Åsa Engström has done studies on what it is like to be severely ill and respirator treated. How it is to be treated with a respirator differs between people, even how much a patient remembers of the time is different.
- There can also be feelings of unreality during and afterwards and that you can also experience hallucinations, nightmares and that kind of experiences. These can be quite difficult to distinguish whether it is reality or not, she says.
- Often it is pretty nasty experiences you have, it is rarely you dream pleasant dreams.
According to Professor Åsa Engström, the hallucinations may consist of slightly different things.
- It is not uncommon that there is war, that there is someone being shot, that it can be quite nasty things I have been told when I did interviews.
- Then it may also be that it is linked to things that happened, although they are not perceived as real. I know there was a patient who described that he had a high fever and had had the windows open and tried to cool. He felt that they had tried to make him an ice cream parlor.
What can a relative do after a person in his presence wakes up after being sedated?
- What we have seen is the importance of being in some way close, being with the person and keeping in touch with everyday life. Now there are limited opportunities and we have to deal with that, but it may be that, for example, you can connect to a mobile phone when it is location for it and to keep that contact in different ways.
Åsa Engström also suggests that diary writing for relatives may be good for the patient to be able to get a connection later over time.
- Now it's very special when patients with covid-19 are being treated intensively. Then it is not an opportunity to take things in the same way, but diaries are important.