Coma

[JCF]

As stated in the subject, I am doing some research on comas, but more specifically, the experiences of both those who have been comtose or those who have been with someone who has been comatose. The reason for this is, I am in the process of writing a story, and my main protagonist is in a coma for a great deal of it, and I do not want to start writing about something I don't know a tremendous amount about and would like some information before I do continue.

So, my question is, is there anyone who doesn't mind sharing their experiences? It would be greatly appreciated and make my writing move a little easier.

Thank you

[Truth Seeker]

I am not a scientist or neurologist, but I have experienced coma and doctors did not even know about it because when it happens we obviously cannot move and if we tell them days later than they simply would not believe it.
Based upon my experiences, coma is electrical, the brain separates from the physical body, think of it as a shut down of a switch, but just because the electrical circuitry has shut down, that does not mean that the atomic or nuclear functions have stopped.
During my coma I could hear, comprehend, but I could not move or respond, which set of a magnitude of fear and helplessness.
I sometimes think of coma in terms of rooms in my home and just because we shut off the light switch in one room, that does not mean the breaker is down.

[JCF]

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. It will help me a great deal when my character is describing the experience. And I know what it's like (kinda) to see someone in a coma, but I was five at the time, and didn't understand.

But in any case, thank you for sharing; it is greatly appreciated.

[cris37]

hi,
firstly, the aswer is yes. if i can help you and others, i would gladly share. this is a brief story of what happened. your'll have to excuse my approach to this as its the first time i have used a forum. it was recommended to me by my councillor. i too was in a coma, for 21 days. the "reality" was all too real! i still have a number of flash backs and disturbing dreams for which, at the moment, i'm on sleeping pills. they all involve members of my family and friends, most or maybe all of which visited me while i was "asleep". i really believed all these events were real. i also remember there being no break in this "other" world for the whole 3 weeks. i too suffered multi organ faliure and was on a life support machine for the duration. also a kidney machine for a few days. a discussion was had with my parents that a third resuss was futile, of which i learnt of shortly before my discharge. everybody, nurses included, were of the opinion i would not pull throu. i have made a near full recovery. i have not met a single person with which i'm able to speak to about these dreams and how they have and still affect me. it seems impossible to give anybody any real picture of what i dream't about. there are simply not the words to explain .even though i can always see the dreams very clearly when i think about them. its really starting to make me feel alone in my thoughts. i was told they would gradually go away. they have in a way, less often, but are now more sinister. i'm at a loss.
i would really appreciate any ideas on how to deal with this. cris

[JCF]

Thank you for sharing your story, cris37. I'm sure you will pull through everything you're going through; it will just take time. (Doesn't everything?) But thank you for sharing that. It is a tremendous help!

[cris37]

hi JFC.
thank you for taking the time to read and reply. you can ask anything if it is of any help. i'll gladly share all. one of the main reasons for me posting in the first place was to be able to maybe make contact with and talk to anyone who has been through this or a very similar experience. as yet i have do not even know of anyone that has been through it and i'm led to believe it has happened to many. how have they dealt with it? surely not just forgot and moved on! as i said in my post, i feel alone in this and has an effect on my day to day living. or more so, night to night. my local NHS hospital has been of great help with any questions and the head of ITU took the time(nearly an hour), to take me around where i was staying , the same bed/room and all equipment etc. this was too on a reccommendation. at first it helped but a day or so on a lot of things did come back to me. and had the opposite effect of what i was after.
do you know of any group or anybody i could speak to about this? i really think that if you have not been throu the coma yourself its very hard to understand what a person like myself is trying to explain. i'm am also aware that it is different for everybody and i maybe asking the impossible. many external events like the family and or friends who spoke to you when you were in this state, differ for each person. in my memories, the people that visited, all link to my dreams. any ideas would be gratfully recieved.
and thanks for wishing me well. on the surface i'm a stronger, better person and more accepting of everything. even down to not ever now letting anything get to me. a sort of natural high. but i know, in my head, i will have to live with the dreams possibly forever. and this is the part, the only part i'm finding very hard. cris37.

[Truth Seeker]

Hello,
First of all, you are not alone, but you are correct when you say that only those who have experienced coma will understand what is truly involved.
Doctors, regardless of level or field, mean well, but they are completely out of the loop as it relates to coma.
To understand coma, we need to change our way of thinking and except the dualism within the brain.
The easiest way to understand the brain would be to think of it in terms of a computer.
On the left side of brain, the primitive side, we store a lot of useless clutter, it is like files we rarely ever open or left unfinished, because they usually do not pertain to our life or well being.
It is important that we learn how to delete such clutter in order for it not to take up valuable space.
Emotions are also located on the left side of brain, but unfortunately emotions are grossly overlooked by our society, consequently trauma, stress, anxiety and or depression, are not taken seriously enough with consequences within the brain and physical body.
Stress is another area that constantly requires our attention, but first we need to understand the differences between stress and anxiety.
Stress is an outside interference, in other words, that is when we allow others to rent space in our head, causing pressure and pressure is always related to heat, compared to anxiety which is self induced, but also related to heat and of course pressure.
Thoughts and emotions go hand in hand, consequently when something is repeated enough or is so powerful in its effects that learning gets imprinted even when situations change.
When our circuitry's are overloaded, they naturally will overheat, that is when dualism sets in.
To understand dualism, we need to understand "spinning"
The human system was designed to do its creative spinning to the right, but overheating can cause chain reactions, therefore spinning to the right can change to spinning to the left or it can spin back and forth, which will feel as if we are on a treadmill leading no where, which of course will create fear of magnitude.
The biggest secret in life is to confront these fears, but this can become so overwhelming and powerful, that most people back away, because it can become very dark and that is where choices enter.
The human brain does have protective mechanisms which are based upon high temperatures, when it reaches these temperatures an automatic shut down occurs which separates mind from body and if we know that peripheral nerves are not permanently attached to the brain, than it all begins to make sense.
Coma is real, but it can be "HELL" it is like an entrapment.
During sleep the brain remains active, that is when it does its best work to repair, restore and regenerate.
Your dreams are unfinished thoughts and emotions, try to delete them by confronting them image by image, but you might have to do this a few times, just like a computer, delete does not mean gone forever, because memory cannot be erased, but it can be stored and recalled when needed.
I hope this will help you.
Please try to remember who created the ultimate computer to begin with and trust your instincts.
Sincerely
Truth Seeker

[cris37]

hi,
firstly, thank you. what you are saying does makes sense to me but I would not have a clue on how to go about this. I will attempt to though. I feel I have left it so long now (since Jan 13th) and tried to forget about some aspects that have returned nightly. when you said about the treadmill, I think I had the similar feeling. I was trying to solve puzzles all the time. it would be like starting at "GO" and making it to say "Vine Street" but then I seem to have made a small error and started of again back at "GO". this would repeat some many times before reaching "Mayfair", then yes, back to "GO". I don't think I ever made it all the way round. of course these were very real. this is the easiest way to explain. these "puzzles" would come in different forms, actually nothing like monopoly but best way to explain. I can liken it to having to get up to use the bathroom and when back in bed, try to get back into the dream I had to leave because it was not finished. I think everyone has those!
I'm still very keen to meet face to face with a person who has been through this. I feel it could help. do you think it would be wise?
thanks again.... cris37

[Truth Seeker]

To meet with someone who has been through this may not necessarily be beneficial but rather add to the confusion, granted, there would be many similarities, but the triggers are different for every one.
I know exactly what you mean by "Puzzle" please think of it this way, life is a perfect, complete picture puzzle, but than comes illness and the wrong or right medical care, which takes this puzzle apart piece by piece and unfortunately doctors often do not know how to put this puzzle back into place, because they primitively assume that the pieces will simply fall back into place, but that is not always the case, therefore we are left alone to try and find the pieces and make them fit.
Equally, I fully understand what you mean by "GO" it is like driving down a freeway the wrong way directly into traffic with no place to turn around, fully aware of what could happen.
This also could be compared to doing the Tango, two steps forward, three steps back.
What you are probably feeling is some enormous "PULL"
Think of the "PULL" in terms of a magnet, regardless of how hard you try, the magnet is much stronger.
You probably feel a lot of internal vibrations, as well as electricity and I would not be surprised if you see a lot of colours behind closed eyes etc.
If, I am correct here, than please do not let it frighten you and yes, I realise this is easier said than done.
I would not be at all surprised if your activities are mostly on the left side of brain, if you are right handed.
What you refer to as dreams, in my humble opinion are actually replays, it is like a video in reverse, but there is no stop button.
You have mentioned that your dreams are about friends and family members who had visited you, which comes as no surprise.
I obviously do not know your friends or family, nor is it my intention to insult anyone, but I would not be surprised if you feel emotionally detachment from them.
Think of it this way, friends, family, doctors, nurses or anyone else who came into contact with you during your coma, registered in your brain and consequently memory.
People in general fail to comprehend, that during coma, we can hear what others say, we comprehend the tone of voice and we can feel our emotional reactions to what is being said.
When we think of emotions, than we know that they are grossly overlooked and underestimated, yet emotions are all about feelings, negative as well as positive.
We all know, that stress triggers many illnesses and diseases, as do anxiety, depression and trauma, yet all are linked to emotions and emotions relate to fear or fear of the unknown.
Patients in a coma are often treated like an object rather than a human being who has a name and feelings, just because the body does not move and they eyes do not open does not mean we are no longer present.
The best advice I can give you is to forgive, because not to forgive will keep you toxic and that is self destructive.
Forgiveness can be difficult, at times even impossible, but it needs to be done.
Forgiveness does not have to come through spoken words, it can be done through the silence within our own mind.
To forgive does not mean to forget, our memories will be there for ever, but we can turn things around and use them as a learning tool about life and people.

[cris37]

hi.
I'm really pleased i started looking on this forum. I'm not getting all the answers I thought I wanted (that would have been a big ask!) but you have giving me a great new angle in which to turn my thoughts towards. I have printed off (naturally) all replies to read over when i think about it. I have also copied and sent to my parents in the hope they can attain some understanding of my life I live beneath all they see. I must stress that it does not have any real affect on day to day functions. but sleeping is a problem and I never thought dreams could be so frightening and real at my age. and so complicated. they return in very fine detail. details I cannot bring up in my hours awake or even put words too. I cannot go on forever relying on medical ways to rest.
I was once told by a loverly woman I met on travels back in '94, I was the sort of person that reaches a fork in the road and although my instincts told me to take a certain path, I would try the other option first to see what would happen and learn from it. then return to the fork and take the right way. that has always stayed with me because she was correct. my referance to "GO" was more of a mental battle to piece together all the bits to come out on top.a mind game if you like. I guess a fight to stay alive as twice I was ressusitated!
I'll never know but seems the most obvious reason for these dreams. some people, mainly friends, have all asked about what it was like. and they, and all people before are right to think that you are not unaware of their presense. I was told that the nurse that was my main carer when in ITU was shocked to the bone when I first opened my eyes and followed her around the room, I remember that like it was yesterday, asking for my parents and being totally unaware of what had elapsed, still don't now.
I would never brag about the mess that ended last year, but I do have it all to, in a way, thank it for giving me a pretty unique way to view my mind. and I think I am a better person for it. I know it seems a strange thing to say and I certainly not reccomend it to anyone. and yes we are treated as if we are an object when in hospital. but that I can understand that well and also explains why so many doctors seem so un-emotional or distant. must have to be to work on a patient effectively.
lastly, I have to ask you, have you ever been in a coma? or have you done much research in this area to have such a close understanding?
thank you and you have been a great help. I will continue to look at this forum and read and maybe reply if I see fit to others experiences. I will, and am now, fully open to any questions about my experience of life in a coma. very much so if it can make a difference. it has taken me a fair amount of time to find a forum and get a responce. cris37.