Quick Tip for Families in ICU: How Long Does It Take to Wake Up After an Induced Coma?

“How long does it take to wake up after an induced coma?”

My name is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com, where we help families of critically ill patients in intensive care to make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, even if you’re not a doctor or a nurse in intensive care, making sure your loved one gets always best care and treatment in intensive care.

So, today’s question is about probably the most frequently asked question we get all the time, “How long does it take to wake up after an induced coma?” Now, the short answer is simple, it depends. Some patients in intensive care wake up within hours, some within 24 to 72 hours, and others may take weeks or even longer. It all comes down to a few key factors.

Number 1, the type and length of sedation. Medications like propofol, midazolam/Versed, Precedex, which is also known as dexmedetomidine, fentanyl, and morphine are used in ICU to keep patients in an induced coma. The longer someone has been sedated for, the longer it can take to clear those drugs from the body.

Also, there’s a big difference between propofol, midazolam, and Precedex in terms of their half-life, i.e., propofol has a really short half-life. Patients tend to wake up reasonably quickly. Midazolam has a long half-life. It’s long-term acting. It tends to take a lot longer to wake up. Precedex, it’s probably somewhere in between. But generally speaking, depending on what medications your loved one is on, that is definitely a determining factor. Also, the more fentanyl and morphine is being used for the induced coma, generally speaking, the longer it takes to wake up as well.

Number 2, the patient’s overall condition. If the liver or kidneys aren’t working properly, it takes longer to process the sedatives and opiates. If there has been a brain injury, cardiac arrest, or oxygen deprivation, waking up may take much longer, sometimes weeks if not months.

Number 3, complications. Things like infections, pneumonia, sepsis, or organ failure can all slow the process. Also, things like, if weaning off the ventilator takes a lot longer and you have to re-sedate patients on and off, that also takes longer as well.

Other complications are if a patient is paralyzed. So, for example, sometimes you can sedate a patient really heavily, but they’re still trying to fight the ventilator or they have high intracranial pressures like brain pressures or other complicating factors, then they need to be paralyzed on top of being sedated. If that is the case, it often takes longer to wake up as well.

Now, other issues that can come up with patients, for example, with ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) they might end up in a prone position. If patients end up in a prone position, they are often paralyzed, so that all delays waking up.

So, again, the devil is in the detail and every situation is probably different so don’t be surprised if your loved one doesn’t just wake up as soon as the ICU stops sedation and opiates. It’s not unusual at all for this to take time. Also, waking up after an induced coma is a bit like switching on the light with a dimmer and not with a switch, it’s a gradual process.

Now, but here’s the problem, ICUs often tell families, “We’ll stop sedation and see what happens,” but then they don’t explain all the details and the nitty-gritty that I’ve just gone through. They don’t explain that it can take days, weeks, sometimes months, for a patient to show signs of waking up.

Families panic, and ICUs sometimes use that panic to push for withdrawal of life support too early, or ICUs often say, “Oh! If it doesn’t happen in a few days…” and they put artificial timelines on something that nobody should put artificial timelines on, then they use that timeline to talk about withdrawal of treatment, withdrawal of life support so that the ICU stays in control of the narrative and has the upper hand.

This is why you and your family need to ask the right questions. What medications were used and for how long? Are kidney and liver functioning? Has a brain scan or a neurological assessment been done just to rule out whether there has been a stroke or any other neurological issue? What are the options if waking up is delayed?

So, how long does it take to wake up after an induced coma? It could be hours, days, weeks, sometimes months. It all depends on your loved one’s unique situation.

If you are finding yourself in this situation and you need help with decision-making, advocacy, or simply understanding what’s really going on, that’s exactly what we do at intensivecarehotline.com. Go to our website, book a free strategy call with me.

You can click the link on the top of the website, Book an Appointment, or schedule appointment, and then I can talk to you in a free 15-minute consulting call because I can guide you step by step so you have real power, real control, peace of mind, and you can make informed decisions, even when ICU tells you that you have none. We are able to turn it around for you, as you can see in our testimonials and interviews with clients.

I have worked in critical care nursing for 25 years in three different countries, where I worked as a nurse manager for over 5 years in intensive care. I’ve been consulting and advocating for families in intensive care since 2013 here at intensivecarehotline.com. I can very confidently say that we have saved many lives with our consulting and advocacy because of our insights. You can verify that on our testimonial section at intensivecarehotline.com. You can verify it on our intensivecarehotline.com podcast section where we have done client interviews because our advice is absolutely life changing.

The biggest challenge for families in intensive care is simply that they don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know what to look for. They don’t know what questions to ask. They don’t know their rights, and they don’t know how to manage doctors and nurses in intensive care.

That’s why we help you to improve your life instantly, making sure you make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power, and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always. That’s why you can join a growing number of members and clients that we have helped over the years, saving their loved ones’ lives.

That’s why I do one on one consulting and advocacy over the phone, Zoom, WhatsApp, whichever medium works best for you. I talk to you and your families directly. I handhold you through this once in a lifetime situation that you simply cannot afford to get wrong. When I talk to families directly, I also talk to doctors and nurses directly, asking all the questions that you haven’t even considered asking but must be asked when you have a loved one critically ill in intensive care.

I also represent you in family meetings with intensive care teams.

We also do medical record reviews in real time so that you can get a second opinion in real time. We also do medical record reviews after intensive care if in case you have unanswered questions, if you need closure, or if you are suspecting medical negligence.

We also have a membership for families of critically ill patients in intensive care, and you can become a member if you go to intensivecarehotline.com, if you click on the membership link, or if you go to intensivecaresupport.org directly. In the membership, you have access to me and my team, 24 hours a day, in the membership area and via email, and we answer all questions intensive care related. In the membership, you also have exclusive access to 21 eBooks and 21 videos that I have personally written and recorded. All of that will help you to improve your life instantly, make informed decisions, have peace of mind, control, power and influence, making sure your loved one gets best care and treatment always.

All of that you get at intensivecarehotline.com. Call us on one of the numbers on the top of our website or simply send us an email to [email protected] with your questions.

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Thank you so much for watching.

This is Patrik Hutzel from intensivecarehotline.com and I will talk to you in a few days.

Take care for now.

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