Luckily, there are ways to do precisely that. That seems pretty harsh, really. Someone who is in a coma is unconscious and has minimal brain activity. This content does not have an Arabic version. In other news, yes, therapeutic hypothermia is a thing. The idea that all of that happens, but you're still somewhat aware of what's happening around you is arguably even worse. According to Medical News Today, there are also certain types of coma, such as ones caused by high blood CO2 levels or low blood sugar, that start with the person getting agitated and increasingly confused before finally passing out. A coma's a possibility. 7th ed. You wouldn't age mentally though because you're unconscious, you don't know what's going on around you. Stupor and coma. The word coma has terrifying connotations to most people. If that's the case, the doctors might have to ensure that the airways remain open and breathing continues, and the patient might have to spend their coma time with a tube up their breathing bits, in order to prevent them from asphyxiating. Some people have argued that such people age at a slower rate, but this is really only half the story. The thought of an involuntary unconsciousness that you may or may not wake up from is arguably up there with the worst-case medical scenarios, like a cancer diagnosis. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Coma is a state of prolonged unconsciousness that can be caused by a variety of problems — traumatic head injury, stroke, brain tumor, drug or alcohol intoxication, or even an underlying illness, such as diabetes or an infection. The part of their brain that was damages initially (to trigger the coma) might deteriorate as a result of inflammation or "maintenance" responses to the area. Any use of this site constitutes your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy linked below. Generally, the order in which medical personnel diagnose and treat for coma is: The airway, breathing, blood pressure and pulse of the person are checked. Bradley's Neurology in Clinical Practice. Comas come in many flavors, and as the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics website tells us, the fact that a comatose person might not "respond consistently or appropriately" doesn't necessarily mean that they remain perfectly still. Much like "sleep" can mean anything from a blissful eight hours of rest to a terrifying, nightmare-filled catnap, "coma" is a catch-all term that can be caused by any number of things, if they become serious enough. A high temperature may indicate fever and infection, while a low temperature suggests hypothermia. For instance, Medical News Today informs us that it's perfectly possible to enter a coma that's so deep that you can't even breathe properly. With that said, here is some helpful information concerning comas after brain injury. While all comas are different and there's no telling how aware of their surroundings an individual patient is, the NHS recommends that visitors assume the patient can hear and understand them. However, the exact period depends on specific condition a patient. Accessed Nov. 8, 2020. The person is alive and looks like … It is not possible to wake a coma patient using physical or auditory stimulation. Quora.. And while the body in coma may look docile and completely inert, there's actually quite a lot going on under the surface. Every coma is different depending on the part of … © 1998-2021 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). What you need to … Of course, the induced coma is also reversible. They do indeed. She was in a coma for I think a little over a year. Sure, classic coma causes. A coma is a pretty serious condition, but as Scientific American tells us, it can also be a pretty important tool when doctors are out of other options. Depressed brainstem reflexes, such as pupils not responding to light, No responses of limbs, except for reflex movements, No response to painful stimuli, except for reflex movements. A coma is essentially an umbrella term for a long state of unconsciousness, which can be caused by a massive array of different health problems, according to the Mayo Clinic. Note that by this definition, doctors frequently put peo… That being said, a coma is far from a simple state of being. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Accessed Nov. 6, 2020. However, the procedure helped him reacquire an ability to understand simple commands and react to various situations. However, according to a 2014 study published by the European Society of Cardiology (via Science Daily), there are certain tricks you can employ to predict the survival odds for at least one type of coma patient. Thank you for the quite interesting question. The man's brain activity showed that he was doing just that. A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Calling an ambulance is likely a no-brainer if there's an accident or stroke involved. "We know ICU patients lose muscle mass and function," says respirologist Dr. Jane Batt. A medically induced coma is precisely what it says on the tin — a form of anesthesia that can put you under when your injuries are bad enough to necessitate such an extreme maneuver. What Happens To Your Body When You're In A Coma, National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Patients in the deepest level of coma: do not respond with any body movement to pain, do not have any speech, and; do not open their eyes. As such, you should remember to tell the comatose person who you are at arrival, speak to them normally, and generally be supportive. Should such a person wake up from a coma after some time, it takes months or even years of rehabilitation before that person is able to continue their lives normally. Stupor and coma in adults. Somehow, moving their arms and legs isn't even close to the strangest thing a comatose person can do. This is pretty significant, because brains generally don't come back after a decade and half of vacation time. Here, to achieve fast recovery of coma … As the researchers were trying to find a way to predict survival rates more accurately, they discovered that a very particular heartbeat during hypothermia may correlate with lower brain damage, and therefore better chances for survival. Imagine visiting a comatose family member in a hospital, only for the serene, sorrowful scene to be interrupted by the patient's limbs suddenly flailing around for no reason at all. It's definitely an emergency situation, and the person should receive medical attention as soon as possible. We can't prepare you for such a terrifying scenario. They use it to protect the patient from brain damage. However, we can help you understand how a comatose state would treat your corporeal form. Because a coma prevents you from using your muscles like you normally would, spending time in a coma would be likely to cause your muscles to atrophy. Swift action is needed to preserve life and brain function. Depending on the patient and the situation, it can be any number of things, and your average person probably doesn't have a clue what they might be up against if they're ever unfortunate enough to go under. With all these ifs and maybes involved, a coma is a pretty serious thing that requires a doctor to swiftly find out the underlying cause, in order to deal with the situation in the first place. Coma patients exhibit a complete absence of wakefulness and are unable to consciously feel, speak or move. The consciousness that made it you is unlikely to return ever again. Overdid it with alcohol or narcotics? She said she felt like she was asleep but was most freaked out when she woke up and saw that she had gone through puberty while in the coma.” 6. Then again, isn't it basically just being asleep? I was in a near-fatal motorcycle accident. Who knows what medical science will be able to do for long-term coma patients in the future? According to the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, some coma patients might take things to the next level by sometimes spontaneously grimacing, crying, or even laughing. Turns out, it can lead to some pretty interesting imaginary experiences, and by "interesting," we mean "incredibly scary.". Here's what happens to your body when you're in a coma. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. But people in a coma will not age like people not in a coma. During a coma, a person is unresponsive to their environment. As Business Insider tells us, this is indeed true, but not necessarily in the way you expect, particularly if it's a medically induced coma — which is, after all, essentially a form of anesthesia. There are many underlying causes for a coma, but as Medical News Today informs us, the actual condition also comes in many varieties. They’re alive, but can’t be woken up and show no signs of being aware. While that does sound more scientific than vivid visions of heaven and hell, we can't help but feel that doesn't really matter when you're stuck in an incredibly detailed hallucination that you absolutely cannot wake up from. A list of items can be punctuated like this: We need … The term ‘coma’ covers many conditions, so if you can dream, it depends on which part of the brain is damaged. A coma is a prolonged state of unconsciousness. Of course, comas vary from person to person, and the fact that there's an arbitrary point of no return doesn't mean that people never come back from comas that last over a year. Coma information page. I was in a medically induced coma for two weeks at the age of 17. The signs and symptoms of a coma commonly include: A coma is a medical emergency. A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. Some people have reported feeling enormous reassurance from the presence of a loved one when coming out of a coma. Arguably, the most famous person who has been treated in this manner is Michael Schumacher, the famous Formula One driver who received terrifying head injuries in a 2013 skiing accident. A brain tumor, or maybe stroke? As the NHS tells us, a comatose person is usually taken care of in an intensive care unit, and because of the nature of the condition, the patient's body is likely to experience some pretty unpleasant changes. The person’s eyes will be closed and they’ll appear to be unresponsive to their environment. Patients in comas might look like they’re sleeping, but there are pretty fascinating things happening inside of their heads. While the best-case scenario for a coma patient is waking up with all their faculties intact, there's a chance they've gained a new, debilitating illness in the process, according to a 2016 study by the researchers at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Canada (via Science Daily). As the Mayo Clinic and the National Health Service of the U.K. tell us, the causes for a coma are many and various. What you can do as a visitor. Here's where things get really weird. Some people feel they can remember events that happened around them while they were in a coma, while others don't. If You Use a Serial Comma, Use it Consistently. Without regular use, their muscles will atrophy. With these tools and an array of tests at their disposal, the medical professionals can gain insight on what caused the coma, how deep it is, and how it should be treated. A coma seldom lasts longer than several weeks. After a cardiac arrest, it's pretty difficult to give the comatose patient's loved ones an accurate prognosis in the first three or four days, which is obviously massively stressful for everyone involved. https://www.ninds.nih.gov/Disorders/All-Disorders/Coma-Information-Page. The GCS is a handy, practical method that tests the patient's ability to open their eyes, as well as the level of their verbal and motor response. The idea of losing your consciousness and being reduced to a barely functioning body in what may or may not be a permanent sleep state is horrifying. Some people who recover from a coma end up with major or minor disabilities. It can result from an injury or illness. However, we immediately run into a problem, because the root cause of a coma is not as clearly defined as you'd think. Most people think that coma is a pretty quiet, unmoving state, and it can certainly be just that. Merck Manual Professional Edition. A coma (say: KO-muh) can be difficult to understand, especially because people sometimes jokingly use the word coma to describe people who are sleeping deeply or not paying attention. In fact, if things go really awry, even comparatively mundane conditions, such as infections or diabetes, can send a person into a coma. Since we're discussing the comatose state, it's probably best to take a look at the very beginning of the road to a coma and (hopefully) back. This particular method applies to comatose OHCA (out-of-hospital cardiac arrest) patients and involves the measuring of a heart rate during therapeutic hypothermia. It's easy to think of a coma as a really deep sleep and little else, but the comatose state can actually wreck a person's body in a number of interesting and, let's face it, creepy ways. The experience of being in a coma differs from person to person. “How old am I?” I had a car wreck in July and broke the C2 and C3 in my neck, hip, and clavicle. A coma patient's eyes are generally closed, and their breathing may be irregular. I remember being rushed to the emergency room, getting a CAT scan, then being placed in ICU. Seeing as Mayo Clinic notes that most comas only last for a few weeks, this means that everyone's probably going to get pretty nervous after the first couple of months. Unfortunately, Medical News Today tells us there have been cases where comatose people can "hear and understand spoken instructions," even though they're still very much under. It would be true that if you were (purely as an example, of course) in a coma, then because it would follow that you were bed-bound and therefore not exposed to external pollutants, sunlight and so forth, then your skin should (theoretically) age at a slower rate. Coma is a medical emergency. While we do not want to encourage any false sense of hope, you also should not give up on seeing your loved one wake up again. "Mayo," "Mayo Clinic," "MayoClinic.org," "Mayo Clinic Healthy Living," and the triple-shield Mayo Clinic logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. People who are unconscious for a longer time might transition to a persistent vegetative state or brain death. However, even if a person falls into a coma because of some less identifiable reason, there are ways to tell that they're not just having a really good nap. All rights reserved. This content does not have an English version. Once you're in a coma, you're working against a deadline. Some examples are: Although many people gradually recover from a coma, others enter a vegetative state or die. Answer by Erin Barker, coma survivor.. The first responders can use the AVPU scale (Alertness, Vocal stimuli, Painful stimuli, Unconscious) to determine just how out of it the person is, and precisely what sort of an emergency they're dealing with. “When I was a kid, my best friend got hit by a car at age 12. That being said, a coma is far from a simple state of being. Newsletter. Most people start regaining their consciousness after a few weeks in a coma, and being aware of their surroundings can actually be helpful. Daroff RB, et al. For a condition as complicated as a coma, it's difficult to say exactly when the person wakes up — or, for that matter, what their odds are for doing so in the first place.
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