Question:
Did anyone experience ICU psychosis after surgery.

I am bipolar and my psychiatrist said that there is a possibility that i may experience an increase in psychosis after surgery due to the fact that i am in an unfimilar setting and due to the fact that the normal cues that we get to tell us what is going on are not there. I was wondering if anyone else had experienced this.    — Jade G. (posted on November 6, 2003)

November 5, 2003
I wasn't sure exactly what you meant by this, but I can tell you that when I was in ICU after surgery that there was a woman in there who was totally freaking out. It was about midnight and she had also had surgery and for some reason was just flipping out in ICU. She was right next to me and cussed out the nurses was trying to pull out her IV's and just screaming and basically freaking out. I was able to get moved to a room early because of her, but all the other people in ICU had to put up with her all night long as I was told by nurses that she continued like that all night. Now, I am not sure if this is what you meant but that is my experience with someone going psycho in ICU. Good luck.
   — Dawn P.

November 5, 2003
A good way to help you remain calm...go to the hospital now...ask for a tour. Ask them to show you the ICU, the Operating ARea...go up to the floor you'll be having your surgery explain to them your situation and have them give you a tour. Meet some of the nurses, see what a room is going to look like. This helps me remain calm in unfamiliary situations. Go now while you can completely control things around you. Get used to your surroundings. Maybe spend an hour in the waiting room or something to get used to the smells and sounds.
   — Renee B.

November 7, 2003
I'm bipolar and had surgery 8 weeks ago. I have had problems in the past when coming out of anisthesia after surgery. After my open RNY, I didn't have any severe problems like before at the hospital. But I was very anxious, especially about the NG tube in my nose. Everything was very surreal. I did feel alone, even though my family came to visit... it's like I never fully woke up until I got home from the hospital. When I arrived home from the hospital, 4 days post op, I did have some problems. I was having very weird sensations... room spins, shaking, tingling and then numbness on the face, uncontrollable sobbing. I felt like I was going crazy and believe that I had a nervous breakdown. Its hard to describe, but it was much more than depression. It lasted about three days and then I went into a normal-kind of depression/blue/sad mood. I was off of meds right after surgery, they did not give me any bipolar meds while in the hospital, I didn't start taking them again until about 2 weeks post-op, because I had to wait for the liquid form to be ordered. I take lexapro, trileptal, trilefon, and ativan. If I had it to do over again, I would have gotten the liquid form of meds before surgery to have ready when I got home.
   — heather_ensley