People say: ‘This is what it's like to come out of a coma’

A very nice Sunday dear people, ready for something anything but light? Yes, sorry, this topic comes up so often on Reddit and I find it mega interesting every time. Because it seems incredibly scary to me, I (thank God) have not experienced it myself and I can hardly imagine it. Lying in a coma for days, weeks, or months, that is probably everyone's biggest nightmare. Especially when you can hear everyone but you can't do anything at all. Terrifying. So when this question was asked on Reddit (‘Redditors who have been in coma for a long time, what was it like to ‘wake up’ again?’), I knew: I am going to share this with you. Be sure to read the whole topic if you find it interesting, because there are many fascinating stories in it. this topic.

1. ‘I had no idea where I was. I had no idea what had happened. Months later I was still discovering who came to visit (and who didn't). Finances were a mess. Gigantic debts and financial penalties from companies. And it took over eighteen months to get a job again, after very painful physical rehabilitation and having to constantly explain in job interviews that I was in a coma instead of working. And then Covid came…’

2. ‘My uncle was in a coma for six weeks. He said he could hear every conversation, he knew when people visited him but he couldn't communicate or move a muscle. He still remembers conversations that people had when they were there. He also said that his biggest fear was that people would think he had died and would bury him. He was terrified because he couldn't respond or communicate and he didn't know what would happen to him.’

3. ‘My sister was involved in a car accident where she sustained severe head injuries. She was in a coma for over five months. Waking up from a coma doesn't happen suddenly, but gradually. She had to learn everything again, starting with simply being able to swallow. Additionally, she ‘misses’ the last year of her high school: she had just graduated but remembers nothing of the entire year. Furthermore, her short-term memory is severely damaged, which frustrates her immensely.’

4. ‘I was in a coma for just over a month. It was surreal, like a dream I couldn't wake up from. When I woke up, my arms and legs didn't work and my vision and thoughts were extremely blurry. I actually thought I was only out for a few days and was unpleasantly surprised when I found out it had been over a month.’

5. ‘Someone I know was in a coma for a few months due to a car accident when she was about twenty. When she woke up, her entire personality had changed, especially the goals she wanted to achieve in her life. Before the accident, she wanted to become a teacher and was studying at university, but after the accident, that seemed terrible to her and she wanted to become a hairdresser.’

6. ‘When my uncle came out of his coma, he just couldn't comprehend that he was no longer a teenager: he couldn't remember anything from the last years but still knew exactly things that had happened forty years ago. He kept asking where his father and mother were and my own father had to tell him every time that they had already passed away, which broke his heart every time.’

7. ‘Coming out of a coma is nothing like in the movies. I was really astonished when a friend of mine was in a coma for a month and then had to relearn every basic function of his body.’

8. This story is too long to translate completely, but really: read it. A complete mindfuck, from someone who was out for a few minutes and in the meantime led a completely different life. After that, he had to process the loss of his wife and children, who never existed. Bizarre. Check it out here.