# Wakeing from a coma



## Corvus (Mar 23, 2012)

Hi all! 
Right, so these has been bugging my for some time and I can't seam to finish the chapter until I have cleared it up. 

My MC gets badly injured and ends up being in a coma for a week. When he wakes up he has a conversation whit a friend, basically he gets updated on what has been happening. Currently the conversation is rather long.

What I want to know is haw long approximately could a person stay awake after being in a coma that long. 

I have absolutely no idea what's it like. I'm a bit lazy and have not research it, but I don't want to sift though pages of medical explanations. All I need is an approximate time frame so the conversation doesn't end up unrealistically long.


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## Rikilamaro (Mar 23, 2012)

Corvus said:


> What I want to know is haw long approximately could a person stay awake after being in a coma that long.
> 
> I have absolutely no idea what's it like. I'm a bit lazy and have not research it, but I don't want to sift though pages of medical explanations. All I need is an approximate time frame so the conversation doesn't end up unrealistically long.



Well, it depends upon the coma and if he's sedated. Does he have a feeding tube or ventilator? If so, he definitely had some sort of sedation medicine via IV, even a pain medicine like morphine would cause sedation. This means when he wakes he'll have a difficult time staying awake, and may not remember anything anyone says to him until this medication dosage is lowered or removed. 

However, I'm just a lowly nursing student so what do I know?

Here's an interesting site that may help:
When will we know the extent of the injury?

Hope this is beneficial to you, and let me know if you need more clarification.


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## Caged Maiden (Mar 23, 2012)

What caused his injury?  Was the coma natural or was he put into a coma so he could heal?


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## Kit (Mar 24, 2012)

Head trauma effects are a real grab bag. 

It would be reasonable to expect that both level of alertness and clearness of thought- ergo ability to carry on a lucid conversation- would be sketchy for at least a few days after waking up. A nasty headache would probably also be on the menu, not to mention any possible effects of whatever drugs are involved.

It would be reasonable to expect the person to keep falling asleep in the middle of conversations you were trying to have with him; it would also be reasonable to expect that his memory of conversations for the few days *after* waking up would also be a bit dicey.  He might be able to stay conscious for this long exposition you're describing, but I'd be concerned that he may then go to sleep and wake up again 4 hours later and not remember parts of it- or any of it.


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## Corvus (Mar 25, 2012)

Let me try and answer you're questions.

Firstly, it's a medieval magic type of world so no IVs or the like just potions and such. I did invent a pain reliving potion (think morphine) that has an ingredient that makes my MC drunk.

He was injured in a battle whit a plant like monster. He got a deep cut to his side, a concussion, a punctured lung and various cuts and bruises. He fell in to a coma before he got to the doctor. Right after he and his friends befitted the monster.

Honestly I was so preoccupied whit how long he could stay awake I haven't even thought  of the fact he may not remember anything anyway. That can potentially cause problems. I need him to know certain things before some people visit him and since they are worried about him it's illogical to haw them go somewhere until he's coherent enough to remember what he needs to know. 

On the plus side they have magic so I can experiment whit reality.

Thank you for the answers they did clarified a few things.


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## SeverinR (Mar 26, 2012)

amnesia as portrayed on tv is uncommon.(I might even say extremely rare) The victim might not remember the battle that caused the wounds, either from the injury or mentally blocking it out.  Might only remember preparing for the battle, maybe even just waking up that morning before the fight. The memory might also be scrambled, the order of events not matching the real time line. example: Like seeing a friend die after getting injured, when he died before the injury.
Also the pain potion could be like Versed, making the person forget anything that happened while it is covering the pain, and patchy memories as it wears off.

Just some thoughts.


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## P.N. Swick (Mar 26, 2012)

Hey I just came back from surgery, but I'll give you my perpective after wakening up from being unconscious. When I woke up I couldn't keep my eyes open for more than like five minutes. I had a little conversation with my brother that barely made sense I was so tired. After I slept for like an hour or so I could have a normal conversation, but when you just wake up you can't. When I woke up I had a huge headache, and I was really pissed off. A couple people I talked to about it were really angry as well, but a lot of them were'nt. It's your decision, everyone gets the headache though and cannot stay awake for that long.


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