People Who Were Stuck In Comas Are Revealing What It's Actually Like, And It's So, So Freaky

Yahoo

a day ago

The internet can give you the behind-the-scenes of just about anything, so if you were ever curious about what it's like to be in a coma, you're about to find out. A while back, people of the BuzzFeed Community revealed what it's like to be in a coma — and their experiences are truly wild. Here's what they had to say:
Note: Some responses were pulled from these three Reddit threads.
1."During COVID, I was in a coma for 32 days. I can honestly say I don't remember anything. No light nor darkness — just nonexistent. Remembering nothingness should be terrifying, right? But it was actually liberating; I no longer fear death."
—glitterycookie64
2."I had a back surgery, and two days later, they did a mylogram and dragged bacteria into my spine. I ended up with bacterial meningitis and was in a coma for 28 days. I felt as though I was in a warm, calm, benevolent place when, in fact, I was thrashing in pain. When I finally woke up, I was in pain for a couple of days. I only remembered my close friend talking to me directly into my ear. All in all, it was a pleasant experience."
—coppersmoothie12
3."I was in a coma for a short period. When I woke up, it was like no time had passed, and I remembered nothing. I had to remember how to do everything again: walk, talk, eat, go to the bathroom, etc. I was told what happened, which I had no memory of, and I was even told I died and they had to fight to bring me back. However, as time passes, I have flashbacks of memories of everything. I remember bits and pieces, and I'm connecting the dots. I can remember A LOT from when I was asleep."
"I ask my husband often, 'Did this happen?' and he shockingly says yes! It's weird how my brain is putting pieces together over a year later. I have a lot of trauma now because I remember things at horrible times, and it freaks me out."
—rachway
4."I have a friend who was in a coma for several days after multiple rattlesnake bites. Two things she told me stood out the most: It was very peaceful, and she saw all the dogs she had ever had again. Secondly, she heard the doctor say she had a 30% chance of survival, so she decided to show him she was going to make it."
—beanielebean
5."I was in a coma for a little over a month due to sepsis following a perforated ulcer in my GI tract. I don't remember hearing anyone, although family and friends read to me, played recorded videos, etc. I remember 'being' in a dim, small room with velvet-flocked wallpaper, and 'being' in an Orange Julius in a mall food court with strangers. Then, I heard my mom say she was leaving on Thursday. I woke up and thought two days had passed."
"I lost more than a month, a third of my body weight, all my muscle tone, a lot of hair, and my vocal cords were damaged due to an emergency intubation. It took another month to regain muscle control to write notes and for my vocal cords and esophageal muscles to start healing. I had failed three swallow tests before I finally passed. It took over 11 weeks from ER admit to discharge. I had months of OT, PT, and speech afterwards. Fifteen months after discharge, I was completely cleared by all but GI doctor!!!"
—sportygoose966
Related: "I Know You Aren't Trying To Hurt Me." Doctors, Nurses, And First Responders Are Revealing The Most "Haunting" Last Words They've Heard From A Patient
6."A friend of mine was in a coma for six months after he had thrombosis from nonstop traveling for work for days. He said the entire time he was out, he dreamt that he was floating in the ocean, chasing his Hermes trunk luggage. Turns out, his sister had put an ocean sound machine by his bed for six months."
"I had the pleasure of knowing him for about three months before he sadly passed away during yet another work trip."
—privatefaces
7."I was in a coma for four days. When I woke up, everyone was talking about the baby boy I had. I had lost my long-term memory and didn't even remember being pregnant. My son was at the children's hospital in the NICU. I delivered him via C-section at 29 weeks. All this was due to me having Crohn's disease (which I found out after I woke up); my colon had ruptured during my pregnancy. My husband said I was talking like a child when I first woke up."
"When I woke up, I felt super tired, but then the next few days, kinda restless. I remembered one conversation my mom had with a nurse while I was under. After a couple of days, I got my long-term memory back and remembered everything up until my second surgery, then nothing until I woke up. My son was my third surgery. So, my son was what surprised me."
—u/PennyCundiff
8."I was in a coma for 11 days from a severe brain injury. I don't remember being in a coma or waking up from a coma. I lost several years of memories prior to the coma, and my brain didn't really start to 'retain' information again until about six weeks after I came out of the coma. I'm told that my personality changed afterward. I had to rebuild most areas of my life. It sucked, but it was probably a good thing."
"Although, I'd be lying if I said I never wondered what my life would be like if I'd never had the coma."
—u/heyrainyday
9."A friend of mine was in a six-month coma after an accident. Afterward, he made sure to tell everyone around him to talk to people in a coma because they can hear you. BUT he noted that they should always tell the person in a coma what happened, where they are, and what's happening to them because he said that his moments of lucidity were mixed with some truly horrifying dreams — and he had trouble distinguishing between what was real and what were dreams."
"He said he just wanted to be told what was real and what was happening."
—u/Blameking27
Related: 27 Grown-Ass Adults Who Threw Such Unbelievable Temper Tantrums, Even The Brattiest Toddler Couldn't Compete
10."This is really bizarre, but my uncle — a very serious, strict, and rather dry man — had an accident and went into a coma a few years back. He never believed anything he couldn't touch, no talks about souls, or anything similar. But he was in a coma for a few weeks until he woke up and had this crazy AF story. He said he saw himself in a bubble, floating around in a white place, and it was peaceful and beautiful. But then, he said there were other bubbles he could see around him, and they had other people in them. He distinctly remembered a black-haired woman singing in the bubble closest to his, until one day, her bubble burst, and she disappeared. When he woke up, he could give a very clear description of her body, age, and all that. Now here's the wild part..."
"There was a woman, one floor below him, in a coma who sadly had passed away before he woke up. You guessed it — black hair, age, body all correct. He had never met or seen this woman in his life. His whole idea of life changed after this. It still makes me think sometimes... Where was he? He thinks all the people in bubbles around him were patients in the same hospital. Could it be? We'll probably never know."
—u/KayPet
11."I was in a coma for three days after a car accident where I hit my head. Pretty much, I was driving then I saw the color purple, and then I woke up three days later. There really was nothing. It's not even like sleeping because when you wake up from sleeping, you know you were asleep. It is like blinking; one second you are doing something, then the next something totally different. I do have a vague memory of being on a table with a cute guy wiping my nose and it hurting really bad. I remember saying, 'You are super cute,' but that's all."
"I believe that was before I went into the coma after the accident. I had a brain bruise or something like that, and it caused speech problems for about six months after."
—u/sharms2010
12."A friend of ours fell into a coma at age 25 (around 1992) and woke up at age 36 (around 2002). She was a Rhodes Scholar nominee (I think, second-hand information) and quite brilliant. She was still 25 mentally — as if everything was just on pause. Her body was really well-preserved; she's really fun and cool and sort of the ultimate cougar. Plus, she totally woke up to the internet."
—u/horsman
13."I spent eight days in a coma last year after a particularly traumatic surgery, my waking thoughts were wondering if I had died or made it. I couldn't open my eyes, and I was on a medical air mattress, so I felt like I was floating; this lead me to think that I had died, and I remember thinking it wasn't so bad and wondering if my dad would come find me. Once I realized that I was still alive, I thought I had been injured fighting in a war and worried that my wife might not know I was still alive. Trying to communicate with the nurses while intubated and drugged was very difficult."
"What I learned later from my wife is that she was there the whole time and while I was fighting against the doctors and nurses, I would immediately calm down and cooperate when she held my hand and sang to me. It still brings tears to my eyes to think of the love and devotion she has shown to me during this time."
—u/Tinman556
14."I was in a coma for four days from bacterial meningitis. When I woke up, I was completely deaf! I had to communicate with my parents and doctors with a notepad and pen. Some hearing gradually returned in my left ear, but my right ear is still 100% deaf to this day."
—u/austin_cody
15."My wife was in a medically induced coma for four days. She had a reaction to contrast dye, and her heart stopped for 20 minutes. For nearly three months, she was confabulating about her long-dead parents. She would speak about them like they were in the next room. Or, she would say her daughter or brother called...but they hadn't. Over and over, she thought her mom was alive, then her dad. Drove me nuts having to (gently) correct her many times per day. She would come up with amazing tales about what people (relatives, friends, neighbors) were doing, what they said — truly creative fiction. Three months later, she began to come back."
"The confabulations stopped, and now, things are reversed. She can remember recent events, but her long-term memories are gone. I don't know what that's like, but it must be awful. She cries sometimes for her lost memories, but overall, she is doing very well."
—u/urgent45
And finally...
16."I was in a coma for about two weeks following a cardiac arrest as a teen. I was technically dead for over an hour, in fact. People often ask me if I could hear my family talking to me or if I was dreaming. The answer is 'No.' There is a huge hole in my memory beginning about two weeks before the coma through a week after 'waking up.' And waking up is in quotes because I would wake up, ask a bunch of semi-incoherent questions, fall back under, then wake up again and ask the exact same questions, in the exact same order. Repeat six or seven times."
"The coma was not even blackness. It just does not exist. I remember having the hardest time believing it was actually mid-October when the last day I remembered was late-September."
—u/iwillcorrectyou
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
If you (or someone you know) have ever been stuck in a coma, what was it like? Feel free to share your story in the comments, or use this anonymous form below.
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