Comas are usually part of those television tropes which are never handled properly, like actual work a doctor does or the size of a classroom. Lying there for days on end can end up being physically taxing, while also taking you completely out of your proper frame of mind. However, these stories below all share the same experience: comas suck.
Reddit user, u/cseiler3, wanted to hear the unknowable when they asked:
Survivors of Comas, what was it like?
When Your Body Won't Do What Its Supposed To Do...
Had a major open heart surgery, almost died and went into a 2 week coma after resucitation... Being in the coma felt like sleeping soundly tbh, had an endless series of random dreams. The last dream I had before waking up was that I was riding escalators for way too long, so long that I even thought to myself in the dream, "That's strange, why aren't I waking up?"
Nothing Works Like It Did
In a coma for 42 days. I don't remember a thing.
Did your body feel all weird and weak when you woke up?
My first memory after waking was being loaded on an ambulance to go to rehab. I couldn't speak and barely hold a pencil. I instantly knew I was paralyzed but was good with it because my mind was there. My accident happened on May 10th and I've been home for 4 weeks.
Time Skip
I was in a medically induced coma for three weeks. All I remember is what it's like when they start pulling you out. I was having very vivid and strange dreams mixed with reality then one day I was able to recognize it was now September but I remembered entering the hospital in August.
Dreams Haunt And Betray You
A motorcycle accident left me in a medically induced coma for about 2 weeks. I had weird dreams, I didn't know what had happened to me until I was woken up. I didn't know time had passed.
I still remember the dreams.
Do share
I was a skeleton with just eyes and I was laying on a mortician table rewatching my past memories on a bunch of televisions above me. I couldn't move.
The other one was me frozen in ice watching people walk on top of me but not being able to get their attention. It terrified me just being left there.
The Hangover Was The Worst Part
I fell into a coma after I got very drunk, fell over, cracked my head and had a bleed on my brain had the last rites said as well. I was out for about 21 hours or so.
I remember nothing of the coma, just woke up with no recollection of what happened, was a mixture of very confused, disorientated and had a standard sh-tty hangover.
Getting Back To Where You Were
The worst thing, IMO is the atrophy that happens while you're not moving. I was in a coma for a month and had to build my muscles up to be able to walk and climb steps again. I think I made it from my door to the next one the first time they got me out of bed, and I cried because of the mixture of physical and mental pain.
The first time I tried to climb a flight of stairs I just went at it like normal and was exhausted before coming close to the top. The rehab person had to explain to me that for now it was getting both feet on the step before going for the next one (like how old people climb stairs).
It ended up taking over a year before my body was anywhere close to normal. I also had this skin peeling on my hands and feet shortly after I woke up.
Are You My Mummy?
I was about 7 when it happened. I was playing around on a swing and apparently fell over and hit my head (also "swallowed my tongue" in the process). Fortunately people around were quick to react, somebody reached down my throat and took out my tongue and called an ambulance. I don't really remember it all that, I just remember waking up at the hospital the next day. My mother was standing next to me and as I woke up she started asking me questions like about what my name was or what her name was. I remember being really confused, I was like "Mum, what sort of silly question is that?" Turns out, I've woken up at some point in the ambulance and had no idea who my mum and dad were, as they were in the ambulance with me.
Definitely not a fun experience, but the worst part was that the doctors said I couldn't eat chocolate for like a month after that.
You Can See Everything, No Matter How Weird
F-cking weird. I was out for 9 days, coma dreams are intense. Coming back from it was super strange too, a lot of questioning reality.
Do you remember any of the dreams?
Vividly.
I won the super bowl, after I built the arena and had an operation to become a Quarterback... Go cowboys.
I created an App that helped you poop.
I shot my grandfather dead.
I had a vagina surgically tattooed on to the right side of my scrotum.
Swallowed a bumper.
Like I said... Weird sh-t.
"...0/10 would NOT recommend."
I was put into a medically induced coma for a week after I got rocked in a crash. It sucked.
1: I could hear what was going on, but had 0 ways to communicate.
2: the hallucinations/nightmares was really f-cked, but that's to expected from anyone who goes into a coma due to a traumatic event.
And 3: I couldn't tell what was real and what was a dream for a VERY long time, and still have moments where I have loud and severe auditory hallucinations that convince me I'm back in my non-consensual nap time. Also something that isn't well know is, after an extended period of strong as sh-t meds and not moving (besides when the nurses roll you like a Cali roll), your muscles forget how to work. It took me about a month of rehab to get enough strength to lift a large cup of water.
BUT - it was absolutely necessary, and all though it was scary as sh-t, I survived my les then 10% survival chance thanks to, and the amazing, strong, and caring nurses and specialists. I was able to return to my babies, and my future husband. Still, 0/10 would NOT recommend
