19 Hard-To-Swallow Realities About Experiencing (And Waking From) A Coma, According To People Who Lived Through Them
Hannah Loewentheil
·25-min read
If you've ever watched any medical dramas on TV — from Grey's Anatomy to House — you know the scene: Someone finally wakes up from a dream-filled, close-to-death coma and suddenly snaps back into reality. The reality, though? Well, people have actually gone through this, and over on Quora, they're discussing what it's like. Here are the sensations and feelings that people remember experiencing after coming out of a coma.
1."I was in a coma for about nine days when I was seven. The coma was the result of a severe head injury following getting hit by a motorcycle while riding my bike. I am now 48 years old, so this was just over 40 years ago when I wrote this response..."
2."I was in a medically induced coma after my liver transplant. I was under for eight days. My mom and my daughter kept me company the whole time. They talked to me a lot. I don’t know what they talked about, but they said I responded by holding their hand..."
3."I was in an induced coma after a gallbladder surgery went wrong, and the surgeon accidentally cut an artery. I lost a huge amount of blood, and they couldn't stop the bleeding for many hours. My family was told I may not survive the first night. I was operated on on a Monday; I woke up properly on a Tuesday. I thought it was the next day, but it was really the next week. The only memory I have of my time in the coma was being told, 'We have to cut your rings off.' I thought it was a dream, but it happened."
"...I was told that was the day after I survived the first night as my organs were all failing, and I had swelled so much that my wedding and Claddagh rings were cutting off my blood supply. Although I didn't know I was in a coma at the time, when I woke, I had never felt more at peace. I knew something was wrong, but it was also as if I had been somewhere peaceful and full of love somewhere else. I don't think back on it as a good experience in any way; I spent many weeks in the hospital and had to learn to eat, walk, and even breathe properly again. It took me over a year to recover, and even three years on, I'm delighted to be alive, but I'm still not back to full health and probably never will be."
4."On October 31, 2021, I fell into a septic/diabetic coma at home. I had come home from work feeling like I wanted to nap, so I laid down, which was the last thing I remember. I was 'down' for an estimated 17 hours. My mom and I lived together but had different schedules; she thought I was sleeping and left me be. In the morning, when she came to wake me, she realized I was dying. Within five minutes, an ambulance arrived..."
5."I was in a coma for about a month. During that time, the doctors would tell my parents that I was brain dead and that they should donate my organs. I had various experiences while I was in a coma. I did have dreams and some other things; I don't know what I would call them. I remember being sucked through. What I can say is similar to when you go to the bank, and they have the canisters that get sucked through a tube, and the banker gets them pretty quickly. I saw different things and met people. I did not want to come back. Where I was was the most peaceful place I have ever been."
6."I was in septic shock and briefly (about eight hours, maybe a few more) either in a coma or a coma-like state. There was no room in the ICU, so my room was turned into a makeshift one..."
"My blood pressure was barely registering, my body temperature was 94 degrees, and I was unable to be roused with pain, light, or the noise from the doctor and five additional people assisting him by administering bolus after bolus of fluids, antibiotics, shining lights in my eyes, calling my name, etc. My mom was with me and spoke off and on with the staff, but she mostly spoke to me. And the weird thing is, sometimes I could hear her.
I was like a blank slate — I had no idea where I was, what was going on, or why my mom was saying such strange things — but I could hear her voice and felt peaceful. When I awoke, the first thing I thought of was her voice. She was still sitting beside me, but I was confused about why she kept saying such weird stuff. I only got bits and pieces, like a phrase here and another 45 minutes later, so it made no sense, not that I remember most of the details of what she said, mostly the tone of her voice. After that, I remember being cold and confused about where all that time had gone."
7."I have been here. I was placed into a coma after a drunk driver hit me. I recall being unable to 'think about' why and what happened. I recall just laying in bed with my sister telling me that I'd been run over. I had so many nurses and doctors in intensive care that I just felt I accepted the whole situation, as I guess the trauma just shuts down the questioning and reasoning side of your brain..."
8."I have been in a coma twice in my life. The first time was for 28 days, the second time for 33 days..."
"...I was diagnosed with adult-onset respiratory distress syndrome. The first time when I came around, I was very disorientated and was having hallucinations and believing people weren't who they said they were. When the drugs were reduced, I thought I had only been there three days and just wanted my family to go home. It took a while to be able to walk, talk, and breathe properly on my own again before I was allowed to leave the hospital.
All I could think of the second time it happened was, 'No! Not again.' Knowing I had lost another month of my life, a month of missing out on what was going on with my kids and many months of therapy to be able to function normally, or a new normal for me due to all the scarring in my throat from the tubes. There was fear, actual terror at times, weakness, frustration at not being able to communicate or move due to being weak, pipes everywhere, and a trachea in my throat. For a person who likes being in control, this was devastating. It also had quite a negative effect on my family. In retrospect, I am lucky to be alive and quite glad I am still around to watch my daughter grow up."
9."I remember zones and to-do lists. Six months pregnant, I had bacterial meningitis and ARDS (basically, lung failure), so I was in an induced coma for 11 days while they tried to kill the bugs and get enough air in and out of me to keep me and my baby alive..."
10."I was in a coma for nine days (non-medically induced) and have no recollection of myself for about two weeks after coming out of it. I've been told that I had no idea who I was, nor who my family and friends were. I didn't know I spoke Italian fluently; I had to be told. As time went by and I stayed in the hospital for treatment, I slowly regained a rudimentary self-awareness, but I don't remember thinking about much at all. Things and people just were or were not."
11."For me, it was like sleep paralysis. I knew what was going on in the room. I was aware of my husband begging me to come back. But I couldn't respond to him. I knew how worried everyone was. I knew I had died during the surgery and that I was on a ventilator..."
12."I was in a terrible car wreck and spent a few weeks in a coma. As I started to regain consciousness, my thoughts were simply that I'd died and that I was traveling in between planes, from mortality to Heaven, if you will..."
13."Did I dream during six weeks in a coma? No, I did not. What was it like? I cannot tell you what the coma was like as I have no recall of it. Unfortunately, what I do recall was when they tried to bring me up from the coma. It was so traumatic that to this day, 20 years later, I have PTSD. It was painful, suffocating, seizure-inducing, undignified, ugly. It can take days. Your senses are scrambled to shit. Your perception of what is real and what is not is all over the place."
14."I was in a medically induced coma (with induced, full-body paralysis) for six weeks. I distinctly remember where I 'woke up' in my head a handful of times. What was the experience like? It sucked..."
"...When I would wake up in my head, I had no idea what had happened. So I'm fully conscious; I know that I'm me, but I can't open my eyes, I can't move a muscle, and I can't speak. The first time it happened was terrifying. I started to panic, and for a minute there, I thought I might be dead.
Then I realized I was thinking so, but that didn't seem right. I tried to move and couldn't. I tried to speak and couldn't. I tried to scream and couldn't. I realized then that if I didn't calm myself down, I would go crazy inside my head, and no one would help me. Though I was on a ventilator, in my head, I did deep breathing exercises. (At the time, I thought that I was breathing.) I listened to the clicking of machines and tried to focus on those. Then, I started counting the sounds of something that seemed repetitive. That gave me enough to focus on until I eventually drifted off again."
15."I had a pulmonary embolism about six years ago; too many airline flights in too few days. I was feeling really out of breath, making my last connection. I got home somehow, and things kept getting worse. I saw a doctor twice (who didn't figure out what was going on), and then that evening, I started feeling bad. I made it to the bedroom and told my wife to get 911, and then I just flopped on the bed..."
16."I was in a medically induced coma for about a week. I didn't know that they had put me in a coma, but I remember hearing the machines, I remember tasting what was like rubbing alcohol, and then that warm feeling. And as a person with an addiction, the scary and unfortunate part was I can recall thinking to myself: 'I'll just stay here forever...'"
"...I recall at one point hearing a nurse come into the room rather abruptly and extremely angry at her. Although I didn't know precisely why I was furious, all I knew was that I hadn't gotten my kiss goodbye. I still wonder what that was about who I might have been dreaming of or if it was a heavenly visit.
I'll never know. I recall being woken, and the doctor immediately said you've been here. We've had you in a coma for this long, so they must know precisely when you're coming out, which I was kind of surprised me; it felt odd that somebody could just stop your life basically with the coma, but I had to heal so it was best I understand, just bizarre. And I was just very grateful to be alive because the last I recall, a doctor telling me I was probably going to die."
17."For me, it was a big black nothing. I had gone code blue in the ER, dying from septic shock after a bladder infection went batshit and started shutting down my organs. I could hear everything that was happening..."
18."I went through a window as a kid and fell into a coma a few days later. I remember the hour before going into the coma vividly: it felt as if I was moving up and down violently inside my body..."
"...The noise was a rhythmic dum dum dum — deafening, terrifying. Like being simultaneously dizzy while being slammed again and again into a wall, each hit a disorienting flash, a truck hitting my brain. I cried for help in my grandparent's arms, and then I blacked out. I woke up three days later.
My parents, out of town on a romantic holiday, were there. I knew that was odd, but I couldn't understand why. For some time, everything was confusing, like coming out of a fog or waking up from a deep sleep. People would speak, and I could answer, but I was always detached from a distance. I'd have the same conversation multiple times. I knew because I could see it on their face: patience and love poorly masking concern and fear. Within a week, I was fully recovered, or at least unable to perceive whatever damage had been done. I have no memory of the time lost and only photograph memories of my recovery."
19."I was thrown from a horse and kicked in the head. I was in a coma for two days, semi-conscious for a week, and have little memory of the year following the accident. I can tell you I could hear everyone around me talking, but it was like I was underwater... like I was lying on the bottom of a swimming pool. I knew there were people up there and that they were talking, and probably talking to me, and I couldn't quite make out what they were saying, and it was just way too hard to swim up to the surface. So, I would close my eyes and allow myself to sink deeper until I couldn't hear them anymore."
Have you woken up from a coma, a near-death accident, or a critical medical emergency? What did you experience, feel, or remember? What was it like? Tell us in the comments or in this anonymous form.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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