My husband was in the ICU for three days following major vascular surgery. He became delirious when they returned him back to the post surgical unit. I believe it occurred due to his age (69), the after effects of the anesthesia and mainly due to total sleep deprivation. His delirium lasted four days until he was finally able to sleep, undisturbed for one night. He was like a new man the next day. It was terrifying to witness but I'm ever so glad that he came out of it!

I wish I had been warned before my dad’s surgery… thank you so much for sharing ❤️

So good to hear someone else talk about this. I knew NOTHING about this phenomenon and after heart transplant was convinced 8 years had gone by and that my sister had sold me to a factory in China where I was being prepped to be turned into sauce for chicken nuggets. This was my reality for 6 days.

Thanks for sharing ! My dad had the same operation, he's going trought delirium now. I will go see him everyday

I had the same experience. I had a hard time distinguishing my dreams from reality. Really tough to overcome. Glad it's in my rearview mirror!

Glad to see you recovered my mom is going through this now thanks for the video.

This is very helpful -- my Dad recently went through bypass surgery and we were not sure why he is having these memory lapses

So glad I came across this video..Thanks Terry!

Thank you for sharing this my father is going through this right now and its the worse thing I have ever encountered.

My open heart surgery to repair a large ATAA and save my aortic valve was a year ago. I can relate to everything this man says. I awoke with the breathing tube down my throat and my hands restrained. I remember seeing the clock on the wall and it was shortly before 7 am. My surgery had been the previous day, beginning at 6:45 am so this was literally 24 hours later. I'd been on a closed group of people who were going through diagnosis of ascending aortic thoracic aneurysms and we'd shared a lot of experiences. One woman whose surgery was a month beore mine contacted me privately and told me "you ben my prayer warrior and I'll be yours". We agreed to share our progress with this group after our surgeries too and she sent me a three minute video of herself, right after her surgery at the Mayo, with her niece who is a CICU nurse explaining to her husband every wire, tube and machine she was attached to. It was a godsend for my husband and son who were there when I was having my surgery and they say me for the first time. She'd told me to expect to 'breathe through a straw' which I miraculously remembered that morning. My husband had been sent back to the hotel to get some sleep and he needed it but waking up without him there was very terrifying. I was three years old when I was in a very bad accident and had to be hospitalized for surgery several times. One time I was in a ward and my hands were restrained and the bandages from surgery had come down over my face. I heard someone in the room and began asking for help as I was coming to. She said "I can't help you. I'm the heart nurse". And she left. I'm sure someone did come back but the terror of being alone rushed back to me and now I WAS the heart patient, 62 years later! The nurse in the CICU had put a cool wash cloth over my eyes and forehead but it slipped down onto my face and I was right back in the terror I felt as a little kid. I tried tapping on the part of the bed rail I could reach but it was plastic. The nurse turned towards me and took my hand. I began spelling letters into his hand and he understood what I was saying. He let me itch my nose and took the cloth off my face. I calmed down. He began telling me that they were going to get rid of the tube but first put some meds in through my tube, which I remember going down my throat from my nose and I was struggling to swallow rather than relax and just let the meds let gravity happen. I thought about the straw comment from my friend and it helped me calm down. I had wild moments that I thought "Oh my God! I haven't had my surgery yet! Why am I here so long!" I had my surgery at UF Shands which is 7 hours from my home. I had to hang around after the 6 days I was in the hospital for another 5 days before I had my release meeting because most complications happen within that first week and we did NOT want to have to turn around and drive back. So waking up that post release time in a room that wasn't home with walls painted about the same color of the hospital room was very disorienting. All the drugs, the trauma, the cooling and the bypass machine along with a very long surgery HAS to take a toll! But I have had a really successful recovery this past 14 months and was released by my surgeon a few weeks ago. Now will just be followed by my in town cardiologist with annual echo. What a wild ride all of this was, beginning was being diagnosed with a birth defect (BAV) and realizing this aneurysm was very big and could have killed me had it not been found. The emotions of all of this are another chapter! My goal is to help anyone else who has to experience this as much as I can.

Very well documented

Thank you for the video. My dad age 56 is going through this right now. We are trying to bring him back to earth

My father has this post hemiarthoplasty, he says he is in jail..its so hard to see parents in this condition

Terry I had my Open Heat Surgery (rebuild Aorta, Replace Aorta Valve and CABG for the "widow maker" LAD") a Month ago. I share some of your experience and still each day I wake up and have to orient myself to where I am. especially the day of the week. Falling is another problem (Balance and weakness in muscle tone). I could go on and on about my thoughts during delirium but it would serve no purpose except to say, you may have it and be ready, don't be afraid. Glad I was born in the 50's experimenting in the 60's. It sort of settles you down and say "Enjoy, this will pass"

Glad you're well now. I had serious delirium following heart surgery in St.Bartholemew's in the UK. I caused a lot of damage to the hospital and scared a lot of nurses. It was horrific but I had a great team of doctors and a supportive partner who helped me recover.

Thank you for sharing this Terry. Your approach prior toyour surgery sounds exactly like mine, research, educate , question. I'm sending this link to my husband so he understands what is happening if this happens to me. Ten days away from my mitral valve replacement surgery.

Its terrifying how really the hallucinations are. After my Kidney and liver transplant i was in the ICU for a month and the first delusion was being at the bottom of a deep deep pitch black hole with a tiny rectangle of light at the top where I could hear doctors and nurses talking to me, its as if I was looking up from the bott of a vent shaft. Than I came to was taken off the ventilator but spiked a fever and was put back on and I swear I went to sleep in the ICU and woke up in what looked like my grandparents basement... this is where it gets insane.. I saw everyone around me as giant ice cream cones that were trying to eat me but I couldnt move or speak. When my parents came in to see me they looked normal (in retrospect its prob bc I recognized their voices). My mom told me I pleaded and begged her to get me out of my grandparents basement away from them, I was seeing spiders dropping down on webs from the ceiling and she told me at one point I told her "this place is disgusting look!" And as i said that I gestured like I was pulling someone out of my mouth and she told me I held up my empty hand saying "look at these spiders". It just so happened one of the nurses suggested my parents pulling out either a mirror or a cell phone camera and turning the front camera on and letting me see myself in the hospital and when my Mom did this it was like my grandparents basement melted away and the ice cream cone people all turned into the actual hospital and staff. I spend the next literally 3 days constantly apologizing to the docs and nurses for my behavior, shortly after they moved me to a room with a window and that really helped a lot. Ive done hallucinogenics as a teen and nothing compares to how real ICU delusions can be.

Thank You!! For sharing this!!!

It was the most terrifying experience I have ever lived through, following major stomach surgery it was 2 days after the surgery and i was well on the way to recovery, my family were home in bed,.I made a promise to those beings that I would never tell all that happened that night.The nursing staff changed shift and they sewed replacement stitches to renew the tubes I had tried to rip out in order to free myself from drips and other hospital equipment that had been attached to me, so that I would be able to run down to the street and get help even though i was bleeding profusely. I am due to have knee surgery within the next year and I am very afraid of the post op possibilities.

I remember this well after my surgery. I guessed it was a combination of anesthesia and the Morphine they put you on for the pain afterwards? I could look at a nurse one second, at one end of the ward, blink and see the same nurse at the other end as if she'd teleported.

Thank you for sharing. I too suffered from terrible delirium. They had to change my ICU bed for a low rise with crash mats. I have a Facebook delirium support group and everyday I fight for delirium awareness x

My son is going through this right now thank you for making this video

This was good to hear. I thought I was the only one experiencing this after open heart surgery.

My 13th yr old grand daughter just experienced this, she scared her mom , and the staff. She was crying and asking for her dad who passed a little over a year ago .she didn't recognize her mom.

Watch the documentary ‘Pumphead’ is a documentary feature film exploring patient experiences following major heart surgery - how to understand these experiences and how to live with them. Through the stories of eight ex-patients, including the filmmaker himself, this documentary indicates the complex diversity of emotional and cognitive changes that often occur after open-heart surgery, simultaneous with physical recovery. In particular the film focuses on the phenomenon of "post-traumatic growth" which often co-exists with psychological challenges and is triggered by them. Postperfusion syndrome, also known as "pumphead", is a constellation of neurocognitive impairments attributed to cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) during cardiac surgery ...' - Wikipedia

Thank you for this video

My Dad had triple bypass at age 86. He already had mild dementia and went into a state of delirium 36 hours post opt. From that point his dementia rapidly got worse. He passed away 16 months later, after developing a pulmonary embolism. The dementia got so bad so quickly. That he could not or would not do the cardiac rehab necessary for his recovery.

Thanks for this. It’s reassuring to know you eventually come out of this. My gramps is gona have some pretty wild stories when he snaps out of it.

I had delirium after having my hip replaced. Don't remember what happened right after surgery but my same day surgery turned into a 6 day stay. Never knee that this was a possibility after surgery. Glad you are ok now.

I was totally unaware of this possibility. I am a 65 yr old professional and what some may consider "moderately well adjusted." But if I were to completely describe what I was experiencing 3 wks ago after heart surgery I sound totally off. I went to a place mentally that left me feeling confused, frightful, and desperate. When I first woke up, and any time I would sleep in the hospital while on the drugs, I would go back to an "alternate reality" that was hard to shake when I woke up. A psychedelic abyss without a guide.

I had delirium after my heart surgery and let me tell you that was the scariest experience of all my life. It was like making a nighmare open eyed for 5 days.

Thank you I am getting ready to go in myself and I am scared and feel terrible about it. That this is coming on to my family

I experienced this in 2019 and boy was it rough. I'm due to have open heart surgery again in about a month now, and have to say that experience is aittle anxiety provoking for this next surgery.

Well now I know I had delirium after my lung transplant. I don't even know if half of what I aid and did was real but I was not a nice person.

I have had open heart surgery 8 .5 weeks ago. Sure wish i had seen this before my surgery.

After my open heart op to replace mitral valve & triple bypass, I was convinced I was kidnapped & brought to Russia. Whee! My one on one nurse, who had many yrs in the biz, was wonderful. I'm afraid I wasn't very nice. Also thought the hospital was the police station after being woken at 1 am for yet another test! Apparently, I swore a lot! I was @ Tufts in Boston - fabulous hospital (& surgeon)!!!

This resonates with me. I told my wife ‘look mush you’ve got to get me out of here!’ She was sitting by my bed in hospital and I was looking out over over a road junction in a desert location. Peculiar to say the least. I’m still vague. Any idea how long the mental recovery will take?

wow - i woke up after recovering from surgery and thought there was no one else in the hospital (middle of the night so no one was around) - so i tried to remove my tubes when a voice in me said, "this isn't real" and I snapped out of it. It could happen to anyone! So strange.

Miss you daddy........

I saw black bugs on the floor, ceiling walls then I saw one of my cats leaving my room. Now I knew the bugs were not real, it still was upsetting. The nurses reassured me this was common and after three days they were gone. Presenters seem to avoid the pain issue, the pain was the worst I have ever experienced and coughing, oh my gosh, excruciating. But the worst is gone in a few weeks but if you lift something, reach for something you will have pain for a few days. You have to remember your sternum was sawed in half then retractors used to pull all those muscles, ligaments nerves apart. There lies the pain I am having after at 2 months. Be careful.

Yeah. I had heart surgery a month ago. Had delirium for 3 days. So weird and yet so real. Kids outside my room stealing my belongings. A frog in my room. Red letters floating off a switched off TV screen. Red mist coming from my hands. And lots more. So real at the time.

I hade a weird experience and I'm glad I was alone . The bleeding after surgery lasted 54 minutes 3 bags of plasma 1 bag magnesium. I can't remember the following two days . When I came too I was lost !

Glad I’m not the only one.I was out for three days or more with it They gave a CT to see if I had a blood clot in the brain

Just went through this with a friend. They came out of it after four days. Had no idea this could happen after day surgery.

I would go insane upon waking up, I just can’t imagine my heart being operated on and I never want it to happen. So I always do yearly check ups and eat healthy as much as possible with little chest days

I had horrible delirium after 4 way bypass. I thought I had been kidnapped by the nurses and moved into a home. They had painted and fixed this room to look like my hospital room but I was chained to a bed and they wouldn't give we me aby medicine nor answer my questions. I freaked out anytime one if the nurses came ear me thinking that they wer going to inject me with something to kill me. In my mind I was locked up somewhere and would never see my family again. That lasted 2 days. I had a very rough surgery with complications and spent 29 days in ICU. I dealt with other issues and delirious thoughts.. but that one about being kidnapped really did a job on .e.

My husband experienced Delerium for 4-5 weeks and it was very scary. Delerium can cause other complications and even death. They used medication to get him out of this state of mind. It was the scarest thing ever. It is a very serious condition that can last for a few hours or days; but, can continue for months. I learned more about it because of watching my husband suffer. Our story is way to long to share; but it is one I hope no one else has to experience.

I was in a coma for 18 days i felt like id been to a different world and stayed there for a quiet long , id seen as well my younger age and older age, when i dreamed that my dad died, my uncle died, my gf father's died ! That made me wake up from dreaming and I was confused about why it happened, how have they died ?? Since i wana find the truth out and cause of thier death ! That really woke me up from a coma, ,i kept asking my mom where's my uncle my dad why they are died ? My mom said they 're alive ,they're alive ,i couldn't believe my mom on it til we called them over messenger and ya ,i was just dreaming and all the scenes in my dreams are not real. Im ok now almost 70% of my strength has backed.

5 weeks of delerium for me after open heart surgery that lasted 10 hours. Horror show. I couldn't tell reality from delerium. Delerium dreams are still crystal clear to me.

Odd I knew exactly where I was after my heart surgery and that I was put in ICU then a regular room I had some fuzziness immediately after surgery as they were waking me up but that was all

I did that too

I found this video while I am trying to find what has happened to my dad, sad part his the hospital staff is not so cooperate and I can't shift him to another, he had his hip surgery yesterday. Please help me how to make him better ( I am doing everything possible to make him home and alert ) but he talks about going home or ending him self as suicide because he have parkinson and he thinks he is in alzeirmer last stage

This happened to me Five weeks ago and the people who ran ward 3A Cardiac at St Barts in London Choose to make me suffer More, I am 71 and they made my life hell they never said once to me what was or could be wrong just made me feel bad for how I was behaving I can not work out why I only knew what was happening to me when a lady came to my room with a badge with Delirium on her Blouse and she asked me questions to make sure It was this I hate those people the Head of the ward Charge Nurse a lady and the Man Charge Nurse I Know both their names but I do not Know Legally how I would stand Naming them Here They left me a few days and were not very nice to me at all St Barts is at least in my Room the Shower and toilet stank of other Peoples BO where it was not cleaned Proper ally that was room 6 It is not in my opinion a clean Hospital

I grew up in the 1970's and did a lot of recreational drugs back then. I had much the same experience after my OHS. On 3 occasions I didn't know where I was in the local supermarket and I big hardware store. I recognised right away I was off my trolley on the pills they give me. It's not really so difficult to cope with at all

Sounds like a reaction to anesthesia.I had two open heart surgery in five months never an issue

I thought I was underneath a car and people were whispering to me thousands of them but I didn't understand a word they were saying I certainly didn't enjoy the experience

I had a quadruple bypass earlier this year. My “delirium” if you will, came about by the Propofol and Hydrocodone 10. I saw things I’d never expected to see. Bugs on the wall and floor. A squirrel on the ceiling eating the bugs. I thought I was in a hotel and continually asked my wife “when are we checking out?”. I had an episode the day we got home. When I went to bed I had taken more pain meds and I woke up around 2am. I had to pee bad and had no idea where I was. I got out of bed and for whatever reason I thought I was in a whorehouse. I stopped at the foot of the bed, still not knowing where I was, and pulled it out and started peeing on the floor, which turned out to be our bedroom. My wife woke up, heard me taking care of business, and she came up out of the bed like a wildcat. It was not a good night.

I had this - a voice in my head just said "this ain't real"

Google - Pump Head Syndrome - I had open heart surgery my life changed after that but now im scared