Boris..intensive care..

If there are internal stairs to his flat he might not be ready to go there at all yet. Its a huge fire risk to discharge someone to an upstairs they cant easily get down from. Fire services have to be informed etc.

People can go to groundfloor living in a flat much sooner to convalece at home.

Its why people are often discharged to relatives houses rather than straight to their flats. Its that or get a rehab bed until strong enough for stairs.

Can someone explain to me if there are 2 official residences why the one that is used least isn't a second home?

Lots of people are registered to vote and with a GP in houses that they live in at weekends/time off, and rent second homes or rooms that they live in mon-friday.
I know several people who live away from their primary family home a few days a week, or all of the working week, for work
Its not just the no of days that makes somewhere your primary residence

I thought it was only if you were intubed that you had major problems

Some of the hallucinations etc are directly related to sedation meds used for full ventillation

But PTSDs etc are still very common for any ITU admissions.

Im some ways its a worse place to be awake in than not!

can you explain why, if he was in intensive care just a few days ago, he was able to give a 5 minute speech without coughing

Because it was all a hoax Labaik <taps side of nose, knowingly>. Boris never had COVID it was all a ruse to cover up that he was going away to work on that other great myth; men walking on the moon. You were quick to spot the deliberate mistake though!

Psychosis Notanan ???? What the heck are you talking about?
I think you need to look that one up!

ITU psychosis is a very real widely acknowledge risk/effect of having been in ITU GrannyLaine
you look it up.
Often it is related to sedation meds but it can also be from being awake but septic/delerious in such a traumatic envirinment.
It doesnt just go away on discharge, flash back to the psychosis are common.

All this speculation and comment about where Boris is convalescing and what treatment he had is in my humble opinion missing the point. far more important surely is to hope that this experience has had some influence on making him a more compassionate serious minded politician who will show more respect for key workers and reward them accordingly.

ITU is not the naughty step
You dont go there to learn your lesson, you go there to try to survive

notanan is quite right ..DH spent five days in intensive care a few months ago and had hallucinations both there ( seeing people and hearing them talk to him) and again in the ward when he left ICU. a doctor came to check on him and asked if had hallucinations and said it was a common side effect of the meds.He thought he was seeing ghosts!

I fear that a lot of medical staff are going to suffer from ptsd after this; I do hope that there will be counselling available for them.

BJ is almost certain to have some form of PTSD, psychosis or depression/anxiety

Just to help you out Notanan..... and I DON'T need to look it up

"Psychosis is an umbrella term; it means that an individual has sensory experiences of things that do not exist and/or beliefs with no basis in reality. During a psychotic episode, an individual may experience hallucinations and/or delusions. They may see or hear things that do not exist"

Being inside ICU is a sobering sight I can tell you, especially when patients die and are speedily removed.It was a very frightening time, but the one to one care is superb.

When my friend was in an induced coma she thought everyone was trying to kill her. When she had counselling afterwards she was told to pretend she was walking through beautiful woodland; sun shining, birds singing etc etc. 'What are you thinking', asked the counsellor...'who's following me' was my friends reply.

the conspiracy theories from LP supporters ( Boris not seriously ill etc) are in absolute loony tunes territory.

I've been out for my state approved walk with the dogs, done a bit of gardening and cooked our evening meal, which we are about to eat.
So a quick catch up with gransnet and this is the only thread I've read. It's so dispiriting. I'd be interested to hear if I'm alone in feeling that.
notanan2 and I are not natural political allies, at least that's my impression so far.
However -notanan, your contributions, your knowledge of the impact of being an ITU patient seem to me to be spot on. I haven't worked in ITU but I have worked with PTSD. A key factor in people who develop post trauma syndrome is being involved in an incident that is life threatening. I watched Mr J's short video last night - he clearly mentioned when thanking the nursing staff and doctors that 'it was touch and go'. He wouldn't have been admitted to hospital, certainly not into ITU unless he was seriously ill and for ITU at risk of dying.

I'm disgusted that some people seem unable to accept this. Mr J is in the right place at Chequers, he can rest an recuperate. Good luck to him.

lemongrove I don't doubt it occasionally happens under some circumstances and I'm sorry this happened to your husband. But to baldly state that the Prime Minister had any of these conditions when he made a perfectly rational broadcast to the nation on his discharge is frankly prurient and ridiculous. You can't switch psychosis on and off.

trisher is now using paddyanns term for Carrie 'bidey in'
I imagine it being said in scandalised tones and a pursed mouth....ooh living in sin, how awful!

his fiancé to be exact, as they are engaged, or just his girlfriend or partner ( this is the 21st century) you know.

Alternatively he could have been having a well deserved break from running the country at such a stressful time and indulging his drug habit in a secret opium den known only to the Tory cabinet.

You can't switch psychosis on and off.

Yes you can. You can have a psychotic episode lasting from several minutes to several days or weeks. And then they seem to disappear, only to reappear when triggered.

his short speech was perfectly rational as you sayGrannyL
however meds do stay in the body for a while.He will have been told about this, as my DH was at the time.

I'm afraid that I find it very difficult to warm to or have any respect for anyone that has an affair with a married man; especially one whose wife is seriously ill. I think anyone that has been in a situation where their husband has been having an affair will understand that.

GrannyLaine just because we saw a brief snap shot of BJ looking okay does not make him exempt from the normal effects one can expect to experience during recovery from ITU.
All ITU leavers are told to expect these things.

And it does come and go, the ITUpsychosis flash backs etc

And "ITU psychosis" is a distinctly recognised type of psychosis and some degree of that or PTSD or other psychological reaction is pretty much unavoidable.

If you arent sedated you are sleep deprived with painful 24 hr care to levels that are onlu comparable to torture situations.

You witness other peoples traumas too

The non sedation meds there can also induce deleriums and hallucinations (some pain, antisickness and milder relaxants)

If septic with pneumonia deleriums can also occur

Its a huge trauma it would be abnormal to be fine afterwards

My DH was told his full recovery could take 6 months, but certainly 3 months to get anywhere near approaching normal.
3 months on he still tires very easily.

Some ITUs offer "walk throughs" for ex patients months later to help people decipher what was real and what was the ITU Psychosis, where they can visit to help make sense of the flashbacks and nightmares.