What Happens in the Brain During a Coma?

Patients in comas might look like they’re sleeping, but there are pretty fascinating things happening inside of their heads.

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[Lucerne]

I was in a coma for three weeks. My eyes opened first but I wasn't responding to stimuli. I was in a vegetative state then, but when I first responded was after my mom begged and begged to say something I mouthed "I love you" to her

[apedley]

My wife was in a medically induced coma for about a month following a car crash to give her brain the rest it needed, reduce the blood flow and take the ICP down. I don't know the units, but I was told a general anaesthetic would read about 50 on the scale. The barbituate coma she was in made her read 5-10. Quite amazing really. Once the drugs eased off and she began to wake up there was a long road ahead of rehab etc, but shes made a fantastic recovery given the severity of her injury and even returned to her job. I'll always be thankful to the staff at The Walton Centre for not only saving her life with the surgeries, but also the care they gave her in the ICU and rehab.

[DesolatorMagic]

It's installing Windows Updates, obviously

[michaelhough]

So the computer is on, all the parts work, but something bumped the OS into the recycling bin

[TBIhope]

Being in a coma is seriously the hardest thing I've ever done. And I've had cancer. And moved 2, 000 miles in middle school. And been hit by a car as a pedestrian (twice, separate occasions). So I feel like I know about hard things. And also I have a really insane life.
Thank you for everything you said, it's really true. You explained what it feels like to not be all there with internal and external awareness.
And I have a few memories of the first month of coma, but I have much more concrete memories of the second month, when I was starting to come out.
Everything you said was a good explanation for what actually happened between my ears at that time, so thank you!

[TheGoblinKiing]

I was in a coma for 3 months and dreamt for MOST of it. It was like YEARS of dreams. Some good, some peaceful and eye opening, and other horrifying. I somehow knew I was in the hospital and had a couple dreams being there.

[GetPsyched]

Really brilliant video. When I worked with patients with brain injuries we had a lot of people in comas. Our rehabilitation plans and interventions were not catered around them being 'asleep', but as them being a patients going though a stage of potential recovery. Thanks for this

[mikeitzenhuiser]

When I came out of the coma I was in, the first thing I saw before I opened my eyes was my grandpa pointing his finger at me and said, "We're not ready for you yet"... My grandpa passed away 25 years ago and I came out of my coma 13 years ago. I don't think that was a dream, but my doctor told me I never flat lined once.

[rigrentals]

This was an amazing video SciShow Psych. More please.

[BrownP]

For those that are lucky enough to have never needed a general anesthesia yet, here's my (not entirely accurate) description of the experience I had on the procedure:

A really chilly liquid (the anesthetic substance) slowly rises up inside you from one of your hands, and once it reaches your shoulder, you suddenly feel your eyelids getting real heavy real fast as a result of said liquid.

You can struggle to see how long you can keep them open, but at some point, the liquid (whether maybe from its chillyness, its compounds, or both) will create a sensation so overwhelming that you can't help but close your eyes. Give it about 2 seconds afterwards and the chilly sensation will dwindle away, and then, for what feels like not even a second, you experience absolute nothingness...

...And then you suddenly wake up -- just like that, your head feeling particularly fuzzy and your body equal parts refreshed and gimped (and possibly painful if a surgery was had in the meantime). You may also feel very nauseated at this point for some reason (or so I've been told from my sister's experience). And while you're forced to wait somewhere between 30 mins and 1 hour to "recover" from the procedure, you realize that what felt like 5 seconds at most was actually about 3 or 4 hours long.

Again, it's not an entirely accurate description of what happened -- it's a real "blink it or miss it" moment, and the fuzzy head afterwards doesn't help remembering it -- and I fortunately never went through the more awkward parts of it (nauseating aftereffects, inherent resistance to the substance making you wake up mid-operation, etc), but having had 2 surgeries in the space of a month, I can at the very least say they were simply the most fascinating parts of my hospitalization.

[louiseycheese]

People in induced comas (under general anaesthesic for long periods) can sometimes remember things, but get things a bit mixed up.

A patient I've come across 'remembered' being tortured by a vampire when he was in an induced coma. It was actually the physiotherapist contorting his body and performing chest physio. It's kind of terrifying when you think about it. People who have been in induced comas in ICUs commonly suffer from PTSD, from the weird, half-memories and experiences they have when they're not fully aware and awake.

[tatesands]

I was in a coma for 2 weeks after a serious brain injury, and I did in fact, dream. It was awful. I had horrible night mares but I couldn’t wake up

[tncorgi]

I was hospitalized with pneumonia a couple of years ago, they brought me in the ambulance unconscious and unresponsive. I don't remember any of it and I don't remember any of the several hours I was in the E.R. However, I carried on a lucid conversation with ONE doctor which I did remember even though I was totally out of it after that. The people in the E.R. verified what I remembered saying. Really weird because we just talked about the weather and the town I live in, nothing about the fact that I was found at death's door and they were working like hell to stabilize me. It was like a temporary disconnect from reality.

[NewMessage]

The same thing that happens to a sentence during a comma... there's a slight pause.

[anewsin]

I was in a coma for 20 days. A friend came to visit me about 10 days into my journey, and told me about a release from a band that I'm into. I have no memory of the conversation, but one of the first things I asked him was how the new album was.

[Vicius]

Nice video, but it only kind of explained what a coma is and sadly it didn't provide any insights to the question on the title. What *does* happen in the brain during a coma? Which parts show activity and what are they responsible for? Is the brain trying to actively heal itself in a way that it cannot when not in a coma or is the coma simply a result of not being able to function properly?

[TBIhope]

Yeah I was in a coma for about three months, and I don’t remember specifics at all, but I remember “watching” the Olympics in Rio, although I only formed like half a thought the entire time the Olympics were going on. Later on in the coma, someone read me Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and I thought I was dreaming of Hogwarts for a couple weeks. I don’t think it’s fair to say NO processing of anything, there’s still processing, but it takes like at least an hour to produce any legitimate thoughts. So it’s like going from 90 mph to 1.5 mph in “thought speed.” Or at least that’s what it feels like.

[lazyperfectionist]

"All of this means that coma patients don't usually dream, _either."_
Shoot. That has to be a _serious drag._

[giorgosanastasiou]

You 're a good speaker... Thank you.

[kengamble]

OK, so what about in a medically induced coma?
Is it supposed to be the same, because I was in one for 46 days and I DID dream, a LOT!