Yes, women have woken up from comas, sometimes after many years, with famous examples including Munira Abdulla, who awoke after 27 years, and Jennifer Flewellen, who had brief moments of alertness after nearly five years, showcasing rare but remarkable recoveries that defy medical expectations. These cases often involve extensive family support, physical therapy, and sheer determination, highlighting that outcomes vary widely.
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.
Even in a coma, some women still have their periods – bodies doing their own thing, no rules.
People who do wake up from a coma usually come round gradually. They may be very agitated and confused to begin with. Some people will make a full recovery and be completely unaffected by the coma. Others will have disabilities caused by the damage to their brain.
A WOMAN has woken from a coma, 27 years after she first slipped into unconsciousness following a serious road accident. Munira Abdulla suffered significant brain damage after her car collided with a school bus in the United Arab Emirates in Al Ain back in 1991.
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.
Spontaneous movements may occur, and the eyes may open in response to external stimuli. Individuals may even occasionally grimace, cry, or laugh.
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.
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.
“Bowel movements and urination still occur in coma patients through reflexes controlled by the spinal cord and brainstem,” added Dr Ting. “These basic functions do not stop even when higher brain regions are impaired.”
It turns out that while most systems in the human body are heavily affected during spaceflight, the female menstrual cycle doesn't seem to change at all. “It can happen normally in space, and if women choose to do that, they can,” Jain said.
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.
Comas can last from several days to, in particularly extreme cases, years. Some patients eventually gradually come out of the coma, some progress to a vegetative state or a minimally conscious state, and others die.
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 person in a coma can't even respond to pain. A wide range of illnesses, conditions and events can cause coma.
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).
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.
Emerging evidence suggests the unconscious can experience many of the things that conscious people do.
A coma is a state of prolonged unconsciousness. You may appear to be in a deep sleep, but you won't wake or respond to any stimulation – including pain. It's possible for your body to make involuntary motor responses (generalized responses) or display spontaneous breathing.
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.
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).
Can people who are unconscious or in the 'vegetative state' perceive pain? In 1991, Michael McQuillen answered, 'Although by definition the unconscious patient cannot tell you that he perceives pain, available data suggest that he may; therefore, you cannot know that he doesn't'.
On September 21, 1984, just a couple weeks into her freshman year, she was struck by a motor vehicle (drunk driver who fled the scene) while walking with friends and sustained a traumatic brain injury and spinal cord damage. She was in a minimally conscious coma-like state for 20 years.
For 12 long years, Martin Pistorius was trapped in his own body, unable to move, speak, or blink, after falling into a mysterious coma-like state at age 12. Doctors told his family he had no awareness. But deep inside, he was awake. He heard every word.
Some patients who have entered a vegetative state go on to regain a degree of awareness (see Minimally Conscious State). The likelihood of significant functional improvement for VS/UWS patients diminishes over time. There are only isolated cases of people recovering consciousness after several years.