we've all seen countless TV shows where
a patient falls into a coma
the weeping family members try
everything possible to resuscitate their
loved one from standing by their side
and reading them stories - playing their
favorite music all in hopes of breaking
through
unfortunately comas are medically
complicated phenomenon with different
causes and effects and despite all our
advances in modern medicine we remain
mostly in the dark about how to
successfully treat one but what exactly
happens to your body when you're in a
coma first we have to be clear that
comas are very different from sleep
despite the fact that the origin of the
word comes from the Greek for coma or
deep sleep comas are not sleep however
in our instead various forms of
unconsciousness that render a person
unable to respond to any external
stimuli you can play the loudest
heaviest death metal in the world right
next to someone who's comatose and you
won't succeed in doing anything except
really annoying the neighbors likewise
you can even physically hurt people in a
coma and they will remain completely
oblivious and unresponsive in times in
the not-too-distant past this was
sometimes used as treatment with doctors
trying to shock their victims back into
consciousness everything was tried from
exposing parts of the body to open
flames to severely dropping the body's
temperature with ice to even blood
leading from the head directly one
treatment even included holy emptying
the stomach we guess because the doctors
thought that if a patient got hungry
enough the body would force them to wake
up or maybe they really were just
throwing everything including the
kitchen zinc at the problem which we're
sure was also tried comas can occur as a
result of serious trauma
or as a deliberate medical treatment by
doctors they are typically brought on by
traumatic head injury and it's believed
that it's the brains way of shutting
down so it can focus on repairing itself
they can also however be brought on by a
stroke or a brain tumor drug or alcohol
abuse or an illness such as diabetes or
infection most of the time a coma only
lasts a few weeks though but past this
period the patient can enter a
persistent vegetative state that
severely lessens their chance of ever
coming back out of one sometimes people
who recover may end up with major or
minor disabilities as well to include
speech impediments mental retardation or
problem coordinating
body movements medically induced comas
meanwhile are used when patients are at
high risk of brain injury either due to
physical trauma drug overdoses or
diseases the purpose is to protect and
control the pressure dynamics of the
brain as during injury or disease the
brain can swell up and push against the
skull which can starve some parts of the
brain of oxygen a medically induced coma
reduces the electrical activity and
slows down the brain's metabolism
minimizing swelling and inflammation
there are several different types of
comas and they each differ from each
other a vegetative state means that a
person's body can make physical
movements such as grunts or yawns but
has no reaction to actual stimuli the
movements are purely involuntary and
sadly for loved ones seeing the body of
someone you care about suddenly yawn can
induce false hope the truth is the brain
remains shut down and operating only at
the most basic levels catatonia on the
other hand is a complete lack of any
movement or response of any kind this is
exactly as it sounds and often catatonic
patients require help from machines to
breathe and possibly even pump the heart
brain death means that the higher brain
functions are completely destroyed and
the brain only carries out autonomic
functions such as breathing and
swallowing which are hardwired into our
brains programming a brain-dead person
has in effect no chance for recovery and
typically brain death results from
extreme physical trauma or severe
illness a stupor is technically not a
form of coma but is sometimes referred
to as one this is a case of one being
able to be awakened but only with
considerable effort people and stupors
can often fall right back into a deep
unconsciousness but more often than not
will recover on their own the danger is
if they dip so deep into unconsciousness
that their autonomic functions are
impaired while in a coma your brain
shows zero awareness or cognitive
processing and is completely unable to
respond to outside stimuli it is in
effect as if the brain has been
completely turned off or is being
rebooted like a computer except for in
the most severe cases the body will
continue to breathe in the heart will
continue to pump and if you block the
airway patients can even COFF as the
body attempts to recover airflow but
that's about it
as the brain seems to be unable to
communicate through the brain stem and
the cerebrum which controls cognitive
consciousness through a process called
the reticular activating
system any doctor will admit that
there's a great deal we simply don't
know about the coma state and in 2013
doctors treating an epileptic man in a
coma we're puzzled to find brain
activity in the hippocampus these ridges
on the floor of each lateral ventricle
of the brain are thought to be the
center for emotion memory in the
autonomic nervous system meaning it's
quite possible that the unconscious
person was experiencing memories but
little else
the doctors replicated their findings
and cats which were placed under general
anaesthetic and the knowledge that
gleamed may help make some comas
reversible while they don't believe that
this means a coma patient with this type
of mental activity or any other has any
sort of awareness or ability to
communicate about their condition it is
strong evidence for the fact that the
brain does in fact take actions to try
and repair or protect itself while in a
comatose state the rest of the body
typically remains unaffected by the coma
state though with functions such as
breathing and heart beating being so
hardwired into our passive nervous
system that we do these things literally
without thought people in a coma state
though will require IVs which they are
fed through and have kept hydrated which
are intubated with breathing tubes to
maintain a clear airway though some coma
patients do retain the reflexes to
swallow the most common issue facing
coma patients though is muscle atrophy
which comes from simply not using your
muscles for prolonged periods of time
you don't need to be in a coma for this
to happen though if you've ever been a
couch potato for a few weeks at a time
then you've likely experienced the
severe weakness of muscles that have
atrophied from a lack of exercise even
just getting up for a walk one day can
keep your muscles from wasting away bed
sores are another serious concern for
coma patients also known as pressure
ulcers these are common for people who
are bedridden or immobile or perhaps
unable to sense pain these happen on
areas of the skin that are under
pressure from lying in bed sitting down
or wearing a tight cast for a very long
time they develop when the blood supply
to the skin is cut off for more than two
to three hours and as the skin dies the
bed sore starts as a red painful area
which will eventually turn purple if not
treated the skin will split open and the
area runs the risk of infection they can
also become very deep if undetected or
untreated it
getting into the muscle or even the bone
and they're very slow to heal
sometimes bed sores can take years to
heal and may require surgery the most
common places bed sores form are on the
buttocks area the heels of the feet
shoulder blades back at the head and
backs and sides of the needs if left
untreated they can grow grotesquely
large if you have the stomach for it go
ahead and do a google image search for
untreated bed sores we did and we deeply
regret it the good news about comas is
that despite what medical dramas may
tell you most people recover within a
few weeks to at least some level of
their previous mental capacity however
new research and techniques is
continually improving our knowledge of
comas and how to treat them and in 2017
a 35 year old man who'd been in a
vegetative state since he was 20 was
entered into a state doctors call
minimal consciousness by stimulating the
vagus nerve this is one of the largest
nerves in the body and goes directly to
the heart lungs upper digestive tract in
other organs while not awake doctors
were able to have him follow objects
with his eyes and even prompted looks of
surprise on his face though sadly he was
unable to talk or show any sort of
higher brain function doctors warned
though that while it's a big step
forward it's far from a conclusive one
because comas are as radically different
from each other as those who suffer them
and what works on one individual may
sadly not work on others how long would
you give your family before asking them
to just pull the plug on you and if you
liked this video check out what happens
to your body when you fall into a
volcano oh and how about clicking that
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