Does anybody out there know of anyone who has had an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest?

Does he or she have any permanent neurological damage? If not, how long did it take before you noticed the person was getting better???? My aunt had a V-Fib cardiac arrest. Paramedics had to shoot medicine into her heart to get her going. The paddles didn't work. She was on the vent to help her breath and within 24 hrs of this event, she opened her eyes. Vented for less than 3 days. She is very confused and one minute she knows who I am and the next minute I'm sombody else. Doesn't even know what state she's in, the date, the president, etc. If you show her something - for example keys - she can tell you she unlocks the door with them, but she doesn't know they are called keys. Has anybody experienced any of this and what was the outcome? Thanks for reading my question!

I know someone who had an out of hospital cardiac arrest. He died in his mother's arms on the living room floor in his parent's house. He was in his mid-50's.

Out of hospital cardiac arrests have poor outcomes. Only 3-5% of heart attack victims actually survive long enough to be discharged from hospital. The profound physical and mental problems that can happen are not accounted for in that figure.

When the brain goes without adequate oxygen supply, like it would when the heart stops, brain damage can occur. Even with immediate CPR and AED, the odds of recovery are slim to none.

I suspect that she has brain damage caused by not having enough oxygen to keep her tissues alive while she was coding. I haven't attended a code where the patient survived, to be blunt with you. Your Aunt is extremely luck to have made it this long. What she might need is special therapy (physical, occupational, speech?) to help her regain her abilities, if that is even a reasonable thing to expect. She may need to live in a nursing home for the rest of her life.

Best wishes.

Jeannie, Wow, my husband had a massive heart attach, but nothing like this. I don't know what to tell you. Hopefully some one will have the answer that you need . Good Luck
I do know that when he awoke from open heart surgery, my father-in-law and I were standing beside his bed. He opened up those pretty blue eyes and it looked like pure terror in those eyes. He didn't know where he was, it was just sheer terror.The pain was just unbearable.

I'm so sorry to hear about your aunt - it must have been very scary for you and your family.

Unfortunately, it is so tough to tell how well a preson is going to recover from this type of injury. But your aunt has some really good things going for her - she wasn't in a coma for very long and she was successfully weaned off of the vent with in 3 days. That's super! It sounds like she's got some expressive dysphasia (can't recall the word for keys) but she can get therapy for that.

It may take a few weeks before she really clears from the confusion. Keep helping her remember but don't push it if she gets frustrated.

Definitely push the doctors to get her therapy for her speech problems and any other physical issues she might have. You don't say how old your aunt is but sometimes docs tend to not be as aggresive with therapies for older folks, but early therapy with good follow up can mean the difference between going home and going to a nursing home.

Good luck and best wishes to you, your aunt and your family.

Ventricular fibrillation is when the bottom chambers of the heart does nothing but quiver. There is no blood pumping to the rest of the body. Since there is no blood pumping to the brain, the brain is oxygen deprived. It takes 4-6 minutes of oxygen deprivation to cause neurological damage. It sounds like there might have been an even more extended time of O2 deprivation.

When the brain is oxygen starved, the cells begin to die off. Sometimes they never get replaced. Whichever part of her brain was affected, is indicative of her behavior, motor skills, language skills, memory, etc.

Stroke victims have more or less the symptoms, and in general the doctors say the point of improvement at 6 months after the initial event is as good as it will get as far as recovery.

A positron emission tomography test will be able to pinpoint where exactly the damage is. This test shows up in color and the radiologist can see things they couldn't with the conventional CAT scan or MRI.

In the meantime, ask her doctor, occupational therapist, speech therapist what is the best course you can take to assist her in getting back to her normal state as much as her condition will allow. The brain is a remarkable organ, it will compensate for itself.

I wish your aunt and yourself the best of luck. It's a hard road, but love does conquer all!

She had a stroke at the same time.

Strokes and heart attacks are arterial blockages, one to the brain, one to the heart.

Be sure to tell her doctors about the memory issues ASAP.