People Who Have Been In Comas Reveal What It Was Like From Their Perspective

Comas are one of those unique experiences many people will neither see nor live through. It's the living through part we're focusing on today, as people put into comas, either through accident or medically induced, opened up about what it was like in the deep sleep.


Reddit user, u/yummygumdrop, wanted to hear what it was like when they asked:

People who have been in a coma, what was it like from your perspective? Did you know you were in a coma?

Nothing To Remember

I was in a coma for 3 days following a serious cycling accident, medically induced. I woke up with zero recollection of why I was there or what was said while I was out. It is easily the scariest situation I've found myself in, but I can't say I remember it. I woke up to my mom and dad in the hospital with me and my body in traction of some sort and that was way scarier to me.

robyr

Fighting The Darkness

I had a seizure and was in a medically induced coma for 3 days when I was 17. To be honest I don't remember anything. I remember fading in and out of the anesthesia trying to pull my breathing tube out and and that my hands were restrained to the bed so I couldn't. When I woke up and was coherent I couldn't recall anything from actually being in the coma. They had even moved me to a hospital over 100 miles away. It was really just nothing but black. No dreams, no lights, no voices, just nothing.

chazzybeats

"May I Take A Message?"

The person I knew in a coma was in it for about three weeks and had no recollection of being in a coma. The doctor was saying his name real loud and he finally woke up one day. The doctor asked him if he was (insert real name). The patient said "yes and whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to?" back to the doctor.

jenniferami

Life Goes On, But They Don't

After being in a really bad accident that left one of my good friends (the driver) brain dead, they put me into a chemically induced coma for under a week to prevent brain damage due to swelling.

When I first woke up, my memory was much better than it was as it gradually faded in the days to come. I have a journal my mother recorded things in, and I recalled many things I shouldn't have been able to immediately after waking up.

Today, I have very little memory of it all, but I can definitely say that having positive people around you definitely helps when you're in a situation like that.

If you have a friend in this situation, don't disregard them. Even though your life has moved on, they may wake up one day, and in their mind, not a day has passed since the last conversation they had with you.

croatianscentsation

Kind Of Like A Long Nap

Mine was only 2 days but for me it was just like being asleep. When I woke up I had no idea I was in a coma.

22OregonJB

Waking Up To A Wonderful Surprise

When I was a kid, my best friend got hit by a car at age 12. She was in a coma for I think a little over a year. She said she felt like she was asleep but was most freaked out when she woke up and saw that she had gone through puberty while in the coma.

talkingshrimp

Starting From Scratch

Dunno. I was in a coma for 11 days, severe brain injury. I don't remember being in a coma or waking up from a coma. I lost several years of memories prior to the coma, and my brain didn't really start to "retain" information again until ~6 weeks after I came out of the coma.

I'm told that my personality changed afterwards. I had to rebuild most areas of my life. It sucked, but it was probably a good thing.

Although I'd be lying if I said I never wondered what my life would be like if I'd never had the coma.

heyrainyday

A Hole Where Space Should Be

I was in a coma for about two weeks following a cardiac arrest as a teen. I was technically dead for over an hour, in fact. People often ask me if I could hear my family talking to me or if I was dreaming. The answer is "No."

There is a huge hole in my memory beginning about two weeks before the coma through a week after "waking up." And waking up is in quotes because I would wake up, ask a bunch of semi-incoherent questions, fall back under, then wake up again and ask the exact same questions, in the exact same order.

Repeat six or seven times.

The coma was not even blackness. It just does not exist. I remember having the hardest time believing it was actually mid-October when the last day I remembered was late-September.

iwillcorrectyou

Dodging A Bullet

My girlfriend of 6 years and sort of fiance was in a severe car crash when she was 16. Both of her best friends died instantly. She was the only survivor but they didn't think she would make it. She was in a coma for 9 months. She was in what is called a waking coma. She retained normal periods of sleep and open eyed wakefulness, but no higher brain functions.

Here are some things about her experience.

She doesn't have any memories of the year prior or the year and a halfish after her coma and obviously no memories of the car crash.

She suffered a TBI and when she first got out of the coma she would get naked and sexual with people and anger very easily. These are common problems of people who suffer a TBI.

She went back to school after the coma, but her brain was still healing a lot. She was held back another year because her brain was still not retaining anything.

Today she is a wonderful, bright 30 year old with a college degree. She has a slight speech impediment, gets frustrated easier than most, and it took her a while to get driving down. Honestly, she still scares the hell out of me when she drives, but there are worse drivers out there.

mortalcoil1

People Confess Dreaming Of Doing Something All Their Life Then Hating It Once They Did It

Reddit user buzzkill007 asked: 'Have you ever dreamed of doing something your whole life only to find out, once you did it, that you hated it? What was it?'

EMT worker
DingbatDarrel/Unsplash

They say "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

You know, the notion that we shouldn't fear things we haven't tried and that getting out of our comfort zone could lead to a wealth of wonderful discoveries.

Most times, fear isn't preventing us from trying the things we've been wanting to try–whether it's a new career or a hobby. We just haven't gotten there yet.

But take note, it's not always what it seems once we get there.

Keep reading...Show less

Everyone has a memory from their school days that always makes them laugh when it crosses their minds.

Be it someone passing gas at a very inopportune moment, an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction during a school play or sporting event, or, perhaps most of all, a spectacular prank.

Of course, while every single member of the student body likely finds these incidents and occurrences hilarious, the faculty and staff often find little to nothing funny about them.

Mainly because they often have to deal with the consequences and pandemonium caused by these dubiously hilarious events.

Keep reading...Show less

I embarrass myself in the search for love constantly.

Or in the need to try and impress.

I can't help it.

And I know I'm not alone.

Every time I come face to face with a crush or someone that intimidates me, all of my wit, wisdom, and self-respect flies out the window. Suddenly words are just sounds that make no sense. I also laugh at the most inappropriate moments.

Trying to impress someone should be easy.

Well, maybe not easy, it can be a challenge but it shouldn't land anyone in the ER.

When did trying to gain someone's attention become a sporting event?

Thank God for Xanax.

I have found a little calm goes a long way.

Keep reading...Show less

We've all had to learn something the hard way or at a super inconvenient time.

But because we're always learning new things, of course there will have to be some things that we learn later, rather than sooner, no matter the consequences of learning it too late.

Keep reading...Show less