Is it true that when a man starts to come out of a coma, his first voluntary movements will typically involve his hands moving toward his genitalia and grasping them?
Do doctors specifically look for this behavior when assessing whether or not someone is coming out of their coma??
Thanks.
Yes, it’s true. Every morning…
How bizarre. I’ve never heard of this. Ever.
It’s called the systems check. Every morning when your mind boots up, you must check that all your old devices are still there, and not new devices have been installed.
1,2,3 yep, I’m still a man 
Actually, I can see this happening. I imagine that most guys touch themselves ‘in passing’ more than they realize.
Anecdotal story- I remember waking up from my one time under a general anesthetic and the first thing I tried to do was move my arms. In all honesty, I don’t know where I was going with them… I couldn’t move my right arm and for a split second I feared that it had been amputated, but it was just immobilized against my body. I’m guessing that once I realized that my right arm was still attached, my left arm probably went to make sure other things were still attached as well.
Similarly…
Why do women rub their eyes in the morning?
Because they don’t have balls to scratch.
I can certainly understand the reaction of a man who wakes up to find a foreign object stuck in his penis, one that wasn’t there when he last was awake. :eek:
I had minor surgery a couple of weeks ago (a laser procedure on my prostate, which will soon make urination easier and more complete.) I had to wear a Foley catheter to let me void urine until the swelling went down. For the entire 5 days, I was always aware of that thing that jiggled and rotated inside Big Olaf every time I moved.
POSTing your post perhaps? I know if I’d encountered any errors in that POST, I’d be making a lot more noise than some silly little beeps.
-Butler (Couldn’t help but put in the true nerd speak on this one!)
From relatives who’ve worked in a hospital recovery room:
people coming out of anesthesia frequently move into what is called a ‘fetal posture’ or ‘fetal crouch’. This is basically curled up into a ball: head bent forward, arms crossed over your abdomen, knees pulled up to your chest.
That puts your hands in fairly close proximity to your genitals. Perhaps this is the origin of the item in the OP?
But this happens in both men and women.
And as is semi-involuntary, I don’t know that it would indicate anything to doctors.
My only coma emergence didn’t involve concerns about Mr. Happy.
I’d doubt it. My father wasn’t even in a coma, but was in the ICU on a ventilator and heavily sedated (ornery bastard kept trying to pull out his tubes) for a mere fortnight. When he recovered and the sedation lowered, he was barely able to lift his arm the height from the surface of the bed next to himself to his stomach.
Then again, I’ve learned to doubt everything you ask about, Surreal.
[Ronald Reagan the actor]
Where’s the rest of me?!
WHERE’S THE REST OF ME?!!
[/RRTA]
WWII cartoonist Bill Mauldin said that after a close mortar or artillery hit, a young man would grab for his genitals while an older man would grab for his eyes.
I’ve seen a lot of people wake up from comas. I assure you few of them start grabbing their Whopper. A coma is a deeper depression of consciousness than a drunken stupor, and usually is just a mundane series of waking up and wondering what the hell happened? The “Windows was not properly shut down” thing is just there to annoy medical staff.
I was in a coma for three days after suffering a mild stroke. Awakening from it was a long, drawn out experience of gradually become more aware of my surroundings, then going back into the coma. My first concern wasn’t “Is my penis OK?” it was “What the fuck happened to me?”
Very interesting. What was the first thing you noticed as you were begining to come to? Sounds? Was it like that semi-awake feeling as apposed to the confusion state of mind? Did you wake up at one point? Were you heavily medicated at the time?
I ask, because I had a dear friend pass away a month ago. At one point she awoke from coma and looked around the room at us. Granted, each person and case is different. But, I would like to believe that she was aware of us and that we were with her to the very end.