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. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. "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. The method relies on the coma slowing the blood flow and metabolic rate, which in turn reduces the swelling. The experience of being in a coma differs from person to person. And the mysterious nature of a coma just adds to the horror. There Are Different Types Of Coma Powerhouse Museum / … 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. While in her mind she was in Alaska, in reality Wineland was in a California hospital in a medically-induced coma. She was in a coma for I think a little over a year. Thank you for the quite interesting question. 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. Coma is a medical emergency. 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. But people in a coma will not age like people not in a coma. Accessed Nov. 8, 2020. According to Business Insider, a medically induced coma can be used to counteract the brain swelling caused by severe head trauma, in order to prevent brain damage or even death. Then again, isn't it basically just being asleep? Car crash However, we immediately run into a problem, because the root cause of a coma is not as clearly defined as you'd think. But a coma is a serious condition that has nothing to do … © 1998-2021 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER). A person in a coma does not show intentional response or movement. The signs and symptoms of a coma commonly include: A coma is a medical emergency. Their temperature is taken. Coma information page. 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. Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit organization. Don't worry, your poor relative isn't possessed or anything. Maria … Quora.. One might expect that the ability to dream would make a coma less dull. http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/neurologic-disorders/coma-and-impaired-consciousness/overview-of-coma-and-impaired-consciousness. If You Use a Serial Comma, Use it Consistently. 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). 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. 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. This is in response to reader Karen’s questions on what happens to a person in a coma and after physical death, which are probably better addressed to a priest or a medical doctor. Some people have argued that such people age at a slower rate, but this is really only half the story. Stupor and coma. Otherwise, what would be the point? 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. And no, one does not involve putting a comma in when you naturally pause. This is pretty significant, because brains generally don't come back after a decade and half of vacation time. They use it to protect the patient from brain damage. The man's brain activity showed that he was doing just that. Young GB. We can't prepare you for such a terrifying scenario. The short answer is: Pretty bad. Somehow, moving their arms and legs isn't even close to the strangest thing a comatose person can do. “How old am I?” I had a car wreck in July and broke the C2 and C3 in my neck, hip, and clavicle. A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. 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. A coma is a deep state of unconsciousness. Essentially, the doctors put your brain on a little time out in an attempt to give it some time to recover. 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. Luckily, there are ways to do precisely that. As such, you should remember to tell the comatose person who you are at arrival, speak to them normally, and generally be supportive. Most people start regaining their consciousness after a few weeks in a coma, and being aware of their surroundings can actually be helpful. Of course, there's also the other end of the spectrum. 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. Elsevier; 2016. https://www.clinicalkey.com. A California woman who made headlines more than two decades ago when she gave birth to twins while in a coma has died from COVID-19 complications. How bad can a coma really be? You wouldn't age mentally though because you're unconscious, you don't know what's going on around you. 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. That seems pretty harsh, really. Isn't a coma basically just being asleep? The Glasgow Coma Scale was developed to provide health-caregivers a simple way of measuring the depth of coma based upon observations of eye opening, speech, and movement. Absolutely! Brain injury patients can have several types of reflexive movements, which range from straightening and bending of the arms and legs to the limbs moving randomly, for no particular reason. Here, to achieve fast recovery of coma … This question originally appeared on Quora. Per one person who survived a … Coma patients exhibit a complete absence of wakefulness and are unable to consciously feel, speak or move. 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. This particular method applies to comatose OHCA (out-of-hospital cardiac arrest) patients and involves the measuring of a heart rate during therapeutic hypothermia. You do physically; your body is still kicking. People who are unconscious for a longer time might transition to a persistent vegetative state or brain death. 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. It can last for a few days, but sometimes the person does not wake up. This content does not have an English version. What you need to … However, we can help you understand how a comatose state would treat your corporeal form. Sure, classic coma causes. Swift action is needed to preserve life and brain function. So, sinus bradycardia, which Healthline defines as a special type of slow, steady heart rate that's under 60 beats per minute, might indeed be good news for this particular type of coma patient. Someone who is in a coma is unconscious and has minimal brain activity. What do you think about when you hear the word 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. When the comatose person is taken to a hospital, a more thorough assessment known as the Glasgow Coma Scale can be applied. Overdid it with alcohol or narcotics? Death, while typically painless, is no less final. As National Geographic informs us, that deadline is roughly one year after you fell under. The person is alive and looks like … 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. That being said, a coma is far from a simple state of being. 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. However, the exact period depends on specific condition a patient. This is why a comatose person's pupils don't contract and dilate properly, when subjected to light. All rights reserved. Merck Manual Professional Edition. 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. They do not respond to touch, sound or pain, and cannot be awakened. Maybe whip out some headphones and play them their favorite music, as well. Horrifying, yes? Newsletter. 7th ed. The longer answer is the same, only followed by a rant about a coma being a horrific condition in so many ways that you've probably never imagined. 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. Some examples are: Although many people gradually recover from a coma, others enter a vegetative state or die. Most people think that coma is a pretty quiet, unmoving state, and it can certainly be just that. A coma's a possibility. The word coma has terrifying connotations to most people. Every coma is different depending on the part of … In 1988, while working on the railroad, Jan Grzebski received head injuries while trying … If you don’t want to be put in a coma and placed on life support, please let your family know. After that, you're generally considered a goner — sure, your body is still around, but there's a reason it's called the "vegetative state." Schedule your appointment now for safe in-person care. As the Mayo Clinic and the National Health Service of the U.K. tell us, the causes for a coma are many and various.