What is being in a comma like?
I was so curious about what being in a comma is like, I did a search on Reddit, and here are what I found.
"It can be summarized in three parts"
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| "It can be summarized in three parts" - RagnarLothbrook |
When I was in 5th grade I fell out of a tree and bonked my head pretty well. I woke up 3? days later in the hospital. For me, the experience is easily summarized in three parts:
- When I fell, I blacked out before I hit the ground... or at least that is where memory fades. And "fades" is really the best word. It was as if my consciousness was drained away and then blackness and nothingness. It was as if my body knew how badly it was going to hurt and so it shut down.
- I have very, very, very, vague memories while in the coma of hearing my Dad reading a book, or my Mom telling me that she knew I would pull through, or of a tube in my nose. But these were always super fuzzy moments and I never was conscious during them, it was more like a half second of being aware of one particular thing--the way the tube felt being taped against my arm and wishing I could reach out and move it--and then back into the nothingness. I think that I was somewhat aware of the fact that I was a little more aware each time that this happened but honestly I am not certain of even that much.
- Waking up was sudden. So, so sudden. I was in blackness. Had a moment of awareness, like "my neck hurts" and then the pain was magnitudes higher. No longer a distant perception but something that I was actively conscious of. Waking up was the most painful moment of my life and I just started crying and then couldn't even cry it hurt so bad. I think that had more to do with injuries sustained to my neck and head than the coma, but that is what it was like. After an hour my body was used to the pain and I was totally normal, albeit very weak, hungry, and thirsty.
I survived and am fine now without any lasting issues.
"I though I was 60 years old"
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| "I though I was 60 years old" - ThisBlowsHard11 |
I can only compare it to when you’re little and wake up at a friends house and don’t know where you are. I was in a coma for 2 months after a bad car accident. It wasn’t medically induced, it was thanks to brain damage. When I woke up I was alone in the hospital room and had no clue what happened or why I was there. I had a neck brace on due to a broken neck so I figured something was wrong with my neck but was unsure how or what happened.
For some reason I thought I was 60 years old (I was in my 20s). I was paranoid and scared, but didn’t know why I was there. I used context clues to figure out I was in the hospital. It was frightening. After about 5 minutes I decided to go back to sleep. 2 months of sleep wasn’t quite long enough.
"It seemed more like a dream"
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| "It seemed more like a dream" - zxminne |
I had meningitis when i was 12, which got misdiagnosed for stomach flue and ended up with me being taken to the hospital last minute. The last memory i had was 'falling asleep' watching the emergency news on the Brussels airport attack. I later on had a sort of fever dream, which ended up to be true, about my parents driving me to tge ER saying 'it's ok' over and over again. I couldn't move or talk, so it seemed more like a dream than something that was actually happening. I saw the lights of the ER parking lot which made me close my eyes and after that it was like taking a nap. I had no awareness of time at all, it's like going to sleep and just waking up what feels like a second later but it's actually morning already. I woke up 6 days later, highly drugged but only gained consciousness the day after. My first 'memory' after waking up is opening my laptop in the hospital bed to play minecraft, I have no idea what happened or what i said when I woke up before that.
"It was like the longest scariest dream of my life"
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| "It was like the longest scariest dream of my life" - greenfingers559 |
In 2016 I was in a coma from March 31 to May 5, then half awake for another month after that.
It was like the longest scariest dream of my life. I was medically induced by a fentanyl drip for about a week at first and let me tell you, fentanyl is a demon. Whacky dreams about fighting corrupt hospital officials, so my brain new where I was.
They didn't think I'd ever talk or walk again, but in the hospital bed I laughed at an episode of That 70s Show and inclined every day after. Putting me at about 85% health overall these days. But pretty much an average guy.
Oh it was a head injury, had a seizure in the bathroom that made me fall onto the sink.
"I can see myself laying in the bed with people around me"
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| "I can see myself laying in the bed with people around me" - DrDontKnowAnything |
I wasn't in one for long (just under a week). While I was in the coma, I didn't remember a thing. When I came out of it, I just remember hearing my mom yell to the attending "HE'S UP!". Then I woke up with a bunch of white coats in the room. I was super stiff and incredibly confused.
Oddly enough, I kept having vivid dreams of myself in the coma after the fact. Still have them to this day. They're almost like an out of body experience because I can see myself laying in the bed with people around me.
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