History Main / CryoSickness

-->'''Austin:'''How do I explain to them that due to the unfreezing process I have no inner monologue? \\

* ''Film/AustinPowers'': Frontal lobe disinhibition. The inability to keep from blurting out whatever thought pops into your head.
** How do I explain to them that due to the unfreezing process I have no inner monologue?

* ''Film/Oblivion2013'': When Julia is woken from her cryogenic escape pod, the first thing she does is vomit. It also turns out she is dehydrated. She makes a full recovery from this state though.

-->''Being a centimeter this side of death for half a year takes a certain toll on a person. They make sure the lights are dimmed, but when you open your eyes, it’ll feel like your head is going to explode. You’ll be so weak it’ll be hard to sit up. You’ll most likely try puke all over yourself, but you won’t be able to. You’ll have the worst case of the dry heaves you ever had, though.''

[[caption-width-right:350: Han Solo: LoveableRogue, HumanPopsicle, and currently sick as a dog from hibernation sickness.]]

* ''Film/{{Oblivion}}'': When Julia is woken from her cryogenic escape pod, the first thing she does is vomit. It also turns out she is dehydrated. She makes a full recovery from this state though.

** In ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' (set more than half a century before the first ''Alien'' movie), the stasis pods aboard the titular spaceship render the crew highly nauseous when they've only just awoken from a meagre ''two-year'' stasis.

* It isn't given a lot of focus, but near the beginning of ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' we hear an announcement informing Jake and the other people coming out of cryo that they ''will'' be hungry and weak and may feel nauseous as well. They've been in suspended animation for the six-year flight to Pandora, so this is understandable.

* A non-sci-fi example in the ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' {{Gamebook}} ''Literature/BlackVeinProphecy'': The story begins with you waking up in a mausoleum after being put to sleep by your father 200 years ago, and as you regain your bearings, you discover that you have no memories of your name, identity, and must re-learn your purpose for most of the story's first act.

* The ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' ExpandedUniverse half-jokingly calls this "freezer burn," and notes that it's a bad idea to wear clothing into your cryopod. Master Cheif being frozen while inside his PoweredArmor showcases how [[MadeOfIron durable]] he is, but even he gets an itchy rash all over from it.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'': "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVIPsirens Psirens]]" starts with Lister waking up from 200 years of Deep Sleep (which is implied to be at least partly cryogenic in nature). Not only have his hair and nails grown during that time, but he's also amnesiac, and it takes some time before his memories come back to him.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "The Neutral Zone", several humans from the '90's get woken up from cryo-stasis. One of them, Claire, is physically weak after she wakes up, so [[FaintInShock the shock from seeing Worf, an alien, is enough to make her pass out]].

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': Devlin Stone froze himself in cryogenic suspension in 3130 when he disappeared from the Republic of the Sphere, with the intent that he would "return in its hour of need." However, when his cryopod was discovered in 3146, leading to him being awakened prematurely. Between the incorrect awakening sequence, the limits of cryogenic suspension technology, and his already advanced age, the process left him damaged both physically and mentally. He was no longer able to pilot a battlemech and his strategy for saving the Republic of the Sphere was highly delusional, basically relying on the Republic's enemies to [[MookChivalry come in one at a time]] instead of [[ZergRush all together]] and the Republic's allies to come to its defense even when doing so would mean certain destruction for their own realms. The end result was that the Republic, having pinned its last hope of survival on him, was conquered by Clan Wolf, starting the ilClan era.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E19LisasWedding Lisa's Wedding]]", which takes place in the future, has Mr. Burns cryonically-preserved and cured of "37 stab wounds to the back." He's very fragile (even moreso than the old man who was once nearly drowned by a wet sponge placed on his head weighing him down like a millstone), breaking both legs just trying to sit down.

HarmlessFreezing not being a real thing is a huge barrier to real-life [[HumanPopsicle cryogenic suspension]]. This is sometimes depicted by having recently thawed characters with systemic injuries similar to ResurrectionSickness, ranging from "character has a cold"[[labelnote:*]]pun not intended but welcome[[/labelnote]] to "[[ImMelting character is a puddle]]." If they outright die during their time in the deep-freeze, it's CryonicsFailure.

* In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi,'' when Han Solo is thawed out from a brick of carbonite, he's too weak to stand, and blind on top of it. It takes him all the rest of Act 1 to get better.

* A non sci-fi example in the ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' {{Gamebook}} ''Literature/BlackVeinProphecy'': The story begins with you waking up in a mausoleum after being put to sleep by your father 200 years ago, and as you regain your bearings, you discover that you have no memories of your name, identity, and must re-learn your purpose for most of the story's first act.

* In ''VideoGame/TheOuterWorlds,'' the passengers of the colony ship ''Hope'' can't be revived [[spoiler: without a good-sized dose of Dymethil Sulphoxide]] because they're so freezer burnt that they ''melt'' on revival, screaming in agony the whole time. The Unplanned Variable is revived using the last dose of an experimental serum that not only brings them back, but gives them BulletTime.

* In ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest 5,'' this can happen to Beatrice either when your freezing her after she's attacked by a pukoid or unfreezing her to cure her mutation illness. Botching either procedure can turn her into a permanent ice cube or melt her into a rather messy puddle, which is bad as it breaks a stable time loop in a previous game that saved Roger's life.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E19LisasWedding Lisa's Wedding]]", which takes place in the future, has Mr. Burns cryonically preserved and cured of "37 stab wounds to the back." He's very fragile (even moreso than the old man who was once nearly drowned by a wet sponge placed on his head weighing him down like a millstone), breaking both legs just trying to sit down.

* A real cryonic experiment involves killing an animal by sucking out all its blood and replacing it with supercold saline (medical-grade salt water). When the animal is revived, it's warmed up, its blood is returned, and its brain is zapped with electricity. This is quite stressful to the body, and usually results in brain damage.

* In ''AnimeAndManga/TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold'', the Olmecs preserved themselves for thousands of years through cryonic hibernation, but in the fourth and final season, one of them explains that this prolonged stasis caused them to mutate into alien-esque beings, with pale and rotting skin.

* In ''AnimeAndManga/MysteriousCitiesOfGold'', the Olmecs preserved themselves for thousands of years through cryonic hibernation, but in the fourth and final season, one of them explains that this prolonged stasis caused them to mutate into alien-esque beings, with pale and rotting skin.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': Devlin Stone froze himself in cryogenic suspension in 3130 when he disappeared from the Republic of the Sphere, with the intent that he would "return in its hour of need." However, when his cryopod was discovered in 3146, leading to him being awakened prematurely. Between the incorrect awakening sequence, the limits of cryogenic suspension technology, and his already advanced age, the process left him damaged both physically and mentally. He was no longer able to pilot a battlemech and his strategy for saving the Republic of the Sphere was highly delusional, basically relying on the Republic's enemies to [[MookChivalry come in one at a time]] instead of [[ZergRush all together]] and the Republic's allies to come to its defense even when doing so would mean certain destruction for their own realms.

* In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi,'' when Han Solo is thawed out from a brick of carbonite, he's too weak to stand, and blind on top of it. It takes him all the rest of Act 1 to get better.

* ''Literature/ToSleepInASeaOfStars'': Since FTL jumps between star systems take weeks to months in local time, starship crews go into cryogenic hybernation during this time. However, prolonged hybernation results in debilitating bouts of cryo sickness, especially if not enough time passes between jumps. This becomes a minor plot point late in the novel, as the ''Wallfish'' crew is forced to make multiple jumps only a day or two after each other, with their symptoms becoming more and more severe (especially for Nielsen, [[spoiler:who is revealed to be over 100 years old]]).

* In ''Series/{{Snowpiercer}}'', cryogenic suspension in "the drawers" is used for [[CryoPrison preserving ticketed passengers who commit crimes.]] Short-term confinement can cause some disorientation, but long-term confinement can lead to drastic brain damage.
* {{Discussed}} in one episode of ''Series/TheRedGreenShow.'' One segment of the program involved a SeinfeldianConversation between Red (general outdoorsman and tinker), Mike (sticky-fingered LoveableRogue), and Dalton (a storekeeper) fishing in a boat. Dalton brings up being frozen after death and revived once science catches up to whatever killed you, while Mike states that one of the downsides would be getting freezer burned.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "The Neutral Zone", several humans from the '90's get woken up from cryo-stasis. One of them, Claire, is physically weak after she wakes up, so [[FaintInShock the shock from seeing Worf, an alien, is enough to make her pass out]].

* In ''VideoGame/Fallout2,'' people (specifically, poor schmuck PFC Dobbs) who are improperly revived from cryonic suspension have a tendency to suffer from something the game calls "Post-Cryogenic Syndrome," where they seem ok for about 5 minutes then liquify into goop.

* ''VideoGame/{{Rimworld}}:'' Cryptosleep Caskets can keep just about anything indefinitely alive in suspended animation, but leaving it will leave colonists and anyone else with "Cryptosleep Sickness", which slows them down, makes them woozy, and gives them nausea. It usually only lasts a few hours though.
* In ''Videogame/AlienIsolation,'' as with the rest of the franchise, cryo-sleep is portrayed as inducing sickness. In this case, Taylor, a Weyland-Yutani office executive, is really feeling it because she's never been through cryo-sleep before.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda:'' The Andromeda Initiative used cryo-freezing to survive the trip across galaxies and are shown to be very careful when waking someone up, with doctors assigned to monitor all new awakenings. Background chatter explores some immediate problems like body temperature and how to feed someone whose stomach hasn't held food for six hundred years, and a later sidequest reveals that a not insignificant number of people suffered permanent damage to their brain chemistry. It is also acknowledged that some people didn't survive the trip. This trope is used to explain the aversion of SchrodingersPlayerCharacter; the male and female versions of [[PlayerCharacter Pathfinder Ryder]] are fraternal twins. The one the player chose is the one that was woken up first while the twin not chosen spends most of the game in a coma because their stasis pod was damaged while they were in the process of waking up.

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* A non sci-fi example in the GameBook, ''Literature/BlackVeinProphecy'': The story begins with you waking up in a mausoleum after being put to sleep by your father 200 years ago, and as you regain your bearings, you discover that you have no memories of your name, identity, and must re-learn your purpose for most of the story's first act.

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* [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E19LisasWedding An episode]] of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' set in the future has Mr. Burns cryonically preserved and cured of "37 stab wounds to the back." He's very fragile (even moreso than the old man who was once nearly drowned by a wet sponge placed on his head weighing him down like a millstone), breaking both legs just trying to sit down.

* ''Videogame/{{Rimworld}}:'' Cryptosleep Caskets can keep just about anything indefinitely alive in suspended animation, but leaving it will leave colonists and anyone else with "Cryptosleep Sickness", which slows them down, makes them woozy, and gives them nausea. It usually only lasts a few hours though.

* A real cryonic experiment involves killing an animal by sucking out all its blood and replacing it with supercold saline (medical-grade salt water). When it is revived, it's warmed up, its blood is returned, and its brain is zapped with electricity. This is quite stressful to the body, and usually results in brain damage.

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