How do you communicate with someone in a coma?

Talk or read to your relative, for example, tell them about your day, or what is happening at home; talk about their favourite sports team; speak of familiar names, places, interests and experiences that the person has had in the past. This should be done in a sensible, normal voice, as if they were able to reply.

Does talking to a person in a coma help?

Familiar Voices And Stories Speed Coma Recovery

Patients in comas may benefit from the familiar voices of loved ones, which may help awaken the unconscious brain and speed recovery, according to research from Northwestern Medicine and Hines VA Hospital.

What do you do with someone in a coma?

A coma is a medical emergency. Doctors will first check the affected person's airway and help maintain breathing and circulation. Doctors might give breathing assistance, intravenous medications and other supportive care. Treatment varies, depending on the cause of the coma.

Can someone in a coma understand you?

Can Your Loved One Hear You. During a coma, the individual is unconscious, meaning they are unable to respond to any sounds. However, the brain may still be able to pick up on sounds from loved ones. In fact, some studies suggest talking and touching a loved one while they are in a coma may help them recover.

Why do coma patients cry?

A comatose patient may open his eyes, move and even cry while still remaining unconscious. His brain-stem reflexes are attached to a nonfunctioning cortex. Reflex without reflection. Many professionals speak of this condition as a ''persistent vegetative state.

Coma patients respond to loved ones' voices, study shows

How long can you be in a coma before they pull the plug?

"Pulling the plug" would render the patient unable to breathe, and the heart would stop beating within minutes, he said. But if a patient is not brain dead and instead has suffered a catastrophic neurological brain injury, DiGeorgia said, he or she could breathe spontaneously for one or two days before dying.

Whats the longest time someone has been in a coma and woke up?

Annie Shapiro (1913–2003) was a Canadian apron shop owner who was in a coma for 29 years because of a massive stroke and suddenly awakened in 1992. Apart from the patients in the true story Awakenings, Shapiro was the longest a person has been in a coma like state and woken up.

Do coma patients remember anything?

More commonly, people remember things that never happened. It's hard to characterize the different mental experiences that people have while in a coma. Some of them may be dreams, others are hallucinations.

How do people in comas eat?

Because patients who are in a coma can't eat or drink on their own, they receive nutrients and liquids through a vein or feeding tube so that they don't starve or dehydrate. Coma patients may also receive electrolytes -- salt and other substances that help regulate body processes.

How long is the longest coma?

On Aug. 6, 1941, 6-year-old Elaine Esposito went to the hospital for a routine appendectomy. She went under general anesthetic and never came out. Dubbed the "sleeping beauty," Esposito stayed in a coma for 37 years and 111 days before succumbing in 1978 — the longest-ever coma, according to Guinness World Records.

How many stages of coma are there?

Three stages of coma

DOC includes coma, the vegetative state (VS) and the minimally conscious state (MCS). These disorders (see sidebar at right for further information about each of these stages) are among the most misunderstood conditions in medicine.

How do you get someone out of a coma?

Some people come out of a coma without any mental or physical disability, but most require at least some type of therapy to regain mental and physical skills. They may need to relearn how to speak, walk, and even eat. Others are never able to recover completely.

What does being in a coma feel like?

People in a coma are completely unresponsive. They do not move, do not react to light or sound and cannot feel pain. Their eyes are closed. The brain responds to extreme trauma by effectively 'shutting down'.

Do you age slower in a coma?

the cellular mechanism for ageing has been associated with progressive shortening of telomere length on the ends of each chromosome with each cell cycle.. in the contect of this, a coma wouldnt necessarily keep you young, but you would age just the same.

What are signs of coma patient waking up?

Signs of coming out of a coma include being able to keep their eyes open for longer and longer periods of time and being awakened from “sleep” easier—at first by pain (pinch), then by touch (like gently shaking of their shoulder), and finally by sound (calling their name).

What is the best way to wake someone up from a coma?

Do you dream when you're in a coma?

Patients in a coma appear unconscious. They do not respond to touch, sound or pain, and cannot be awakened. Their brains often show no signs of the normal sleep-wakefulness cycle, which means they are unlikely to be dreaming.

What's the shortest time you can be in a coma?

Typically, a coma does not last more than a few days or couple of weeks. In some rare cases, a person might stay in a coma for several weeks, months or even years. Depending on what caused the person to go into a coma, some patients are able to return to their normal lives after leaving the hospital.

What are the chances of surviving a coma?

It can be seen that the likelihood of a good recovery in all patients is only 10%. It is less than 5% in those who have suffered subarachnoid haemorrhage or stroke, about 10% in those with hypoxic–ischaemic injury, but as high as 25% in those metabolic or infective causes of coma.

Can a person in a vegetative state see you?

People in a vegetative state can open their eyes, but they cannot speak or do things that require thought or conscious intention, and they have no awareness of themselves or their environment.

What do people say about being in a coma?

According to many coma survivors, the unconscious experience feels almost like a dream, at least in retrospect. One person said it was "kind of like a normal dream where you don't have any concept of time, but things seem to be happening." This person had "about four different dreams" in their less-than-a-week coma.

Can someone in a medically induced coma hear you?

No. A person in a medically induced coma is unconscious and does not react to external stimuli, such as light, sound, or touch. The brain may process stimuli to some degree, but the person cannot wake up to the stimuli, such as pain.

What is brain dead vs coma?

Brain death: Irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem. A person who is brain dead is dead, with no chance of revival. Coma: A state of profound unresponsiveness as a result of severe illness or brain injury.

What part of the brain is damaged in a coma?

Comas are caused by damage to the brain, especially if there's bilateral damage to the cerebral cortex (which means damage on both sides), or damage to the reticular activating system. The reticular activating system controls arousal and awareness of the cerebral cortex.

Does your hair grow in a coma?

Bodily functions

In a coma the hair still grows, and muscles mass still responds to stimulus—nurses often move coma patients to keep their muscles from atrophying. There's still a lot going on in the body, even if it doesn't look that way.