When Edwarda O'Bara died on 21 November 2012, she had survived 15,663 days (about 42 years) in a coma. Born in 1953, in Miami, Florida, O'Bara suffered a childhood history of diabetes, which she successfully managed with insulin.
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.
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.
People in a coma will not age like conscious people living life. Muscles weaken & emaciate. The damaged part of the brain might deteriorate as a result of inflammation to the area.
Terry Wayne Wallis, who woke up from an almost 20-year coma in 2003, died last Tuesday at the age of 57, according to an obituary posted by a funeral home.
Yet many people who have recovered from comas report dreams into which something of the outside world penetrated. Others recall nightmares that seemed to go on and on. Whether they dream or not probably depends on the cause of the coma.
Wanda Palmer woke up from a coma after "2 years of being hospitalized and in a coma resulting from being attacked, hacked, and left for dead," per the Sheriff's Department in Jackson County, West Virginia.
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'.
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. The brain reacts when the body does not.
Comas can be caused by a variety of problems in dogs, from extreme temperatures to adverse reactions to prescription pet medication. A coma means your dog is unresponsive but breathing on his own with adequate pulses. A coma is a medical emergency.
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.
Even though those in a persistent vegetative state lose their higher brain functions, other key functions such as breathing and circulation remain relatively intact. Spontaneous movements may occur, and the eyes may open in response to external stimuli. Individuals may even occasionally grimace, cry, or laugh.
Usually, coma patients have their eyes closed and cannot see what happens around them. But their ears keep receiving sounds from the environment. In some cases, the brains of coma patients can process sounds, for example the voice of someone speaking to them [2].
Other weird records
Previously, Peter Tripp held the first record at 201 hours and suffered from hallucinations for several days after. Between Peter and Randy, Honolulu DJ Tom Rounds made it to 260 hours. Randy tapped out at 264 hours, and slept for 14 hours straight after.
And it wouldn't be Valentine's Day without a big ol' smooch. The longest kiss lasted 58 hours, 35 minutes and 58 seconds, achieved by Ekkachai Tiranarat and Laksana Tiranarat (both Thailand) at an event organized by Ripley's Believe It or Not! Pattaya, in Pattaya, Thailand, on February 12-14, 2013.
Several years ago, the autopsy report of a totally brain-dead patient named TK who was kept on life support for nearly twenty years was published in the Journal of Child Neurology. He remains the individual kept on life support the longest after suffering total brain failure.
Overcoming Post-Traumatic Amnesia
Post-traumatic amnesia is a common stage after a brain injury where the survivor struggles with memory, especially when emerging from a coma. Signs of post-traumatic amnesia can include confusion, impaired memory, and unusual behavior.
It can result from injury to the brain, such as a severe head injury or stroke. A coma can also be caused by severe alcohol poisoning or a brain infection (encephalitis). People with diabetes could fall into a coma if their blood glucose levels suddenly became very low (hypoglycaemia) or very high (hyperglycaemia).
Someone in a coma will also have very reduced basic reflexes such as coughing and swallowing. They may be able to breathe on their own, although some people require a machine to help them breathe. Over time, the person may start to gradually regain consciousness and become more aware.
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 coma is a prolonged state of unconsciousness. During a coma, a person is unresponsive to their environment. The person is alive and looks like they are sleeping. However, unlike in a deep sleep, the person cannot be awakened by any stimulation, including pain.
The symptoms of a coma commonly include: Closed eyes. Depressed brainstem reflexes, such as pupils not responding to light.
“ Just several weeks before her death, Jim Scantlin had a good visit with his sister. “We hung out a lot and had a nice weekend,” he said. Sarah died of respiration issues and failing blood pressure.
In April of 1994, 38-year-old Pam suddenly went into cardiac arrest. Shortly afterwards, she slipped into a coma and for several weeks she was there. When Pam woke up from the coma, she had no memory of being married or of having four children.
A coma can last for a few days or weeks. If a person enters a coma, this is usually a medical emergency. Doctors may need to take rapid action to preserve their life and brain function.