“The Brain Is A Fragile Thing”: 50 People Who Woke Up From A Coma Describe What It Was Actually Like

Well I was in a car wreck and I was in a coma for almost 2 months after loosing my right leg at 8 years old. At the time I was religious and as churches do they show up to check up on people. I was in a coma so I should not of been aware of this but I remember that there where about 50 people that went in and out of there from my church. I could tell you what some of the people where wearing and even saying. It remember it being scary but also calming... it was weird. I don't care if people don't believe me but I saw all of this from the perspective of me being like suspended over my bed. There is not much more to this seeing as it was like this but I also saw some nurses come in and out daily and it was to the point where I knew one of there names when I got out of a coma without them ever telling me. That was one of the weirdest experiences in my life.
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I once had a tube replaced that was in my leg I guess sucking gravel and stuff out of my leg and I kind of remember taking it out but I don't remember them putting it back in. I guess they upped my dosage of what ever while doing it? The only reason I knew they put it back in was because when I got out of a coma I had the tube in my leg that was attached to this machine that sounded like a breathing machine that you would use when you had something like pneumonia. Also When this happened I did not feel anything but I can HARDLY remember them doing it.
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I also remember having this thing on the left side of my chest right below my shoulder blade that was on the outside of my skin it looked like a metal thing that I guess they could easily draw blood with? I have a scar where it was and that scar is like a bunch of pin holes in the skin. Any Doctors know what this was? I always wondered and my parents forgot what the name of it was so I don't know how to search it.

I was in a coma for three days because of a really bad asthma attack. i remember being in the ambulance and feeling really calm. the paramedics were talking to me but i wasnt listening. i remember after that lying on a bed just, screaming. i think they were trying to hold me down and keep me still ... but at the same time they were telling me not to go to sleep. and then i remember waking up and having a tube down my throat choking me. i had to write down water on a whiteboard and they put a wet sponge in my mouth.and i remember them taking out the tube and feeling like my throat was way to big for some reason. then a nurse told me i was in a medically induced coma for three days. it was weird but i didnt even realise i was in a coma until waaay after.

I had a brain abscess when I was 11 and I was in a semi-comatose state. I can only compare it to a terrible hangover but so much that you don't have the energy or ability to communicate so you just sort of become unalert and withdrawn. However, still aware of your surroundings and conversations people have.

I was just in a medically induced coma about 3 months ago. The only thing I can remember at all was a time when both my mother and sister were calling me by name. I tried so hard to open my eyes and it just wouldn’t happen. I couldn’t speak because I had been intubated. It felt like I was so far away from them, yet all the while I could hear them calling me. I also don’t remember any of the times I was sort of pulled out so they could check on me to make sure I hadn’t had a stroke or something like that.

Went to ICU Rehab later and was asked a bunch of questions. I was told I was lucky that I don’t remember anything. Apparently random sounds or smells can really throw people off for years after just because they have no idea the context of them but they were there in the room when they were conscious enough.

I was in a non-medically-induced coma for 7 days. Being comatose is probably an entirely different experience for everyone, and this is definitely true between medically-induced vs non-medically-induced coma.

I don't remember anything from being in the coma... consciously. Though I can't remember anything from this time, I had answers to questions I mumbled to my mum during my time in the coma. For example, I knew that my brother (who was also in the car) was OK after I 'woke up', even though I'd never asked about him while being fully conscious. I think that this is a special case with my brother though, as he's the most important person in the world to me. The only rational I can come up with is that being around my brother activated more parts of my brain due to the emotional ties we share. The first fleeting 'memory' I have (I was still in the coma at this point) is of trying to make my brother laugh.

Additionally though, I knew I couldn't walk after I'd 'woken up' even though I'd only been 'listening' to the doctors whilst in the coma. So there are reticent and implicit memories!

Was out for 3 days. I remember my mom crying over my right side, and another with her just waiting in the same spot, and my dad on my left talking to a doctor about the chances of me waking up. I was 15 and it was [medicine] induced.

I don't remember much of my first coma. The second one, I had gone to ER due to back pain. I woke up 3 weeks later. Just remember very vivid dreams. No link to reality.

I was told by a doctor I was put into an induced coma. I don't remember being in the coma at all. I still don't really believe it.

I was in a chemically induced coma for a week and I had very vivid hallucinations that I still remember to this day. I did not recognize my consciousness throughout it though, as far as I can tell. My brother was there when I woke up and I literally asked him who I was and what I was doing there. Really really trippy experience.

Not me, but my father in law had a heart dissection almost 2 years ago. He was out of state at the time for work so we (my husband, daughter, sister in law and mother in law) all high tailed it there. He ended up being in the cardiac ICU and unconscious for about 3 weeks. He was chemically induced coma because his heart rate would get too high otherwise.

He had some really trippy dreams that he swore was real, like that hee had a helicopter tourism business that he ran with the family. He was weirdly aware of some things from when he was out. Like he could sense that my daughter was around. They have always been really close so it wasn't super shocking.