Experiences in Intensive Care

Mr. Dante D. remembers the thirst and the noise.

Mr. Dante gradually comes out of the coma and complains of intense thirst and noise.

Mrs. Evelyne E. wakes up slowly and in confusion.

Mrs. Evelyne E. slowly woke up and was confused between hallucination and beginning perception of reality.

Mr. Georges G.is troubled by the absence of certain memories.

Mr. George G. is confused because he woke up in a different place and can't remember how he got there.

Mr. Charles C. suffered from an olfactory hallucination.

Mr. Charles C. remembers very unpleasant hallucinations of smell and taste.

When he wakes up, Mr. Markus is missing 6 weeks in his memory.

Mr. Markus has a six-week memory gap when he wakes up. But he remembers individual moments when he was supposedly still unconscious.

Mrs. Johanna J. was between dreams and confusion.

Because Mrs. Johanna J. was so confused, she had great difficulty classifying the situation in the intensive care unit.

Mr. Henri H remembers nightmares and fear.

Mr. Henri H had nightmares in which he saw himself lying helpless and afraid.

Mr Zacharia Z thinks he was kidnapped.

Mr. Zacharia Z is between reality and delir,. He even believes he was kidnapped.

Mrs. Johanna J. remembers through a diary.

Ms. Johanna J. recounts memories from a diary written for her by ICU staff.

This person experienced nightmares.

This person describes the intertwining of reality and nightmares and the resulting feelings of anxiety.

Mr. Henry H. uses a diary to tell his story.

For Mr. Henry H., the diary written by a friend was helpful to remember.

Ms. Anna A. later learns from her doctor that she has been intubated.

Ms. Anna A. learns that she has been intubated when the physician tells her in an explanatory conversation 6 months after her discharge from the intensive care unit.

Mrs. Anna A talks about her hallucinations.

Mrs. Anna A was aware that she was hallucinating and was trying to maintain a sense of reality.

Mrs. Tabea T. does not remember anything.

Ms. Tabea only remembers dreams and says that she felt restless. She found this to be a very unpleasant feeling.

Evelyne E. recalls a confusion between reality and happy hallucinations.

Ms Evelyne E. describes the confusion, between perception of reality and moments of joyfull hallucinations.

Mr. Charles C. remained awake in the ICU and remembers well.

Because he was not in a coma, Mr. Charles C. remembered his ICU stay.

Mr. Alain A saw himself floating on a cloud.

For Mr Alain A., the dreams were pleasant. He was floating along on a cloud.

This person remembers with the help of her family.

This person reconstructed her memories of the time in the intensive care unit with the help of her family's narratives.

This person has a feeling of insecurity when faced with memory gaps.

This person talks with a relative about how embarrassed she is about not remembering, about having lost control for two days.

Mr. Henry H. tells us about his oscillating state of consciousness.

Mr. Henry H. explains how his state of consciousness oscillated between dream and reality when he came out of the coma.

Mrs. Beatrice B remembers dreams during her coma period.

Ms. Beatrice B. remembers her coma as a dream where she saw many friends and family she knew.

In Mr. Igor I. sedation causes dreams.

Mr. Igor I had unpleasant dreams during the artificial coma.

Mr. Henry H. was feeling a little disoriented.

Mr. Henry H. felt a little lost, and this feeling between real and unreal remains difficult to explain.

Mrs. Deborah D. reports on her mother's coma.

Ms. Deborah D. was very emotional and questioning in front of her comatose mother.

Mr. Alain A. was put into an artificial coma as an emergency.

Mr. Alain A, during his 10 days in an induced coma, remembers that he could hear the doctors and nurses but could not talk to them.