Why doesn’t my loved one talk to me?

There are many different reasons why a critically ill person may not speak. One reason may be that the breathing tube is passed through the vocal cords and prevents speech. When artificial breathing is used, relaxing medicine (sedation) is also necessary. In order to reduce anxiety and pain, your healthcare team will use sedation and pain medication (analgesia) to help them. Sedatives relax the patient, make them sleep, and will promote amnesia. Analgesics significantly diminish the pain. When the patient is sedated and has been give pain medication, he or she may have difficulty waking up, or when he or she does, may appear disoriented. Sometimes the amount of sedation needed to allow the assisted breathing to take place makes the person appear to be in a coma (will not awaken).

In a person who has been brain injured either by stroke or trauma, the ability to speak or stay awake may have been affected. This is common in the first few days after these injuries. The healthcare team will have to determine whether it is likely that the brain will heal. In most cases of stroke or brain injury, it takes at least 7 days for the doctor to make an evaluation of potential recovery.