passed away. I was sad but I know that I did all I could do to make sure he was at peace while being sedated

This will be such a trauma, both on covid survivors and the healthcare workers who witnessed so much death.

ICU psychosis SUCKS. Two weeks in a coma, on a vent, confused and restrained. Truly horrific. It was 5 weeks before I new how demented I was.

When my mom was very sick a year ago and had to be intubated she developed ICU delirium after she was extubated. She was very paranoid thinking all the nurses were trying to kill her by giving her poison instead of her medicines. She was also seeing antennas on top of our heads including hers and was convinced the antennas were put there by the hospital staff to hear our thoughts and conversations. She didnt want any nurses touching her or getting near her and started hitting them when they did so they had to tie her hands to the bed it was very sad to see her like that.

Seeing this reminded me when I was on an induced coma ( not Covid) It was a living nightmare, I faintly remember praying and meditating all the time cause of how scared I was, telling myself it wasn’t real, what I felt there and then I will never forget. Ever since that day I try to keep in mind I should meditate and pray (although I’m not religious). So I can prepare myself for that moment when I truly die cause I know someday I will and I don’t want to die having those horrible feelings, u guys have no idea how scary that could be.

Wow!! It just keeps getting worse and worse. There will be so many post-pandemic pandemics. Including the denial of survivors' suffering. Thanks for allowing patients and providers to share their truth before politics tries to bury it.

Alright I’m cutting ties with people completely. I ain’t catching no COVID-19.

The struggle for a grown up can u imagine a kid going thru this??? You all please be safe and your loved ones too.

The 'slow like falling' feeling is your heart rate slowing down and the feeling when you 'hit the ground' is your body waking you up so you will not die.

My state has opened up last Monday. Some businesses are taking people's temperatures as a safety precaution before they can come in. Why are people ignoring the fact that asymptomatic people are spreading covid19?

Now I understand what my mother went through years ago after her heart attack and time in ICU. I feel so guilty. At the time, this was the 1990s, she obsessed over some "nightmares" she had, terrible events that took a couple of years for her to stop re-living. She climbed over her bed rails, pulled out tubes, and so on. Over and over again she told me her nightmares. She had always been a panicky person, so I gave her somewhat impatient reassurances that the events weren't real. She is gone, now, after 93 years of a good life. I wish I could hug her and apologize.

Hard to watch since my dad is currently in the hospital with this. He didn’t go on a ventilator and today makes a week he’s been there he’s starting to sound so much better. I’m so grateful!!

Back in 1976 my Dad had had a massive stroke and was in icu for over a week. He survived it, but was never the same mentally. My mother would sit by his bedside and he would tell her to put her feet on the bed, that there are penquins all around and when they bite you it hurts. (That happened after getting out of icu) And now cv. My heart goes out to everyone who has went thru this.

Can't even imagine what it's like to be in that state for a month, alone and afraid..

This is utterly horrifying and so sad.

I just lost my husband to COVID on the 25th. He was in ICU, sedated heavily and intubated. This breaks my heart to think he went through this. I will miss him with every breath, but I am actually grateful he is no longer suffering.

I can only imagine what my poor baby was going through😭😭 ....we've already gone through this before with "human metapneumovirus" now I've gotta worry about him contracting "coronavirus"??!!! I dunno how much longer I can protect him... Dear Lord, pls help me😢

A friend of mine’s father was in a medically induced coma after a car accident a few years back & this is exactly how he described it. I was there when he woke up & he instantly jumped into fight or flight mode. He ripped his tube out & tried to bolt out the door because he thought he was being tortured. Pretty sad stuff.

This made me re-think my stance on people in a coma

It breaks my heart to know my sister in the hospital right now fighting for her life on the vent 💔💔💔,please God be with everyone fighting COVID 🙏🏽🙏🏽

I was in ICU for 13 days on Ventilator , I can Confirm this video is 100% accurate. Its crazy how accurate it is honestly. I thought no one else would really know wtf I went through because its so hard to explain to people who havent been through it.

My mom has Covid right now and she’s definitely experiencing this. It’s scary. She thought my dog was talking to her. Our family is sick as fuck right now.

Why is this the first time hearing about this??? Oh my God, these poor people!

The description of falling is actually a feeling of paralysis

My ex-husband had an episode of ICU delirium after a motorcycle accident. Hospital staff told me what it was, but offered little other information or support. I went home thinking he could stay in this state indefinitely. People are right: there needs to be psychological support for both patients and those close to them.

As someone with agoraphobic ptsd and severe anxiety this is the scariest possible scenario. I started crying halfway through the video.

So much respect to all those people I just got a new perspective of the entire pandemic

I ended up with covid the 1st of Dec 2020. I stayed at home even though i had fevers at 104.5 degrees and oxygen levels down to 84%. The delirium I experienced was unimaginable. Every bone in my body felt as though it was being broken over and over, then every muscle was being cut and when I thought the pain could not get worse, I felt all my nerves being electrocuted and the migraines were just awful. The brain fog I am still in rectory with, the bone and joint pain, awful migraines continue and the extreme fatigue and muscle weakness continues. I pray this ends at some point in time. I am so thankful I fought to try to sit in a bath tub in Epsom salts, doing Tri pod exercises and sleeping on my stomach. It was a fight to not give up. Some days its one step forward and the next 5 days are walking backward. If this is what hell is like, I can only pray I don’t go there. Never ending nightmare.

My poor mother, breaking my heart.

I've had a Near Death Experience before. The day afterwards, you see everyone going through their day like normal. You feel like you had a chance to see what life would be like after you died, except you survived. It's an out-of-body experience. Anyway, wear a mask.

My mom survived another illness with a respiratory issue. She was in the hospital under induced coma for months, the nurses noted she hadn't slept for days. I watched her very closely, terrorized myself -and found the best things for her was calming music via headphones and putting on a sleep mask at night. I know these families have no access to their loved ones which is terrible. We can't expect people on heavy drugs, brain racing, to do well under constant noise and lights, never sleeping. She is ok now but tells stories of her coma dreams.

Sometimes when a person undergoes surgery , they get affected by the aenesthesia in a most horrible way.my mum had a double bypass surgery and came out of it a different person.Initally we were told the paranoia would pass,it was an ICU phenomena that lasted a few days but in her case , it has changed her forever.She is fearful , worried and very dependent and gloomy.Mood swings , memory loss, confusion...She now has her good days and bad days but it was a scary time.

This is so accurate, I was in a coma in 2007 from a severe asthma induced ARDS, and I had crazy hallucinations, that still haunt me 13 years later

My dad had delirium after his liver transplant. He didn’t sleep and he thought the building was going to collapse and he was going to end up in the morgue. Crazy what goes on in people’s heads during trauma.

My husband went through this after 5 weeks in a medical coma.

I was intubated. They tied down my arms to stop me from moving. And I thought the doctor's were torturing me and trying to kill me. Eventually from all my arms flailing around they realized I had woken up from sedation halfway. It was extremely traumatic. I couldn't sleep for days thinking sometime might intubate me again. Even now In scared to sleep. I can only sleep 3-4 hrs and must wake up to see if I'm safe.

The scariest part is people still think this is just another case of the flu.

My father passed away four years ago after a stroke and a bout of pneumonia that had him intubated for 12 days. I remember the nurses telling us he had to be pinned down so he wouldn't pull the tubes out in the moments he was conscious. It kills me to know he suffered so much and had no one he knew there to comfort him when he needed it.

Why is the scariest part of this virus the part that absolutely no one speaks about??

My mother had delirium after her first time in the hospital. After that, every time that she had to be admitted she fell into delirium within hours. You don’t have to be intubated to get this..and she had major PTSD after as well. But she’s in Heaven now. No more hospitals✨💫 💫

I had severe delirium , it was the worst time of my life. So happy to be alive.

Wow this is so scary. I can’t imagine how terrifying it must be for them

This virus has an even more bigger impact in the years to come than I thought.

I’ve seen my mom go through delirium before her death and oh my God I wouldn’t wish that on anybody

Wow. Really disturbing, and on top of the delirium they're fighting for their lives against COVID-19, and isolated from friends and family! Thanks for the information!

I got corona when the pandemic started. I was sure I was going to die and I was crying because I was scared, but also a bit peaceful. Like acceptance. It's fucked up and I'm much more scared of having it again. I was laying in my bed afraid of sleeping as I could not wake up anymore. Three days of bad sleep, and on the fourth, I was recovering! Absolute madness and out of our control, never had experienced anything like that before.

This is why I stay home! I already have depression and anxiety with other health stuff and if I were to have this happen it could be catastrophic. It is catastrophic for anyone who goes through it of course but what will it be like for people who already have issues going in?! This is just horrible and terrifying. I hope we can get through this soon so no one else has to suffer, we have all suffered enough. Stay safe everyone and Bless You all!

Thank you for sharing these stories...It’s just heartbreaking.

This video has hit home for this is exactly what I am experiencing I'm still in rehabilitation 2 months later having problems walking talking and most of all breathing. Leaning to breath again always short of breath. I've been independent all my life and have to depend on other I'm 60 and I can walk 50 metres with a walker before I have to stop before I drop. The nightmare the shacks and can't feel or move my feet..it's so hard on my body and mind.

I lived through a war. This reminds me of the stories they told about soldiers injured in battle, right down to the cheering and the clapping and then the horrible PTSD that follows them for the rest of their lives.

This video is so important. People NEED TO KNOW. This is horrible!

My dad has been in icu for 6 weeks now from a abscess tooth . I have been wondering what he may be experiencing - they have had him on a ventilator 3 times now and he is now off prophonol and fentanyl 3 days and they are questioning he may have had a stroke during the induced coma. We are praying my dad wakes up and I forgot to mention his kidneys may need dialysis now . He is a retired Captain of Dallas Tx Fire Department . He fought the biggest fires he saved thousands of lives - I hope he has the strength to fight this .

My son was in an accident and intubated for 11 days. We never left him alone. He went through torture and Hell. He was tripping so bad. He actually never “slept “...he was fighting it. The worst thing was he thought it would last forever. He had no concept of time. His personality changed after that. Unfortunately, we know what people are currently experiencing. Reach out for help. God bless.

The need to make mental health care more accessible and affordable is becoming more and more apparent!

So this is basically a long term interactive sleep paralysis...

when i found this video i suddenly did not feel alone in the trauma i suffered from covid and ARDS -- now a year later im a long hauler and fight periods of being breathless that make me want out -- you get tired of fighting

I wasn’t on the ventilator, but in ICU with Covid and highest amount of oxygen possible before ventilator. I came home after a week. It was traumatizing, and I was hallucinating with seeing faces in the carpet. The faces looked like they were being tortured. It quit after a few days. But, I do believe PTSD is a part of it after ICU. I couldn’t sleep at night because I would wake up feeling like I was suffocating. It’s terrible. Only God and the people He chooses to use can help people through this. Prayer is key.

I can’t even imagine someone who already suffers panic disorder or anxiety and going thru this while on a ventilator. I’m sure the virus won’t kill u at that moment what would kill u is having a panic attack, blood pressure going up the roof and your heart just stops.....Pure hell.

This goes for just about any reason to place someone on a ventilator for any length of time and not just COVID.

When I was Intubated, on a ventilator, I too--- saw the drs and rns, to look like ANIMALS! I was hallucinating and felt it was so real! Yes it IS the drugs which cause delirium

My father died on vantilator I can't imagine how much he suffered I'm sorry dad 💔

O.M.G. I haven't had covid-19 (yet) but I went through two bouts of necrotising fasciitis in 2005; during the first bout, I spent about a week in ICU on a ventilator and constantly sedated. The second bout involved 3 weeks in ICU on a ventilator, constantly sedated. During the first bout, I knew my husband was coming to visit me and I waited for his visits because they helped me distinguish reality from dreams or hallucinations. When I was taken off the ventilator and able to talk, the medical staff all assured me that I had been unconscious the whole time, I couldn't have been aware of my husband's visits, etc. The second time (which was just 5 weeks after the first time), the medical staff actually advised my husband to just stay home rather than making the 60 mile drive each way to visit me. I knew he wasn't there, I waited and waited and he just wasn't there. The only thing that got me through that time was one of my regular nurses. She had a strong German accent and she chatted to me whenever she came into my room, telling me about her childhood in Germany, her family's home there, how they celebrated various vacations, etc. I don't know how I knew she was real but I did. When they took me off the respirator that time and notified my husband, as soon as he walked through the door, I said "WHERE WERE YOU???!!!" as loudly as I could with a throat that felt like it had been sandpapered. Again, the medical staff tried to tell me that it was all in my head but this time, I was able to reel off a bunch of info from my German nurse, who confirmed that yes, it was all accurate and yes, she remembered telling me those things. After that, the medical staff didn't have much to say about what I remembered. I already had a longstanding case of PTSD from something that happened in the 1970s, so my ICU experiences didn't give it to me but it exacerbated my PTSD horribly. Tangential note: at one point, I came to in the ICU to find my hands encased in padded mittens and my wrists tied to the bedrails. I knew I was on a ventilator but I did not want to be conscious and I thought I had no way to call for help (tube in my mouth). I rattled the bedrails as best I could, no response. I'm a bit claustrophobic anyway, so being tied up was not something I could tolerate for long while conscious. I finally figured out that if I ground my teeth into my breathing tube, that would probably set off some sort of alarm and bring help. I would have preferred to be untied but if they were going to keep me bound, I wanted to be unconscious. Worked a treat. I've never seen staff pour into my room so fast as when I started to chew through my breathing tube. Then I realised that with the tube in my mouth and my hands tied, I couldn't communicate. Fortunately, I managed to catch the eye of one of the nurses and she was able to read my message clearly. She told the rest of the team I was conscious and panicking due to the restraints, whereupon someone pushed a dose of something through one of my IVs. When I asked later if this had really happened, it was confirmed as a real event. So. If anyone reading this ever ends up in ICU on a ventilator and conscious when they don't want to be, try grinding on the breathing tube. It's amazing how fast the staff responds to that alarm.

I'm so glad someone is raising awareness for this, it's the first thing I can relate to since I (and my sister) was in an induced coma for 5 weeks for pneumonia, died twice, brought back on a vent for more, zero support after coming home. I'm glad someone has raised awareness 👍

Talking about it isn't enough, we need action! This is really scary! I've been worried about the COVID-19 survivors because no one is talking about this!

I worked in the ICU as an RN for quite a while. And the vast majority of my patients were vented. And all vented patients are placed in a medically induced coma. Being vented is not a comfortable situation. Depending on the diagnosis patients are weaned and extubated as soon as possible. Practitioners realize that patients need to come off as soon as medically appropriate. ICU delirium has recently been recognized as a complex serious entity especially associated with ICU/intubated patients. Manifestations, risk factors and screening tools are varied and are all components in management of patient care. I have had patients verbalize their experiences and indeed the loss of control they feel is intense. I can only speak to how delirium was approached in my hospital as an inpatient and post discharge. The screening tools were initiated on day one. Care plans were modified daily or hourly as necessary. Management and education are essential in discharge planning. Please make sure to make your voice heard if symptoms continue. The medical community has the tools to ensure that you return to a place of mental and physical health. I'm sending well wishes and hugs to those struggling with COVID and their families.