# Being in a coma... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 4, 2002, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-a-coma/107186 "2002-05-04T00:40:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mike13241](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mike13241](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike13241)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-a-coma/107186/1 "2002-05-04T00:40:11Z")
To everyone out there: ``` I have always wondered if people in comas dream, or let alone even think. In a related question can they hear when people are speaking to them? Also, does anoyone know of any weird medical cases involving comas? Thanks to anyone who can assist in quenching my curiosity. ``` ---
**Author:** ![breaknrun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@breaknrun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breaknrun)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-a-coma/107186/2 "2002-05-04T02:23:00Z")
At about age 17, my grandfather was in an auto accident that left him in a coma for about 3 months. I never asked him about it because I was didn’t want to seem rude and ask about personal stuff. It never occurred to me to ask him if he dreamed but he did once relate a story to my his daughter (my mom) about having seen an angel and being told it wasn’t his time yet. This would lead me to believe that they must have some dreams. There is brain activity at some rate so I can’t see why not. He was brain damaged enough that he had to relearn how to walk, talk, eat with utensils and when WWII came along, he was declared medically unfit and wasn’t allowed to serve. His recovery was complete enough however, that at the time that I knew him, he showed no signs of ever having brain damage and he even invented things. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmundex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Sigmundex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmundex)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-a-coma/107186/3 "2002-05-04T05:34:31Z")
I was in one for about 3 days when I was in college when I first became diabetic. It’s kind of strange, I can’t remember ANYTHING about the time when I was in the coma, but when I came out of it I definitely knew that a lot of time had elapsed, and it wasn’t like I was asleep for a night or something. It felt different. But there were no dreams or anything like that. When I came out of it, basically I was healthy as a horse, there were no after effects from it, but it did mess up my mind for a while. I had a sort of amnesia for a while, where I could REMEMBER everything, but it didn’t feel like I had experienced any of the memories. It was like being able to go and read all the books in a library, but not having read them before. The memories were like brand new when I remembered them. Very strange. And I was like that until one night when I realized that a Jimi Hendrix song had some sort of meaning to me, and I mechanically went into my bedroom, got the album out (we’re talking late 80’s here), put it on the record player, and balled my brains out while I listened to “Are You Experienced?”. That’s what broke the tide and started bringing me back to myself. It still took another couple of days, but the docs said it was all normal. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-a-coma/107186/4 "2002-05-04T13:23:06Z")
Just keep in mind that “coma” is a very general term, and not really diagnostic of anything other than an altered state of consciousness where one does not respond coherently to stimuli. EEG’s of coma victims may resemble anything ranging from full alertness to normal sleep to brain death. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-a-coma/107186/5 "2002-05-05T18:29:06Z")
I hear tell of a condition called retrograde amnesia. Whereas one can recall events but later after words cannot. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-a-coma/107186/6 "2002-05-05T20:40:59Z")
**Markxxx** , what ?? howmany tequila’s have you had, coma’n now tell us … you sentence reminds me of “all of your base are belong to us” ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-a-coma/107186/7 "2002-05-05T20:43:02Z")
your sentence…your sentence…not you sentence… _bangs head_ ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-a-coma/107186/8 "2002-05-06T02:43:03Z")
Markxxx: Words not make understand posting your spendid why? ---
**Author:** ![Victory\_Candescence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Victory\_Candescence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victory_Candescence)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-a-coma/107186/9 "2002-05-06T02:44:00Z")
Welcome to the boards, Mike. **Markxxx** says: > [@](#): > > I hear tell of a condition called retrograde amnesia. Whereas one can recall events but later after words cannot. Anyway, here’s a quote this is retrograde amnesia: > [@](#): > > Retrograde amnesia means you have lost memories for events PRIOR to the accident. For some people, retrograde amnesia can cover just a minute or even a few seconds. In other words, they’ll recall the car coming right at them but are unable to recall the moment of impact. For other people, retrograde amnesia may affect longer periods of time. The last three or four hours prior to the accident are gone. I had one individual who had lost the last year of his life. As people get better from their head injuries, long-term memories tend to return. However, memories tend to return like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle; these bits and pieces return in random order. In general, the smaller the degree of retrograde amnesia, the less significant the head injury. from [http://www.tbiguide.com/memory.html](http://www.tbiguide.com/memory.html) ---
**Author:** ![Victory\_Candescence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Victory\_Candescence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Victory_Candescence)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2002, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-a-coma/107186/10 "2002-05-06T03:22:40Z")
Welcome to the boards, Mike. **Markxxx** says: > [@](#): > > I hear tell of a condition called retrograde amnesia. Whereas one can recall events but later after words cannot. Here’s some information on what I think he was talking about: > [@](#): > > Retrograde amnesia means you have lost memories for events PRIOR to the accident. For some people, retrograde amnesia can cover just a minute or even a few seconds. In other words, they’ll recall the car coming right at them but are unable to recall the moment of impact. For other people, retrograde amnesia may affect longer periods of time. The last three or four hours prior to the accident are gone. I had one individual who had lost the last year of his life. As people get better from their head injuries, long-term memories tend to return. However, memories tend to return like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle; these bits and pieces return in random order. In general, the smaller the degree of retrograde amnesia, the less significant the head injury. from [http://www.tbiguide.com/memory.html](http://www.tbiguide.com/memory.html)