Although many people gradually recover from a coma, others enter a vegetative state or die . Some people who recover from a coma end up with major or minor disabilities. Complications can develop during a coma, including pressure sores, urinary tract infections, blood clots in the legs and other problems.
How long can you be in a coma before you die?
| Coma | Specialty Neurology, psychiatry | Symptoms Unconsciousness | Complications Persistent vegetative state, death | Duration Can vary from a few days to several years (longest recorded is 42 years) |
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Can being in a coma cause death?
Can a coma cause death? A coma itself will not directly cause the death of a patient, but the underlying cause of the coma can . A comatose state might also hide other medical problems that would be obvious in a conscious person. The most common cause of death in coma patients is infection.
Is coma like death?
Brain death is not the same as coma , because someone in a coma is unconscious but still alive. Brain death occurs when a critically ill patient dies sometime after being placed on life support. This situation can occur after, for example, a heart attack or stroke.
Can you die after waking up from a coma?
Patients can gradually come out of the coma , some progress to a vegetative state (aka unresponsive wakefulness syndrome) and others die. Some patients who have entered a vegetative state go on to regain a degree of awareness (see Minimally Conscious State).
How do coma patients poop?
When people are unconscious whether it be medically or chemically induced (some patients are given drugs to induce an unconscious state
Can people in a coma hear?
When people are in comas, they are unconscious and cannot communicate with their environment . ... However, the brain of a coma patient may continue to work. It might “hear” the sounds in the environment, like the footsteps of someone approaching or the voice of a person speaking.
Can you feel pain in a coma?
People in a coma are completely unresponsive. They do not move, do not react to light or sound and cannot feel pain .
What if I'm in a coma?
Someone who is in a coma is unconscious and will not respond to voices, other sounds, or any sort of activity going on nearby. The person is still alive, but the brain is functioning at its lowest stage of alertness. You can't shake and wake up someone who is in a coma like you can someone who has just fallen asleep.
How does being in a coma feel?
Usually, comas are more like twilight states — hazy, dreamlike things where you don't have fully formed thoughts or experiences, but you still feel pain and form memories that your brain invents to try to make sense of what's happening to you.
Can coma patients wake up?
Someone who is in a coma is unconscious and has minimal brain activity. They're alive but can't be woken up and show no signs of awareness. The person's eyes will be closed and they'll appear to be unresponsive to their environment.
What percentage of coma patients wake up?
They found that those who showed less than 42 percent of normal brain activity didn't regain consciousness after a year, while those who had activity above that woke up within a year. Overall, the test was able to accurately predict 94 percent of patients who would wake up from a vegetative state.
Do you dream in 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 are the stages of coma?
DOC includes coma, the vegetative state (VS) and the minimally conscious state
What are coma dreams like?
“Being in a coma is like a magnified and intense version of our own dreams ,” she said. “Everything that happens in the real world, you hear, you're aware of, you kind of know what's going on, but it goes through this weird filter thing in your brain.”
What is the longest coma that someone woke up from?
Terry Wallis (born 1964). This American man was in a coma for nearly a year after a truck accident, then a minimally conscious state
