# Comas..nothingness or a nice nap? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2001, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comas-nothingness-or-a-nice-nap/90708 "2001-10-31T15:07:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comas-nothingness-or-a-nice-nap/90708/1 "2001-10-31T15:07:28Z")
Anyone here ever been in a coma? Can you explain in casual caveman terms what it’s like? I was watching a special on Animal Planet the other night where a therapy dog jostled a teen out of a coma by licking his face. The doctor said it jumpstarted his brain waves, and the kid woke up a few days later. I had surgery once and when I woke up it was like one second had passed in my life instead of two hours…is that what being in a coma is like? Do you dream? Do you hear? What’s up with that? jar ---
**Author:** ![Killerjoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/51bf81/32.png) [@Killerjoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Killerjoke)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comas-nothingness-or-a-nice-nap/90708/2 "2001-10-31T15:32:15Z")
Do you lose weight? If so, where can I sign up? ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comas-nothingness-or-a-nice-nap/90708/3 "2001-10-31T15:43:50Z")
you may lose weight, but I assume your muscles atrophy depending how long you’re under…this kid I saw used to be a baseball player, and he had NO muscle tone when he woke up. PLUS he had to learn how to walk and eat and talk again. It was like reverting to babyhood. jar ---
**Author:** ![Peregrine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a6a055/32.png) [@Peregrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peregrine)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comas-nothingness-or-a-nice-nap/90708/4 "2001-10-31T15:52:57Z")
My mom was in a coma for a few weeks after her cerebral aneurism. She has memories of some lucid intervals before the brain surgery as well as the gradual return to full mental function after the coma, but she doesn’t report any experiences during the non-responsive period. Of course this doesn’t rule out the possibility that her senses were operating on an undetected level. I can say that I enjoyed my concussion, with the fuzzy memory thread and the blank spots and all. During the mostly absent phase I would get an occasional bit of auditory input, but it wasn’t so much like hearing as it was like remembering a conversation. There were some words there, but the sounds didn’t seem present. Visual experience was completely missing, although it seems I may have been responding to visual cues (A woman who stopped to help me says I claimed to recognize her and her dogs.) ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comas-nothingness-or-a-nice-nap/90708/5 "2001-10-31T16:12:49Z")
Might be worth checking [here](http://www.texoma.com/business/biotech/thia-faq.htm) for an overview of Comas and other head traumas. There are different kinds of Comas rated according to the [Glasgow Coma Score](http://www.trauma.org/scores/gcs.html) A personal account can be found [here](http://microdot.home.texas.net/coma.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comas-nothingness-or-a-nice-nap/90708/6 "2001-10-31T16:15:08Z")
Jar, on a couple of occasions I’ve slept a whole night without any remembered dreams or moving significantly. It was a rather disorienting experience as I remember dozing off in the dark then it seemed like I blinked and it was morning.