Don’t they sometimes artificially induce a coma in the event of a head injury to reduce brain swelling?
Can’t sleep: Clowns will eat me.
I know they did that in Startrek…
Thanks for the answers, people & Doctors. And the jokes too.
So when that woman in Fight Club said it she just wanted an all night sex session. Although we don’t know sex was her intention I suppose. Maybe she was hinting she wanted to stay up all night and play Mario Kart.
What about those scenes where the characters were in a snowstorm?
Somewhat related story:
My daughter suffered anaphylactic shock following an allergic reaction. The paramedic on the way to the ER made it a point to keep her awake. The ER doctor, after injecting her with adrenaline, had let her sleep.
Was the paramedic mistaken here?
I would say no - see my earlier post. In the case of an allergic reaction, a medical history can be especially important, so the doctor’s going to want to know whether she had been exposed to this allergen before, how long ago she was bit/stung/ingested/touched the allergen, what the reaction was like last time she was exposed, and more. It’s better to get that information directly if possible to avoid confusion and misunderstandings.
Another important aspect of treating anaphylaxis is that you want the patient to ingest antihistamines as soon as possible (preferably before you have to administer epinephrine.) You can’t do that easily if your patient is unconscious.
Once antihistamines and epinephrine have been provided to the patient and a medical history taken, I don’t see why you wouldn’t allow the patient to sleep (if they can after taking the epinephrine 
) - but I can see why you would wouldn’t let them sleep before all that was done.
Induced coma with ketamine was one of the therapies used to save the life and mind of the only known non-vaccinated survivor of rabies a couple years back, too.
ETA: Sadly, it has also failed to save the lives of everybody it has been tried on since, though…
I should have noted she was 3 years old at the time. Medical history was provided by me. The ER doctor didn’t even bother with antihistamines, and went immediatly to epinephrine. We (Mrs. Puzzler and myself) were told that she has the most severe alergic sesitivity in the books (although some internet research indicates differently).
My nurse practitioner mother told me that the kid I found with a smacked head (fell off a skateboard) should not go to sleep for a good while. Is that bad common medical knowledge? She didn’t mention the point about being able to get information from him. Is that really the only good reason to keep them awake?
The woman I came back to find ministering to this boy was giving him alcohol. Is there any real or even folk remedy reason to give this kid ethanol?
My earlier post in this thread answered that question.
No, there was abasolutely no reason to give the kid alcohol (and plenty of reasons not to, as it’s a CNS depressant).
Are you sure?
Epinephrine does not cure allergic reactions. It is a temporary bronchodilator, and will allow the patient to continue to breathe and swallow antihistamines, but it will only provide minutes of relief. In the time bought by epinephrine, a real preventative to the swelling which can close the airway and kill the patient must be administered, and in the US this is most likely antihistamines - I don’t know about what might be administered in Israel.
It is possible to administer the epinephrine, then antihistamines, but you don’t want to just administer epinephrine. People have died that way, since the epinephrine can wear off in less than 10 minutes, but the allergen may still be present, and the allergic reaction can continue.
That said, even a 3 year old provides information (not a lot verbally.) Is she crying aloud? If yes, then her airway is open, and I don’t have to check that she’s breathing.
If you’re trying to keep her awake, and she goes unconscious anyway, that’s a big sign that she may be asphyxiating as her air passages swell shut. In such a situation, I would want to know immediately - hence keep the patient awake and the patient’s loss of consciousness becomes the first (and a rather obvious) sign of the problem. If the patient is already unconscious, it would be more difficult to immediately detect asphyxiation.
If I assume correctly, the OP was talking about ‘in the movies’.
Just about anything you’re going to see in a movie is going to be artery-pumped with overacted drama stereotypes. The ‘fading in and out of consciousness where unconsciousness is death’ is highly common in just about any Drama. There’s no medical fact or fiction, no seguing into reality, just plain gimmick for the sake of GASP!
Another good one; is it possible for someone to hang onto the railing of a helicopter with just one hand? Unless it’s a five-bladed Cayeuse the answer is no. But how many movies feature someone holding on for dear life with just one hand on the legs of a helicopter?
Still an excellent question, though, by the OP.
What I’d like to know is…can anyone name a movie/game/book where someone’s tried to keep a person awake and they went the way of the lightbulb anyway and managed to survive?
Hmm… Actually, I’m not sure. Can antihistamines be administered using IV?
She was hooked to IV, but I’m pretty sure she did not take anything orally. At the time, she was pale blue all over, except for the lips that were dark purple. I don’t think she would breath unless the oxygen supplied by the paramedic on the ambulance. She was in no condition to swallow anything.
The leading cause of fatality from opioid overdose is respiratory depression. It shuts off the part of your brain that regulates involuntary breathing. If you’re conscious, you can voluntarily breathe. Until you get naloxome to counter the opioids, staying awake could be helpful.
Can somebody really voluntarily breathe for very long? I’ve tried it and I always get distracted after a moment. And opioid intoxication isn’t exactly conducive to maintaining your concentration on something like that …
Well when you haven’t breathed for a moment, you still get that out of breath feeling while on opioids which reminds you to breathe (assuming you’re conscious). So yeah, you’ll forget but you’ll be reminded before you pass out. I know this from personal experience. This is assuming it’s a mild overdose though.
When I was in high school, I was in band together with a guy named Neil, who had epilepsy. He had a seizure during a concert band rehearsal. (Neil’s tuba slipped out of his hands and the bell went over the head of the kid sitting next to me - I still can’t think of this without hearing Bob’s confused shouts from inside the tube bell, and it still makes me laugh.) The school nurse was of course called and made a point of keeping Neil awake after the seizure, when all the poor kid wanted to do was sleep.
Last week my son had an epileptic seizure - his first, talk about a bolt from the blue - while on a school get-acquainted field trip. Since this was the first time, he was sent to the hospital, and I was called and sat with him until discharge. The doctors made a point of doing the few things that required him to stay awake first, mostly asking him what he could remember of what happened, and then when he started to fall asleep the nurse covered him up and dimmed the lights. I mentioned that I’d thought someone recovering from an epileptic seizure was supposed to stay awake, and the nurse said some people used to think that way, as seizures are more likely to happen when the person is asleep or in those transition phases between sleep and waking, and obviously you want to prevent the person from having another seizure right away. But experience has shown it doesn’t make any difference, and it’s kinder to let the person sleep if that’s what he wants to do.
Oh, while we’re on the subject, you know how they used to say that when someone was having a seizure, you should stick something between his teeth so he won’t swallow his tongue? DON’T DO THAT. It won’t help and may hurt.
Yes, and this sounds like a situation where IV Benadryl would be indicated.
St. Urho
Paramedic