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by a-wu
2178 days ago
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> The ingredients for delirium are pervasive during the pandemic. They include long stints on ventilators, heavy sedatives and poor sleep. > To allow the ventilator to completely breathe for him, doctors had him chemically paralyzed, which required heavier sedatives to prevent the trauma of being conscious while unable to move. So Mr. Temko’s sedation was switched to midazolam, a benzodiazepine, and fentanyl, an opioid — drugs that exacerbate delirium. > The repeated nursing visits Mr. Temko needed interrupted his sleep-wake cycle, so he’d often take daytime naps and become sleepless and agitated at night, said Jason Bloomer, an I.C.U. nurse. Sounds like a perfect storm for delirium. I've had several stints in the hospital and the ones in the ICU and tele-wing were the worst. The opiates combined with the constant interruptions in the middle of the night meant that I got terrible sleep but also was constantly drowsy so I felt like I was in a persistent zombie state. When I was able to sleep it would be this half-awake/half-asleep state and I would talk out loud. I really sympathize with these people. Being hospitalized sucks (but yes, obviously I'd rather be hospitalized than die). |
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One of the ways SV is trying to help with this is via AR/VR. The research is slow going, but there may be some promise. If you can use VR/AR to lessen some depression/pain medication dosages, you can open up a lot of other drugs for use.
Maybe you can let long term patients out to a VR beach for a few hours or go back home or to church. Maybe let them game/socialize for a bit while partially mobilized. Every little thing helps (maybe, send more grants).
[0] https://www.medicinenet.com/icu_psychosis/article.htm