Man thought to be in Coma for 23 years was really awake!

reply to post by asala


Star and Flag.

Life is precious. I have forwarded this article as an email to my parents, girlfriend and closest family members. It reads as follows:

"Let it be known that if I ever end up like Terry Shiavo, I wished to be 'plugged in' until the end of days."

Great and horrifying story.

This is very much like "Johnny got his gun" an anti-war story about a man who has his arms legs and face blown off and is unable to communicate to the doctors. Metallica wrote a song about it called "One". Great book.

reply to post by snusfanatic


I must say it also crossed my mind to alert family to this kind of thing too, Just so that if i ever ended up in such a way that they would at least fight to get than hi tech scan done to make sure that i was really in a coma and not an awakened state, I know that now if the misfortune ever happened to someone i knew i would fight tooth and nail as early as possible to make sure.

reply to post by asala


Couldnt he just blink the eyes to attract attention? He still could blink right? If no, well he still could stop breathing or bite his tongue...

What a horrendous experience! To be aware of your environment and unable to communicate must be the greatest torture I can imagine. I think I would have lost my mind under the same conditions.

Another story on it.

www.guardian.co.uk...

They presumed he was in a vegetative state following a near-fatal car crash in 1983.

The question that comes to mind for me.

How many have they unpluged and let die or starve to death. I would hate to be the family member that made that call right now.......just sayin.


Since this is new technology, the catscans used now thought he was brain dead. That scares the hell out of me. I used to think, screw it, unplug me. I have changed my mind, I would rather have a chance and keep myself busy coming up with new stuff then be dead. Now that they know this, the should experiment by playing tapes for learning and see how much one would know if they wake up.
Since their brain has nothing in normal life to concentrait on, they might be super brains!!!!!!!

It is on the front page of Yahoo.com now also

2nd line

Darkness imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell

Metallica - One

reply to post by _damon


actually some people who get paralyzed are totally unable to have any effect on their motor control what so ever, the autonomic nervous system still functions but the 'awake' section of the brain can't effect it. (edit to add although in this case he was on machine assisted breathing and the entire connection between his nervous system and his brain is disabled)

What gets me reading a few of the articles about this is how lax the reporting is, quotes and medical conditions are different in different sources - sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. -did they previously report him as braindead or active but unresponsive? i can't see how he is communicating if a cat scan still doesn't pick up any form of signal, unless the situation has changed since his scan then he hasn't been awake for the whole time he's just silently woken from a coma like people have been known to do in the past?


I'm reminded of a quote in Hamlet,

O God, I could be bounded in a nut shell and count
myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I
have bad dreams.

The poor fella was 'dreaming' so he said, i can see this either as a form of bliss - what wonderful castles in the sky a daydream can erect - or as a form of torture poor old hamlet knows all too well -

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

i think being in a comalike state kinda counts as 'that sleep of death,' - i just hope he didn't dwell in the dark places too long...

i think if i ever go into any form of state where i can't respond i want ebooks played to me constantly - Will Durants entire histories, Bill Bryson's historys, etc, etc so that i can happily drift off into a world of interesting stories and clever commentary - hehe then when i awoke i would be much smarter than before too although you sorta gotta worry that suddenly you might understand it all, laying silently as you watch them pull your plug as you scream inwardly all the solutions to the worlds problems...

[edit on 23-11-2009 by NatureBoy]

The more I thought about this, the worse it gets. Never mind, I want to be unplugged!

I would have to listen to years of my wife bitching at me and not be able to walk away or plug my ears.

That would be Hell on Earth for sure.

Originally posted by _damon
reply to post by asala

 

Couldnt he just blink the eyes to attract attention? He still could blink right? If no, well he still could stop breathing or bite his tongue...

Nay. He was and still is fully paralyzed.

This article was made possible because he was able to communicate with the aid of computes and advances in neuroscience.

The patient said: I screamed, but there was nothing to hear.' The immediate thought that came to my mind was the line from Metallica's One "Deep down inside I feel to scream. This terrible silence stops me."

I'm in the medical field. Reading the full article it sounds like the doctors used something called the Glasgow Coma Scale to diagnose his "coma." That scale is really good for initial evaluation, and in emergency situations, but i can't fathom using that scale to permanently diagnose someone.
I realize there weren't the advancements in 1983 that there are now, but still.

It sounds like there are a lot more people out there who are in the same situation as this patient are.....

reply to post by Nate8727


I thought that movie sounded good until I saw the cast...

and the fact that it was up for a Razzie

reply to post by silver tongue devil


Just like Stephen Hawking.

what i dont understand is why they kept some one alive for 23 years if they were believed to be in acoma? poor guy, if i was in his shoes i would have been prayin for death and tryin to figure a way out, oh yes... an attempted suicide while in acoma

reply to post by j2000


no because stephen has control of his eyebrow - the guy from the hospital (from what i've read) had absolutely no control of anything, he is using the brain actuated control modules developed recently - just by thinking he can move a cursor on the screen, science once again has helped a sick man to live a little better, god bless science! oh no wait........

well anyway if stephen does deteriorate and loose control of his eyebrow now he doesn't need to worry about being stuck in the state this poor guy has been in so long - who knows maybe we're close to being able to provide some form of self controlled locomotion to the badly afflicted, or even repair the damage...

i know i already had a pop at religion once this post but meh...

MAKES YOU WONDER ABOUT LAZARUS! Firstly how ill was he when the jman told him to get up....while we think about that lets ask ourselves if the jman himself was in a comalike state those three days? well anyway was just gonna point out science is now topping gods miracles -we'll be regrowing limbs next, maybe even spinal tissue -maybe both these guys will be able to walk normally again thanks to science,

reply to post by asala


This is something straight out of my worst nightmares. I actually read a book a few months ago that was similar to this man's story. The book was fiction, but knowing that somebody actually went through this is terrifying! I'm glad that he came out of the coma. Wow... I bet there are probably quite a few experiencing the same thing! Scary, scary stuff, that's for sure!

reply to post by mr-lizard

Exactly man, that's what i was thinking, what an amazing book

Damn! I can't believe somebody was thought to be a vegetable for 23 years while they were really awake and unable to tell anyone... the idea of that is very scary, and just sounds so horrible I wish this man the best life possible. We all know he deserves it after 23 years of just lying there!

Bringing up the whole 'pulling the plug' ordeal... well if someone is thought to be in a vegetative state but found to be able to communicate with us like this man did (using movement of a finger) then maybe some amendment could be passed allowing people to decide whether they want to live or die in this state. I mean it's one thing to commit suicide when you're fully aware and able to do it yourself, but it's another thing once you're physically unable to do it yourself. The treachery you'd succumb too would just be horrendous.

I am happy though that this man is taking this as a 2nd chance on life, what he calls being reborn. What a fantastic person... someone who is able to withstand that duration of time stuck in a body that is unable to move. I wonder if this guy was really in this state though for the whole 23 years, as he had no way of knowing how long it had been. Also, imagine the things family/friends said to him while he was still conscious lying there, unable to talk back... That right there would be a nightmare within itself.

Best of luck to this man!

[edit on 23-11-2009 by highlyoriginal]

I have heard though im uncertain how accurate this information is... But i did hear that one way to test would be to hold the persons eye lid up and ask them to move there eye up or down? from what im aware even in paralysis that this could still be done?

What i would then fear is that i would assume that this would be a normal part of testing?

Another issue is what if the person was in a coma? then awakened?
I wonder if that is also possible then it would again be something that should be tested over a number of years rather than just once...