Talk:Coma/Archive 1

Initial message
just wondering. could one of the editors of this page inform me if a person in a coma still has bowel movements? Xtra 00:07, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Some interesting article on coma
— Preceding unsigned comment added by Wk muriithi (talk • contribs) 00:54, 6 May 2005 (UTC)

Attention & Clean up tags
I have tagged the article with the above. Briefly, it suffers from the following problems:


 * Structure and organization: Coma is a medical subject. These are best written in a particular format. See WikiProject Clinical Medicine for an excellent guide.
 * Content weaknesses: Aside from organization, the content itself is weak. The subsections include only brief statements about some aspects of coma. Selection of topics to comment on appears haphazard. Erroneous statements and claims. No figures.
 * Copied work: Parts of the article have been lifted off the NIH website. After the lead section, there's an "In layman's[sic] terms" subsection consisting entirely of a quoted paragraph with no attribution.
 * References/bibliography: Non-existant.

The article needs the attention of docs. I've tagged it in hopes someone who can contribute will have a go at it. Am currently occupied with other articles, but will touch base here within a few weeks. Thanks.— Encephalon |  &zeta;  |  &Sigma;  03:24:25, 2005-08-09 (UTC)


 * I'm working on cleaning this page up. I'm taking out redundant material like the history of Karen Ann Quinlan and GCS, both of which are repeated on their respective pages.  There's a lot more cleaning up that needs done.  I'd like to take out this randomness:
 * "In Germany, Köln (music therapy) is used to quicken the awakening traject.In Belgium, a project is set up to train dogs' and cats's "sixth sense" to warn patients and medical staff that a coma patient has awakened." Anyone mind? Another question: can aspirin really lead to coma?  I've never heard of that.  Maybe if it gives you a stroke...--Delldot 02:22, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

I've noted several organizational problems with the article, which I will be addressing in the coming days. For now, I've made note of some ways to edit the article, and have fixed some minor grammatical and mechanical errors. Kether83 05:45, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

Distinctive Phases in Coma
i added this section because this is important information that was missing from the article, but if people think it should be integrated into the previous section (Contrasts to Other Conditions), be my guest. i think both categories stand alone, although perhaps both are possibly sub-categories of a larger grouping about coma within the continuum of consciousness. -- Denstat 18:24, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

Longest Coma
How long is the longest coma after which the person awoke?

--1000Faces 05:58, 11 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I wonder that too. Here's an interesting recent article about a man who spent 19 years in a coma and woke up to find that his country was no longer communist. Esn 06:14, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Problem with "Derivation" section?
It states "Saguto stayed in this coma for seven months, two weeks, four days, six hours, nine minutes, and 27.66924 seconds". This was supposedly in 1939 - there is no way they would have been able to measure the number of seconds that accurately. I smell someone trying to be funny. 38.119.112.189 17:59, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

Physical aging
A question that came to my mind while reading the article was whether the body continues to physically age during the coma—for instance, in the case of Elaine Esposito. I would imagine the answer is yes, but I'm not familiar with comas. ::Travis Evans 11:20, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Few questions...
My brother is in a coma from O.D on sleeping pills. will he wake up? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.31.175.16 (talk) 20:31, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

What does the person in the coma actually go through when they are in it? Is it like your in a random dream, and the body actually puts itself into a coma when it sees the damage (usually to brain or nervous system) is severe enough.

i was just wondering the same thing....

what exactly causes a coma? i know that head a head injury is the main cause but does the brain see the sudden damage and shut it self down in an attempt to recover better or does the brain just lose its activity due to the injury and possibly lack of blood getting to the brain?

i guess basicly what i'm asking is that is a coma just the result of it trying to reboot and recover after the injury or is it something else? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.209.148.146 (talk) 11:05, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

I am looking at this page as i cant sleep because i have just left hospital. Two weeks ago I died of chickenpox and they were unable to resucitate me for 32 minutes. When they did i was in a coma which lasted for ten days. In my experience (which I am profoundly aware is very personal) I spent the whole time in a fully functioning alternate reallity which was as convincing and "real" as the one I am sharing again with you. The odd places I was in were all based around agonising trials to get back to my children, during which I was given the choise by various people to give up the pain I was suffering (some of which was experiments I have read about in the "concentration camps"). This option was always put to me as doing the "right" thing to save not my myself but all those I love from further anguish. I could honestly go on for pages worth of perfect detail. As is obvious from what I have just recounted, my choise was to fight like a b*****d against all reason to see my wife and kids. I do not wish to give an irresponsible idea of hope to those who have a loved one in the same position. I suffer from mental health problems when I am well and if told the sky is blue would probably disagree. This is why even though I knew from the arguments what was best for evereyone I fought anyway. I KNOW FOR A FACT that the moment I agreed to anything I was gone. As far as the severity of my situation goes- not a single doctor in intensive care thought I would even live- not a single nurse (who I have found generally have a better feeling about the condition of their charges) thought I would even be as good as vegetative. Not one of them has ever even heard of a recovery as fast as mine. I have been like the hopspital celebrity with every consultant and medical student of a certain level being sent to me to get a history so that they can attempt to explain the impossible.Again let me stress that which has been stressed to me... The above is impossible on various levels. I give this imformation purely (I honestly just reallised how cathartic this has been) purely so it may be a little better understood the incredible UNKNOWN POWER OF THE MIND. (dont get me on to the near death experience but lets just say any fan of Terry Pratchett would have a good laugh). Please forgive the grammatical errors etc but I am still not quite 100% but I felt it was impotant to get this down while fresh in my mind. One last very important point- I am not religeous or new age or anything similar. You could not find a more devout follower of pure science- my bible is New Scientist Magazine et al. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.198.176.100 (talk) 02:19, 30 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia is not a diary. If there's a question or salient, verifiable point somewhere in your testimony, editors would be glad to hear it and respond. Otherwise, find a website that posts personal coma stories. Or write to Chicken Soup for the Soul. Or get a diary. NoriMori (ノリモリ) 22:30, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Hey, this really helped, thanks :) hope you get better — Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.236.150.230 (talk) 04:54, 12 January 2013 (UTC)

Coma confusion
The article is ambiguous when talking about Wallis. A coma and a minimally conscious state are not the same thing. The rest of the article is ambiguous in the same way, talking about lots of different types of states that are coma-like, but not actual comas.dynam001 (talk) 04:43, 19 July 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree. I myself wondered why this article mentioned Wallis when his condition was MCS and not coma. I also found that this article sometimes deviates from the clinical definition of coma that it gives in the introduction: "In medicine, a coma ... is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours ..." (emphasis mine). Later in the article, in the last paragraph under "Prognosis", it says, "Coma lasting seconds to minutes results in post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) that lasts hours to days ..." But obviously this isn't true since there is no such thing as a coma "lasting seconds to minutes", because the definition of coma says that it has to last at least six hours. This paragraph doesn't cite a source, either, so would anyone object to me deleting it? NoriMori (ノリモリ) 22:35, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Cure for comas found:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/wenn/20080329/ten-mr-t-brought-boy-out-of-coma-c60bd6d.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 2k6168 (talk • contribs) 12:27, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Coma's in Old Time
After Watching Troy it struck me; How had Coma's been dealt with in Old Times? Would they take the person as dead and bury/burn him? Or did they have the knowledge that it was a Coma... --66.37.174.113 (talk) 02:31, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Good question. Before anyone can answer that we need to realize that medicine in Old Times wasn't as developed as today's. Coma is a kind of condition that requires intense medical care (non-existent at that time). So we have 2 outcomes from coma in Old Times: 1.The coma was not that severe, the patient would have awaken at a certain point under the care of the local physician or shaman and he would return among the "living" once more. 2.The coma was severe enough to be fatal (the draw line of Modern Times between fatal and non-fatal being higher then that of Old Times), the person would have died and the death would be known as the nearest incident before the comatose state installed.

M.Fratila, Brasov, Romania, "Transilvania Uiversity", Psychology —Preceding unsigned comment added by Amatral (talk • contribs) 20:17, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Broken link removal
I tried to access one of the pages linked to, but it's 404. If someone knows where to find it back, that'd be great; the title certainly sounds pretty fascinating.

For reference, this is what I just removed: Waking coma patients with a sleeping pill

Rosuav (talk) 02:30, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

After cardiac arrest
What to do when someone doesn't wake up after being resuscitated after a cardiac arrest. This JAMA review is potentially quotable. JFW | T@lk  21:40, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

sleep wake cycles in coma
according to Eric A. Zilmer and Mary V. Spiers in there text Principles of Nerupsychology 2001, A comatose person DOES have sleep wake cycles. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.119.243.192 (talk) 18:12, 8 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Haven't read the link yet and I'm not a doctor, so this is just speculation — but I would wager that in such a case it's not a coma, since I think part of the definition is that the person doesn't have sleep-wake cycles. If they do, then I think that's classified as a vegetative state or perhaps a minimally conscious state. NoriMori (ノリモリ) 22:49, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Emotional Support
The following is the text written by one of the wikipedia users under the "emotional support" title. I have moved that writing here, since that seems to be more of a personal experience which many people might benefit from, however is not appropriate for the main text. The following is the text:

" Emotional support is an important factor in recovery. You may visit and talk to the person in a normal tone of voice, you do not need to yell or talk loudly, they may be able to hear you but not respond. Talk to them about every day things and tell them who you are. Tell them the date, weather, what things are happening at home and remind them of their favorite topics.  Explain new sounds they may be hearing in the hospital.  Bring in pictures of familiar faces and places.  Touch them but tell them what you are going to do before you do it so you will not startle them.  You can comb their hair, wipe their mouth or hold their hand.  Bring in a music player with their favorite music for them to listen to or record yourself so they can hear you talking to them.  You can also make a list for the nurses, so they know what the persons favorite television shows are.  Doing these things may help a person recover from coma. However, too much stimulation and the person may not be able to sort out and become irritated and restless. The nurse or doctor will help you learn when the person has had too much stimulation. When this happens, the stimulation needs to be reduced and you may need to leave the room and let the patient rest. "

Dr. Persi (talk) 05:09, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Youtube spam?
I don't understand. How is me being in a coma, and linking to a few videos that show my progression, considered You Tube spam? I placed the images so that people could see the coma progression that was documented in the videos they are linked to, and those videos are there in order to visually demonstrate what happens during a coma recovery.

Biblequiz (talk) 00:30, 2 January 2012 (UTC)
 * You appear to be adding these links to promote your own youtube videos. Personal youtube videos are not considered reliable sources for Wikipedia articles, especially for medical topics. Please see WP:MEDRS. Cheers, Dawn Bard (talk) 01:43, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes, but "Self-published or questionable sources may be used as sources of information about themselves"74.192.11.70 (talk) 18:25, 11 August 2012 (UTC)

Seconds or hours and amnesia
The lead has a definition that includes "... lasting more than 6 hours ..."

The last paragraph of the Prognosis section has "Coma lasting seconds to minutes results in ..."

I don't know enough about the subject matter to resolve this other than to note that the Prognosis paragraph is also tagged "Citation Needed."

I had been looking at the article as I was curious on if people in a coma have any memory of events around them while in the coma. That last paragraph of the Prognosis section claims the answer is "no" though does not provide sources. It's also not clear if Post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) applies to medically induced comas as I assume those instances would not have traumatic brain injury (TBI). --Marc Kupper&#124;talk 22:48, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

brain death
Who are "Rady and coworkers" and why is their opinion important enough to mention in this article, as the final word on the topic? Obviously if a brain stops functioning, the person has died, and it's irrelevant whether their mindless body continues to grow or reproduce. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.224.69.63 (talk) 03:53, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

Diagnostic approach
10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62184-4 (Lancet) - key source. JFW &#124; T@lk  11:44, 7 December 2014 (UTC)