Most people do come out of comas. Some of them are able to return to the normal lives they had before they got sick. On TV, it seems like someone in a coma wakes up right away, looks around, and is able to think and talk normally.
But in real life, this rarely happens. When coming out of a coma, a person probably will be confused and only slowly respond to what's going on.
It will take time for the person to start feeling better. Whether someone fully returns to normal after being in a coma depends on what caused the coma and how badly the brain may have been hurt. Sometimes people who come out of comas are just as they were before — they can remember what happened to them before the coma and can do everything they used to do.
Other people may need therapy to relearn basic things like tying their shoes, eating with a fork or spoon , or learning to walk all over again. Some simple first aid steps, such as checking the vital signs and assessing for a serious injury, can help until emergency services arrive.
If a person is not breathing, it may be necessary to perform CPR. Unconsciousness is an unresponsive state. A person who is unconscious may seem like they are sleeping but may not respond to things like loud noises, being touched, or being shaken.
Fainting is a type of unconsciousness that happens suddenly and may only last a few seconds. Other types can last much longer. If someone seems unconscious or unresponsive, the first thing to do is ask if they are OK in a loud voice. But if they might have a spinal cord injury, it is best not to move the person until emergency services arrive. If a person still does not respond, follow these steps in this order:. Next, call or have someone else call emergency medical services.
In the United States, dial Do this if the person:. Share the information on the tag with the representative. Before beginning any first aid steps , it is essential to tell whether the unconscious person is breathing or not. If the person is unable to answer correctly, they may be experiencing a change in mental status. Share this information with the emergency services representative. If the person may have a spinal injury, leave them as they are.
Take steps to keep their neck supported and still. If the person is breathing and it is unlikely that they have a spinal injury, roll them into a recovery position on their side. Adjust their legs so their hips and knees form right angles. Tilt their head gently back to help keep their airway open.
If an unconscious person is not breathing, it may be necessary to move them carefully onto their back while protecting their neck, so they can receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation CPR. We describe how to give CPR in the next section. If the person is moving, coughing, or breathing, this is a good sign. If none of these things happen, continue giving CPR until emergency assistance arrives.
If something is visible at the back of the throat or high in the throat, and it is blocking the airway, try to remove it by using one finger to sweep the mouth. Do not try to sweep away or grab anything that is not visible.
If the person is not breathing and has something lodged in their throat, continue performing the chest compressions of CPR and checking to see whether the object has dislodged.
The team members at the Center for Consciousness Science note that all of this work may help patients in the future. The team hopes this and future research could lead to therapeutic strategies for patients.
Lab Report. Kylie Urban. February 22, AM. An increasing amount of evidence suggests that consciousness is not a requirement for feeling emotions. This opens up a minefield of questions for how best to treat unconscious people. Photo: Shutterstock. May - So is Jane conscious or unconscious? The answer is that consciousness and the unconscious might be much more similar than we think.
Science and the theory of consciousness and the unconscious Since the s there has been impressive progress in the scientific investigation of consciousness. Read More: Sending Norwegian research ethics out into Europe Learning how to communicate with unresponsive patients An emblematic case is the development of new tools to potentially communicate with patients suffering from disorders of consciousness. Is Jane conscious or not? Whether Jane is conscious or not is an important question, and it is still open.
New model of consciousness: A spectrum and neither on or off At the conceptual level, new models of consciousness are now being developed.
The unconscious patient should not be treated differently While consciousness is usually defined as the opposite of unconscious, recent research suggests that this kind of interpretation is too simplistic and should be updated and the concept of unconscious emotion is increasingly gaining scientific literacy.
Researchers' Zone:.
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