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

M. Henry H. se sentait un peu perdu, et  ce sentiment entre reel et irreel reste difficile à expliquer.

Oui. J'avais un ressenti. Oui. Ca ne se passait pas comme ça. Ils essayaient de m'aider. Mais quand on est dans un cauchemar et qu'on est à moitié réveillé, oui. C'est difficile à expliquer. C'est tellement réel, irréel.

M. Henry H. se sentait un peu désorienté.

Il signor Henry H. si sentiva un po' perso, e questa sensazione tra reale e irreale rimane difficile da spiegare.

Sì, ho avuto una sensazione. Sì. Non era così. Stavano cercando di aiutarmi. Ma quando sei in un incubo e sei tipo mezzo e mezzo sveglio / uh sì. È difficile da spiegare. È così reale, irreale.

Il signor Henry H. si sentiva un po' disorientato.

Herr Henry H. fühlte sich ein wenig verloren, und dieses Gefühl zwischen real und unwirklich ist schwer zu erklären.

Ja. Ich hatte das Gefühl. Ja. Es war nicht so. Sie wollten mir helfen. Aber wenn man ja in einem Albtraum ist und so halb und halb wach / äh ja. Es ist schwierig zum Erklären. Es ist so real, unreal.

Herr Henry H. fühlte sich ein wenig verwirrt.

Yes. I had the feeling. Yes. It wasn't like that. They were trying to help me. But when you're yeah in a nightmare and so half and half awake / uh yeah. It's hard to explain. It's so real, unreal.

Mr. Henry H. was feeling a little disoriented.

Many patients in the ICU experience the state of coma or sedation. Coma can be caused by changes in metabolism, the severe illness, or sedating and pain-relieving medications. Thus, patients often experience their time in the ICU in a fragmented way and forget much of the experience.

Coma/Sedation

With the technical and medical possibilities on intensive care a patient can be able to survive life-threatening illnesses. These experiences of critical illness and intensive care medicine are challenging for patients and families. Often experiences made on intensive care unit (ICU) can be life changing.
In small video- or audio-sequences we would like to illustrate the experiences made by patients on ICU and how they handled their stay in this critical situation.
Many patients share their experiences on intensive care unit and show how these experiences influenced their life.

Grazie alle possibilità mediche e tecniche offerte dalla terapia intensiva, oggi un paziente può sopravvivere a malattie gravi e precedentemente mortali. L’esperienza di queste gravi condizioni di salute e l’esperienza della terapia intensiva possono cambiare la vita in modo radicale, sia ai pazienti che ai loro cari.

In questa sezione potete scoprire come altre persone hanno vissuto il loro tempo in un’unità di terapia intensiva. In brevi video o estratti di testo, i pazienti raccontano la loro permanenza in terapia intensiva, il modo in cui hanno gestito questo periodo delle loro vite, ed il modo in cui questa esperienza li ha cambiati.

Esperienze in terapia intensiva

Les possibilités médicales et techniques permettent de plus en plus souvent aux patients de survivre à des maladies graves et autrefois mortelles. L’expérience par les patients de ces maladies graves et de leur prise en charge médicale en soins intensifs peuvent changer la vie d’une manière très mémorable.

Dans cette section, vous découvrirez comment d’autres personnes ont vécu leur séjour dans une unité de soins intensifs. Dans de courts extraits vidéo ou textuels, les patients rendent compte de leur séjour à l’unité de soins intensifs. Ils témoignent également des changements qui peuvent se produire dans la vie d’une personne après les soins intensifs.

Expérience en médecine de soins intensifs

Die heutigen medizinischen und technischen Möglichkeiten lassen Patient*innen schwere und lebensbedrohliche Erkrankungen überstehen. Die Erfahrung einer so schweren Erkrankung, die eine intensivmedizinischen Behandlung benötigt, kann das Leben sehr einprägsam verändern.

Wie andere Menschen die Zeit auf einer Intensivstation erlebt haben, können Sie in dieser Sektion erfahren. In kurzen Video- oder Textausschnitten berichten Patient*innen und Angehörige,  über die Erfahrungen einer schweren oft lebensbedrohlichen Erkrankung und einer Behandlung auf einer Intensivstation. Ebenso können Sie erfahren, mit welchen Veränderungen die Betroffenen sich nach der Zeit auf der Intensivstation auseinandersetzen.

Erfahrungen Intensivmedizin

Experiences in Intensive Care

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

In every dream I was lying somewhere. I could not move. 
 I was lying in a room. I uh / so, mostly in a room or in a garage or where the dream took place. 
No problem. I just couldn't move. 
I: What did that do to you? 
E: Helpless. Fear. Not being able to escape from the situation. So, I was just lying there. Whether it was in a restaurant or in a hospital or in some other room, in a storeroom, in a garage, I lay everywhere.

Mr. Henri H remembers nightmares and fear.

Many patients report experiences that can be associated with hallucinations and confusion. These  memories are often present for months after hospitalization.

Delusion/hallucination/ dreams/anxiety.

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

That's enough, I know even today except for one, two just these blankets, this sister or this aunt. Yes. Otherwise, I don't really know anything. Everything I know, I then got here from this text. That helped me quite a bit.
I: Did that help you? 
E: Yes, that helped me. It gave me a little bit of a sense of time, what was when. I was in a mess. 
I: Yeah. Basically, it's a diary of what your girlfriend kept for you for that time. 
E: Something along those lines.Yes.

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

Our interviewees often have to deal with memory gaps. Their descriptions are a mixture of what they experienced themselves,what is added afterwards by relatives or team members, or feelings/emotions to which they give words afterwards. Regardless of these limitations, it is important to note that these memories represent real experiences for the patient.

Forgetting: remembering with the help of other people.

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

I: That's right. How long were you in an induced coma? 
E: I was only in an induced coma for a few days. 
 But then they had trouble getting me out of the coma again.
I don't know. 
I: Did you notice anything about that, if. 
E: Yes.
I: Yes? Can you tell me a little bit about that? 
E: I had nightmares. 
Well, I had quite intense nightmares. 
I never had that before. 
And I haven't had it since.
They were such different stories and in between the stories, I heard from a distance, the doctor's voice. 
He said his name. 
And that came and disappeared again. It was like being caught in a / I was like being caught in a box. 
In such a / yes, when I came out of the dream, like in a goo. Yes, and from far away I heard the voice at the beginning. 
Then it disappeared again and I sank back into a dream. 
That's how it seemed to me. So, into the next one and this voice became louder and louder. 
E: And at some point it became bright. It was like when a box is opened. 
And it became clearer and clearer. 
And finally, at some point, I was awake.

Henri H.

Mr. Henry H. was feeling a little disoriented.

Video Interview

Related experiences

Other experiences by Henri H.

Henri H.