What’s it like being in a coma?
Posted by mbridge2610@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 27 comments
Off the back of ‘what’s it like going under GA’ thread, it got me to thinking what it’s like being in a coma, so wondering if anyone who has been in one, is happy to share their experiences.
korikore@reddit
I was in an induced coma for 2 weeks and it was like time didn’t exist. However, coming out of the coma was an absolute trip as I experienced ICU psychosis. I was convinced all the nurses and doctors hated me and were to kill me. My hallucinations and the story line my mind came with it was super elaborate so I won’t go into too much detail but I could probably get a creative writing award lol. For a few days (not exactly sure how many) I was convinced I had lured into a fake hospital and the ‘staff’ would kill me and harvest my organs. And then my family showed and I was desperately trying to convince them to leave the hospital and go home because I thought if they realised what was really going on then they would also be in danger. It was wild. It would also get worse at night. It took me a few days to snap out of it and come to reality. But my hallucinations really shook up and I still find thinking about them sometimes 2 years later.
beffybadbelly@reddit
Oh wow I had the exact same experience coming out of my coma! I was convinced that they were taking me to underground dungeons to perform rituals on me while the nurses got off with each other, it was so REAL to me as well.
korikore@reddit
Oh wow. That’s so interesting. Do you mind if I DM you to talk about this more?
beffybadbelly@reddit
Of course not! Go for it
beffybadbelly@reddit
I was in a coma for two weeks last year and in my head I was in Australia. I was freaking out internally because I didn’t know how I’d got to Australia as it’s not somewhere I’d ever want to go due to the spiders. Also, bright lights in my head to the point that bright lights now bring on terrible PTSD anxiety.
finishmyleg@reddit
Spent a week in one, spent most of it travelling around Thailand
beffybadbelly@reddit
I would have much preferred Thailand tbh
VRS38@reddit
So you'd not gone to Australia?? It was like a dream?
beffybadbelly@reddit
Nope, I was in ICU in hospital. No Australia. But it was like I was looking down on myself in Australia and panicking because of the spiders.
VRS38@reddit
Maybe your alternate self is down under!
beffybadbelly@reddit
I hope my alternate self is a little less scared of spiders if that’s the case!
1stThrowawayDave@reddit
◼️
EdmundTheInsulter@reddit
Ex wife woke up and told me to keep the doctor who amputated her legs away. She still had legs though, it went on for 2-3 days about false legs then a leg transplant.
TechnicalAccountant2@reddit
Watch >!Alice in Borderland!< to find out
noroi-san@reddit
I’ve been in a couple of comas following suicide attempts. There are different levels of coma and consciousness, and waking up is not the same as waking up after a sleep. For the most part, I was totally unaware of what was happening while I was unresponsive. That part is fine.
Waking up was where it got unpleasant; you’re drifting through different levels of awareness and comprehension and physical ability. I guess the closest I could describe it (in a way most would understand) would be being absolutely stupidly drunk, without the pleasure of being drunk. I was very disorientated and scared, and sometimes my body didn’t co-operate with my brain. I would try to get up and leave, not understand why I had wires that ran into my heart and arms, and I’d fall over often, pulling everything over with me. Then I would lose consciousness again.
Even after a slow return to talking and walking on crutches, I have a big hole in my memory of the time after being moved out of ITU and into another ward. Waking up is really very gradual and slow, you don’t recognise people, you speak nonsense, and you’re confused. And this lingers even after you might have gone home.
-Utopia-amiga-@reddit
I was in a coma for a week, but I don't remember anything. My memories are hazy from when I properly came round to say the least. Mine was an induced coma due to cardiac arrest.
SiteWhole7575@reddit
Honestly? For me anyway I went into hospital on a Saturday and woke up myself on the Sunday, so absolutely nothing.
Was a bit surprised that I had spent a night in hospital though… Until I was told I went in in early March and I’d woken up in late May. The actual coma though, literally “nothing”.
It was after I came out of it that it was weird. It was just a coincidence that I went in on a Saturday and woke up on a Sunday but I woke up, realised I was in hospital and just rang the red buzzer for someone and they just looked at me in shock because I was in the coma ICU. My first question after they asked me what day it was, was “Can I go to the toilet?” And got told yeah that’s fine…
Didn’t even realise that I had a catheter and a bum thing in and so promptly decided to “get out of bed” and luckily a porter was there and caught me before I made it worse because I couldn’t even walk, let alone get out of my hospital bed without doing some serious damage.
Worst part was afterwards, had to go through a lot of rehab just to be able to walk again, and was still there for another month in a wheelchair but not in ICU and that was the worst thing. My sleeping schedule was so F’d up too, I had to sleep about 20 hours a day and even now, I get fuzzy and have to have naps at any opportunity.
mbridge2610@reddit (OP)
That sounds crazy! Hope you’re ok now
SiteWhole7575@reddit
Bizarrely I was the least affected by it, my mum and my friends had it worse than I did. My mum was told visiting hours are usually 3-5pm but with me it would be 24 hours and to get any of my loved ones and friends to see me ASAP because they didn’t have much belief that I would make it more than 72hrs which again, I didn’t know about. I’m ok now I guess, had to sell my favourite skateboard and my car and get a silly walking stick which is hilarious because I got rid of the NHS one and have one now that wasn’t exactly cheap but it fits in my little rucksack and to activate it you just shake it and it looks like something from “the future”. 😂
fuckedsince1991@reddit
Fuck knows but that lamp looks really fucking weird
sallyisawitch@reddit
I was in an induced coma for 10 days. I don't recall hearing my family or noise but I do recall a vision/dream of a tall golden male angel above me to the left side. He was surrounded by pink and purple. He didn't speak or move, but he made me feel safe.
As I say he might have been a dream, I remember him as clear as day over 20 years later and have experienced nothing like him since.
When I awoke I felt confused and dazed, didn't know where I was but wasn't panicked.
It wasn't a pleasant experience but it changed my life for the better and I survived a coma and intensive care.
stvvrover@reddit
I don’t remember anything of it.
Abject_Tumbleweed413@reddit
I haven't been in one, but my nan was, for about a month when she was in her 70's, in 2000. I remember her telling me all she really remembered was the colour blue. Maybe the curtains to her bedspace were blue? My dad died in 2023, his life support was withdrawn. Before he was ventilated, he kept telling my mum the wall next to him was black. It was actually white.
barriedalenick@reddit
Obligatory not me but.... I knew guy who spent two years in a coma as young teenager. He said it was just like that time didn't exist but there is no instant wake up as it he was in and out for a few days prior to waking up fully. The two years never happened, no sense of time passing at all. Kids are resilient though and he was not phased by it
Jlaw118@reddit
I feel like that would massively phase me. I already feel like I’ve wasted so many years of my life already and I’m 28 and have so far lived a pretty good life, never mind two years gone
mbridge2610@reddit (OP)
That’s mad though isn’t it.
One day you’re 8 reading the beano or whatever, the next, bam you’re 10 - and your mates have all moved on, got smarter, learned new skills.
Must be weird AF
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