The medical phenomenon of coma, unfortunately, has not been fully studied by specialists. The reason why a person falls into such a state may be various abnormalities in the body. In total, there are about 30 types of coma: alcoholic, traumatic, diabetic, etc. It is not so important which form deprived a person of the opportunity to live a full life, much more important is how it ended. The longest coma after which a person woke up is a miracle that doctors cannot explain.
Sarah Scantlin
Young 18-year-old college student Sarah Scatlin spent 20 long years in a coma. The reason for this condition of a girl from the American state of Kansas was a driver driving while intoxicated. After the accident, Sarah fell into a coma, and lived only thanks to devices that supported the vital functions of the body.
The traumatic brain injury was so serious that the girl did not show any signs of life for the first month, and her body functioned with the help of an artificial respiration apparatus. A month later, the only thing Sarah could do was breathe on her own and swallow food. She was in this position for 16 years. After many years of being in a coma, a specialist began working with her, trying to return the girl to real life. And the miracle still happened. After only a year of such classes, Sarah began to show her first independent reflexes. She could communicate with others only through eye movements.
In 2005, after twenty years in a coma, the girl woke up and gradually began to remember her loved ones. She could only move with the help of a wheelchair. Not a single doctor could explain such an “awakening”; according to them, this case is more a happy exception to the rule than a pattern. The only thing that confused Sarah's family was that she still considered herself 18 years old. Gradually, her speech and some motor reflexes returned.
Prognosis and chances of survival
Often, a coma during a stroke is diagnosed upon the arrival of an ambulance and requires urgent resuscitation measures.
If a person falls into a coma after a hemorrhagic stroke and without appropriate treatment, the mortality rate will be high.
It should also be taken into account that there is a risk of recurrent hemorrhage in 5% of patients within 3-5 days after a stroke, in 3% of patients - after 4 months, so relapse can only be avoided with surgery.
To relieve the symptoms of coma, resuscitation measures are used, which also includes surgical intervention, which allows you to quickly and effectively remove the patient from this state.
During the operation, bleeding is eliminated and the aneurysm that caused the symptoms of stroke is clipped.
With the sudden onset of coma, the patient loses consciousness, does not wake up for more than 6 hours, and the symptoms increase. This can lead to brain death.
To clarify the diagnosis of the disease, an additional encephalogram is performed.
But in some cases, patients may wake up months or years after falling into a coma. E
This happens only in 9% of cases and is associated with the implementation of unexplored brain reserves. The younger the patient who falls into a coma, the greater the chance of recovery.
Gary Dockery
The longest coma with awakening was recorded in Tennessee. Gary Dockery was 33 years old when he was shot in the head while trying to apprehend a bandit with his partner. The injury resulting from the injury was so severe that doctors had to remove about 20% of the brain matter. After such manipulations, the former policeman spent seven years in an unconscious state.
And when hope left his family, he suddenly came to his senses and even remembered the members of his family, despite the fact that his sons had become very big. He remembered nothing about the day he was wounded or his work. Unfortunately, Gary left this world a year after emerging from his coma. The cause was a blood clot in the lungs.
What is a coma and why can people enter this state?
Coma refers to a severe comatose state in which a person is plunged into deep sleep . Depending on the degree of coma the patient has, various functions of the body may be slowed down, brain activity may be disabled, metabolism and the functioning of the nervous system may be completely stopped or significantly slowed down.
The cause may be: stroke, brain injury, meningitis, epilepsy, encephalitis, hypothermia or overheating of the body.
Martin Pistorius
The story of this young man, who had to remain unconscious for 12 years, is very unusual. As a rule, people in a coma do not feel anything, but Martin, on the contrary, understood everything, he simply could not react to what was happening, being, as if, in captivity. The reason for the boy’s condition was a simple sore throat, which caused complications in his legs, and later his vision began to disappear.
Doctors assumed cryptococcal meningitis, but were unable to make an accurate diagnosis. Since the hospital could no longer help Martin, he was discharged home. Doctors assumed that the boy, who was only 8 years old at the time, would not live long.
But fate decreed completely differently. Thanks to the love and care of his parents, and above all, his father, after 12 years the young man came to his senses. During this time, his father took the boy to a special rehabilitation center every day, still hoping that a miracle would happen. As Martin himself later recalled, he was very annoyed by the cartoons that were shown to the children in this institution, but he could not do anything or say about it.
After emerging from a coma, Martin Pistorius learned to write and read, went to college, where he received a profession as a programmer, and later a job in one of the state companies. Today, Martin has a good, caring wife and, despite the fact that he uses a wheelchair, lives a full life. The case of this South African teenager, unfortunately, is one of the few happy examples of recovery from a coma.
Yang Liying
In 1996, a Beijing resident fell into a coma as a result of gas poisoning. At that time he was 51 years old, and no one hoped that after 13 years of unconscious existence the man would be able to wake up. All these years he had a devoted wife next to him, thanks to whose efforts this miracle may have happened.
It was her name that Yang Liying suddenly came to his senses said. After many years of coma, he has to learn to eat and talk in a new way, as well as get acquainted with the world, which has changed greatly during his “absence”.
How to determine the onset of coma?
Most people are interested in how many days a coma lasts during a stroke; usually the coma state can last from 2 hours to 6-10 days , but sometimes it drags on for months and years.
The onset of coma can be recognized by the following signs:
- the appearance of quiet and incoherent speech;
- characteristic delirium and confusion;
- a few minutes after the main signs, lack of reaction to external stimuli;
- the appearance of vomiting, body lethargy;
- weak palpation of the pulse, sometimes rapid breathing is present.
Terry Wallace
This man from the American town of Cornell spent about 17 years in a coma. In 1984, at the age of 19, he was involved in a car accident and survived only by a miracle. His friend, who was in the car with him at the time of the tragedy, died immediately, and Terry fell into a comatose state. None of the doctors gave any comforting forecasts about his condition.
In 2001, he began to show the first signs of intelligent behavior and tried to communicate with the clinic staff through gestures and facial expressions. Two years later, Terry started talking, and what’s most amazing is that in almost three days he learned to walk again. The hardest thing for him was to remember his family (his daughter was already 20 years old at that time) and the circumstances that happened to him almost 2 decades ago.
What happens to a person in a comatose state?
In the deep stage of coma, the patient cannot be awakened or react to various stimuli.
He has no reflexes, his pupils are constricted, do not react to light, and there is no reaction to painful stimulation.
Sometimes there is involuntary urination and defecation.
Only basic reflexes (swallowing, breathing) are preserved.
The prognosis is influenced by the severity of the stroke, as well as the accompanying factors that put the person in a coma.
The risk of death is determined by the following indicators:
- coma occurred after a second stroke;
- duration of limb spasms is 2-3 days;
- the patient's age is about 70 years;
- lack of response to sounds, pain and handling;
- death of brain cells.
The picture can be clarified using blood tests, magnetic resonance and computed tomography. With ischemic hemorrhage, there is a good chance for the patient to recover.
In case of coma after a hemorrhagic stroke, the prognosis is disappointing - death occurs within 1-2 days - cerebral edema destroys the main part of its areas.
Edward O'Bara
The record holder for the duration of unconscious existence is Eduarda O'Bara, whom journalists dubbed "Sleeping Snow White." How long did the longest coma last, which, unfortunately, did not end as happily as the previous examples? Almost half a century - this woman spent 42 years in a coma and passed away in 2012. She fell into this state after a diabetic coma, and despite the fact that her eyes were open, she felt nothing and did not understand what was happening around.
For many years, her mother, Kay, was next to her, who selflessly cared for her daughter for 35 years. She threw her birthday parties, washed and fed her, and talked to her. In 2008, when her mother passed away, her sister, Colin, took over all responsibilities for caring for the sick Eduarda. She says she was able to learn a lot from her sister, even though it was impossible to communicate with her. After 4 years, Eduarda left after her mother.
Such examples of love and loyalty towards their loved ones should make many people appreciate the time while our loved ones are healthy, and even in the most hopeless cases, not despair and not betray them.
Degrees of coma
To simplify differentiation, doctors distinguish the following degrees of coma during strokes:
- 1st degree . It is determined by lethargy or loss of consciousness with preservation of reflexes. This is mild damage to brain cells during a stroke and slight depression of the functions of the nervous system
. At the same time, skin reflexes are weakened and muscle tone is increased; - 2nd degree . It is diagnosed by the patient falling into deep sleep, lack of response to external stimuli, skin reflexes and pain;
- 3rd degree . It is caused by extensive hemorrhage and is determined by the absence of many reflexes, consciousness, and the reaction of the pupils to light;
- 4th degree . It is not comparable to life, as it is characterized by the absence of spontaneous breathing, a sharp decrease in pressure and hypothermia
. All reflexes are absent. A patient in this stage of coma has virtually no chance of returning to normal life.
