Generally, people in a coma are unconscious and unaware, appearing unresponsive to their environment, but recent research suggests some may retain hidden awareness, reacting to sounds or commands internally even if they can't move or speak, making it difficult to know for sure without advanced brain scans like fMRI or EEG. While traditional signs show no awareness, these technologies can detect subtle brain activity indicating consciousness, meaning some patients diagnosed as fully unresponsive might actually be aware and able to hear everything around them.
Someone who's in a coma is unconscious and has minimal brain activity. They're alive, but cannot be woken up and show no signs of being aware. The person's eyes may be closed, and they'll appear to be unresponsive to their environment.
Comatose patients do not seem to hear or respond. Speaking may not affect their clinical outcome; time spent with them takes time away from other, more "viable" patients. Comatose patients may, however, hear; many have normal brain-stem auditory evoked responses and normal physiologic responses to auditory stimuli.
Researchers found that among the 241 patients in a coma or vegetative state who could not make visible responses to bedside commands, one-fourth had sustained and relevant cognitive responses — in the same brain regions that become activated in undamaged brains.
Whether they dream or not probably depends on the cause of the coma. If the visual cortex is badly damaged, visual dreams will be lost; if the auditory cortex is destroyed, then they will be unable to hear dreamed voices.
It's possible. Some people in a coma can hear what's happening around them and even remember parts of it later. But this varies a lot and is hard to predict. A healthcare provider can help you understand what this might mean for you or your loved one's recovery.
Elaine Esposito (December 3, 1934 – November 25, 1978) held the record for the longest period of time in a coma according to Guinness World Records, having lost consciousness in 1941 and eventually dying in that condition more than 37 years later.
People in a coma are completely unresponsive. They do not move, do not react to light or sound and cannot feel pain.
A coma doesn't usually last longer than several weeks. People who are unconscious for a longer time might transition to a lasting vegetative state, known as a persistent vegetative state, or brain death.
In a coma, a patient is alive and there is some brain activity. Depending on the severity of the injury, recovery time varies and comas can be temporary or permanent. Patients in a coma might have brain stem responses, spontaneous breathing and/or non-purposeful motor responses.
Spontaneous movements may occur, and the eyes may open in response to external stimuli. Individuals may even occasionally grimace, cry, or laugh. Although individuals in a persistent vegetative state may appear somewhat normal, they do not speak and they are unable to respond to commands.
A coma stimulation programme (sometimes called a coma arousal programme) is an approach based on stimulating the unconscious person's senses of hearing, touch, smell, taste and vision individually in order to help their recovery.
Music stimulation is considered to be a valuable form of intervention for people with severe brain injuries and prolonged disorders of consciousness (i.e., unresponsive wakefulness/vegetative state or minimally conscious state).
Coma is a state of consciousness that is similar to deep sleep, except no amount of external stimuli (such as sounds or sensations) can prompt the brain to become awake and alert. A coma is a medical emergency.
Put simply, a comatose patient will typically have closed eyes, and will be entirely non-responsive to any form of external stimulation (for example, if you ask them to squeeze your hand, they will not).
When someone is in a coma, they cannot interact with their environment. The brain is still working, however, and the degree of brain activity varies from patient to patient. New tools for mapping brain activity have helped doctors illuminate what is happening inside the brain, which informs their treatment and care.
Patients are only kept in an induced coma for as long as is required, which can range from a matter of hours to several weeks. Anaesthetic medicines are infused through drips and the experienced nursing team monitor and adjust the rates of these infusions according to several factors.
Someone in a coma needs intensive care in hospital. They may need help with breathing. They will be fed through a tube and they will receive blood and fluids through a drip inserted into their vein.
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. After the patients in the true story Awakenings, Shapiro spent the longest time in a coma-like state before waking up. Her story inspired the 1998 movie Forever Love.
Nobody knows exactly what happens in a coma. Some scientists believe coma patients don't see or feel or hear a thing. Others say something different. Some scientists believe that coma patients actually dream.
Routine treatment
Keeping them alive requires good basic care (such as turning and changing position to manage skin integrity), a feeding tube, intermittent antibiotics for infections and perhaps some ongoing mechanical ventilation support (such as oxygen at night).
A person in a coma may become restless, requiring care to prevent them from hurting themselves or attempting to pull on tubes or dressings. In these instances, medicine may be given to calm the patient. Side rails on the bed should be kept up to prevent the patient from falling.
For 20 years Sarah lived in a minimally responsive or locked in state of consciousness receiving excellent care that kept her healthy and safe. Little did we know that after many years Sarah had a surprise for everyone.In 2004, Sarah miraculously began speaking.
A state of complete unconsciousness with no eye-opening is called coma. A state of complete unconsciousness with some eye-opening and periods of wakefulness and sleep is called the vegetative state (VS).
First, advanced age at the time of injury may result in less complete recovery compared to younger persons with comparable injuries. While the mechanisms of this phenomenon are not known, it may be due simply to less capacity for compensation or reduced cognitive reserves, with increasing age.