Critical illness means you have been extremely unwell and needed admission to an intensive care unit (ICU). Good nutrition is important to help your body recover but can be difficult when you are recovering. You may find some of the links to advice helpful.
Recovering after critical care
ICU Steps provides information on recovering from critical care due to COVID-19 infection.
Eating after critical care
Whilst in the ICU, your body has had to work very hard. Muscle and weight loss are common after critical illness, even when you have been given nutrition support such as tube feeding or oral nutritional supplements.
Good nutrition is important for recovery. It will help to rebuild muscle and support your body to recover from the infection. However, you may not feel hungry or have symptoms affecting your eating. This can make it difficult to eat enough good nutrition. The British Dietetic Association (BDA) and ICU steps have advice which can help.
- BDA nutrition and eating after ICU
- ICU Steps information: Nutrition in hospital after critical illness [PDF] and Nutrition at home after critical illness [PDF]
Swallowing problems
Many people need a breathing tube (intubation) while in ICU. This can sometimes cause swallowing problems. A speech and language therapist may have assessed you in hospital and given advice about diet and drinks. Please continue to follow this until you are told you can have your usual diet and drinks.
If you are worried about your swallowing, please contact your GP surgery or hospital team. You may find this self-assessment tool from the Melbourne ENT Group website [PDF] useful.
For more information on swallowing and COVID-19, NHS Scotland has a workbook with information on problems with swallowing (page 39) [PDF].
Gut and digestive symptoms
Changes in bowels, feeling sick or having indigestion can sometimes happen after being very unwell in ICU.
You may also have pain or discomfort in your stomach or a burning pain behind your breastbone. This is called indigestion or heartburn and can happen with COVID-19 infection.
ICU Steps and the BDA have produced information on managing gut and digestive symptoms:
Managing fatigue
Fatigue after serious illness or ICU admission is common.
The Action for ME charity provides information to help manage fatigue, including Pacing for people with ME [PDF]. You may find this is helpful as you recover from COVID-19 infection or critical care admission.
Mental health
Some people find their mental health is affected after a serious illness or an admission to ICU. Some ICU services offer outpatient follow-up where you can discuss what happened and ask questions. This may be helpful for some people in managing their mental health after ICU admission.
The Psychology Tools also has a number of guides, including ‘Patient Guide – Critical Illness, Intensive Care, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder' [PDF].
If you have ongoing concerns or feel you are at risk of harming yourself, seek urgent help. This may be through your GP surgery, a mental health team or urgent care out of hours through phoning 111 or in an emergency situation 999.
What to do if you are worried or symptoms continue
Contact your GP surgery, hospital team or relevant healthcare professional if you are worried about symptoms, your mental health or ongoing problems with eating, swallowing, gut or other symptoms affecting your eating.
Want to know more about nutrition and COVID-19?
Listen to or watch our podcasts about:
- Diet and COVID-19
- Dietary advice and symptoms, malnutrition, antihistamine diets
- Anti-inflammatory diets with a discussion about the Mediterranean diet in more detail
- Links between food and COVID-19 symptoms which explains how to monitor your symptoms and possible dietary changes you could make