Drug Withdrawals

Watching your child go through drug withdrawals is very distressing, even if you were fully expecting it..

Usually if a child has been ventilated for a long time they would be gradually weaned off sedation before extubation for maybe a week or so, but there wasn't time to wait to do that with Dylan, every day he is unnecessarily ventilated is more risky so they just stopped it all in order to wake him up for extubation and then slowly started him back on some to control his symptoms.

Drug withdrawal comes with it's own risks though such as hallucinations, panic attacks which can cause them to stop breathing, high temperatures which can cause seizures, sickness which again can hinder breathing and high blood pressure and heart rate to name a few. What Dylan will be suffering with now is very similar to what drug addicts face when they try to quit opiates. He is also in the age bracket that is notorious for tolerating sedation too well so he has effectively been on almost adult doses of strong drugs for 18 days so it's no surprise he is suffering so badly with it all. Every little noise distresses and confuses him, sometimes he realises we are here, other points he doesn't and he won't settle to sleep so is over stimulated and over tired.

In hindsight maybe they should have moved him into a private cubicle to minimise the noise and disturbances but even that brings it's own risks as they would have to either disconnect the oxygen and / or use the bag whilst transferring him round. Plus the move could disorientated and distress him further so it's a bit of a catch 22 situation as is every thing at the moment.

There is a chance he may need to be re-intubated should he not cope well, I really hope this doesn't happen as of course then we will be back to square one and no doubt end up with two new pnemothorax due to the pressure and it will be a massive set back for him so I am just praying we can get through the next few days safely.

We seem to have gotten it under control slightly more today, the main thing distressing him has been his throat being sore and a few hallucinations at points. If he didn't have so many tubes and wires I would crawl into bed next to him and hold him so tight and comfort him but the most I can do is hold his hand, stroke his hair and talk / sing to him. I just hope he knows how much we love him and how very proud we are of him..