Earth Essences.Com

What it’s like to be in a coma - according to people who’ve experienced it

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be in a coma?

A injury to the brain, such as a severe head injury or stroke. A coma can also be caused by severe alcohol poisoning or a brain infection.

While everyone's experience differs, the science remains the same. The person’s eyes will be closed and they’ll appear unresponsive to their surroundings.

It’s not often that they will respond or be able to communicate or perform basic reflexes, such as coughing, and they’re unlikely to react to sound or pain. They may be able to breathe with no support, but in more serious cases, they may require machine assistance.

The person may gradually regain consciousness and become more aware of their surroundings after a few weeks.

As with anything, there are different levels of severity. This can impact the seriousness of the coma and brain activity. We often see TV shows and movies liken comas to dream-like states. One Reddit user, @iwillcorrectyou, shared how their experience wasn’t as depicted in the media:

“I was technically dead for over an hour, in fact. People often ask me if I could hear my family talking to me or if I was dreaming. The answer is ‘no.’

“There is a huge hole in my memory beginning about two weeks before the coma through to a week after ‘waking up.’ And waking up is in quotes because I would wake up, ask a bunch of semi-incoherent questions, fall back under, then wake up again and ask the exact same questions, in the exact same order. Repeat six or seven times.

“The coma was not even blackness. It just does not exist. I remember having the hardest time believing it was actually mid-October when the last day I remembered was late-September.”

One of the most asked questions around being in an unconscious state is whether a person can hear you. One woman shared her experience with Distractify.

She explained: “I could hear every word...

“I heard my husband singing ‘if you’re happy and you know it and your wife won’t let you show it...’ and it HAUNTS me.

“I was in there the whole time. I didn’t know he was unhappy or felt obligated and I was just there to make him happy.”

She learned a valuable lesson from her coma: “Be nice to people because you never know who’s listening these days, and to what.”

Journalist Geoffrey Lean also shared his experience with The Independent about his ability to “hear every word”. He added: “I could also feel my dear wife’s hand in mine, our fingers entwined. I could hear her telling me that the children were all right and that their schools and my office were being supportive. I could not work out what she was doing in the strange world I now inhabited, but her presence was enormously reassuring.”

People often wonder whether a person recalls going into a coma and how it happened. @heyrainyday on Reddit shared how they didn’t have any recollection of it at all: “I don’t remember being in a coma or waking up from a coma. I lost several years of memories prior to the coma, and my brain didn’t really start to ‘retain’ information again until [around] 6 weeks after I came out of the coma.”

Another user added: “I woke up with zero recollection of why I was there or what was said while I was out. It is easily the scariest situation I’ve found myself in, but I can’t say I remember it. I woke up to my mom and dad in the hospital with me and my body in traction of some sort and that was way scarier to me.”

Woman 'crippled' by heavy periods as bleeds caused debilitating iron deficiency

As many as one in five healthy women are unaware they are suffering with iron deficiency caused by heavy menstrual bleeding, which leaves them severely lacking in energy.

Debbi Marco looks into this problem When Elaine Shehu started to have heavier periods each month, she did what most women in their early thirties would do: she ignored it.

But her changed monthly cycle came with a lot more than just heavy bleeds. She began to feel debilitating tiredness, suffered with severe migraines and noticed shortness of breath and dizziness.

"I was so lethargic I had to plan my social life around my periods," says Elaine, who lives in London.

"I was really limited, especially in the week after my period.

"It was crippling and limiting. My friends didn’t understand. One called me anti-social and said it was the reason I didn’t have a boyfriend, but some days I really couldn’t do anything but lie on the sofa after I got back from work."

Unknown to her, Elaine, now 38, was suffering from severe iron deficiency connected to her heavy periods, something that is experienced by as many as one in five women.

Iron helps move oxygen around the body as well as store it in your muscles to help with exercise.

The recommended intake for women is 18mg per day but to restore depleted iron stores you will need to take around 100g to 200g a day.

Typical symptoms of iron deficiency include extreme tiredness and exhaustion, shortness of breath, lack of ­concentration, sleeplessness, heart ­palpitations and headaches that are often misdiagnosed as migraines.

Elaine struggled with nearly all of these symptoms for months on end, without ever suspecting what was to blame.

"I would get headaches around five times a month, they usually started late in the afternoon and lasted until the next day," she says.

"Painkillers, a blackout room and sleep would set me right by the next day, but a dull headache would linger some of the time through the week.

"Sometimes I would have three episodes in just one week, usually after the end of my period."

On top of this, Elaine also suffered with shortness of breath and dizziness. It was six years ago that she first noticed her periods had become longer and heavier, sometimes lasting for nine days.

"After a year I went to my GP to find out what was happening,” she says.

"They tested my iron levels and discovered they were really low."

Elaine was later diagnosed with fibroids, non-cancerous growths in her uterus, that were the cause of the heavy bleeding.

Saurabh Phadnis, consultant ­gynaecologist and gynaecological oncologist at London Gynaecology, regularly sees women debilitated by iron deficiency caused by heavy menstrual bleeding.

"One in five women do not realise they are iron deficient and often the cause is heavy monthly bleeding,"he says.

"When you are losing a lot of blood you are losing a proportion of your red blood cells and as a result your iron stores deplete."

It is possible to replenish iron stores through over-the-counter supplements and increasing it in your diet by eating green leafy vegetables and red meat such as liver.

And for an immediate boost, you can receive an iron infusion directly into your bloodstream via an intravenous drip. Elaine explains she noticed an improvement in her symptoms when she boosted her iron intake.

"I increased my iron intake, taking 400mg tablets twice a day and improved my diet by eating kale, spinach, kidney and liver.

"After about 10 days I would see an improvement which would last for a couple of period cycles."

But because the iron tablets caused unwanted side effects such as constipation, Elaine would ease off them and her iron levels would sink down again.

However, Mr Phadnis stresses that treating the cause of heavy menstrual bleeding is just as important as boosting iron levels.

"I would recommend that women have yearly check-ups to discuss any changes in their periods,” he says.

"Often women ignore their own health as they are busy with their home life, looking after children and working.

"Most women think it’s normal to have heavy bleeding but it isn’t. If you’re bleeding heavily over seven days every month, think what that will do to your iron stores over six months."

Heavy menstrual bleeding can be a result of a number of conditions including fibroids, polyps and adenomyosis, a type of endometriosis.

Sometimes a cause cannot be found and the trigger is put down to dysfunctional uterine bleeding.

Elaine went on to have a myectomy this May, where tiny cuts were made in her stomach and 17 fibroids were removed.

"I had to have an iron transfusion to prepare me for the surgery which boosted me up to normal levels and I haven’t had a single migraine since," she says.

"Without heavy periods depleting my iron levels, I should be able to build my stores up to a normal level and they should stay there.

"I feel so hopeful that I can have a normal life again."

Reference: Daily Mirror: Debbi Marco  

Delta variant 60% more transmissible than Alpha indoors and more vaccine resistant

The Delta (Indian) variant is 64% more transmissible than the Alpha (Kent) variant indoors and vaccines are less effective against it, Public Health England has said.

More than 90% of new COVID-19 cases in the UK are now the Delta variant.

The variant, first identified in India, has taken over from the Alpha variant as the most dominant in the UK.

Since last week, the number of Delta variant cases across the UK has increased by 243% to 42,323.

New PHE research suggests the Delta variant is associated with a 64% increased risk of household transmission compared with the Alpha variant - and is 40% more transmissible outdoors.

And Delta cases are doubling across all regions of the country in between 4.5 days to 11.5 days.

Overall infections in England have risen to the highest since the week to 10 April, with one in 560 people in the week to 5 June compared with one in 640 the week before, latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures revealed.

There were 96,800 people in private households in England who were estimated to have had COVID-19 that week, up from 85,600.

In England, 39,061 Delta variant cases have now been confirmed, with 2,035 in Scotland, 184 in Wales and 43 in Northern Ireland.

PHE said the large increase from 12,341 last week to 42,323 this week has been partly driven by faster test turnaround times and a quicker process for identifying cases of the variant.

The latest COVID-19 risk assessment by PHE reports the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines are less effective against the Delta variant than the Alpha one by 17% after one dose.

But there was little reduction in efficacy after two, meaning getting a second dose is integral to protection against the Delta variant.

The PHE authors said: "This would support maximising vaccine uptake with two doses among vulnerable groups."

As of 7 June, there have been 42 deaths in England of people confirmed as having the Delta variant and who died within 28 days of testing positive.

Of these people, 23 were unvaccinated, seven had had their first dose more than 21 days before and 12 had their second dose more than 14 days before.

The government is facing pressure to delay the lifting of most restrictions on 21 June but has so far said the data do not indicate the need to do so.

Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, Labour's shadow home secretary, said: "These figures are terrible. The pace at which cases of the Delta variant continue to rise is deeply worrying and is putting the lifting of restrictions at risk.

"The blame for this lies with the prime Minister and his reckless refusal to act on Labour's repeated warnings to secure our borders against COVID and its variants."

Analysis: The Delta variant could push Freedom Day further down the line

By Ashish Joshi, health correspondent

We are so close to Freedom Day that any talk of delaying it will, naturally, come as a crushing blow.

On Monday, the prime minister is expected to tell the country if his 21 June target is still achievable.

Today's numbers will inform that decision making. And the rising new infections driven by the Delta variant will give Boris Johnson some concern.

The variant first identified in India is more dangerous than any we have had to deal with so far.

It is much more transmissible than the original coronavirus and the Alpha variant first identified in Kent.

That is why we have seen such a significant jump in new cases in the past week. Infections will mean more people will fall sick.

We have seen a rise in hospitalisation in some areas in the north and north west. Not anywhere in the numbers seen during the first and second wave, but that does not mean it will not happen later.

That is why there are so many scientists calling for a delay to lockdown restrictions being lifted.

The argument from those who want to see a full lifting of all restrictions is that most of the "at risk" group has been vaccinated.

This is true. But there is still a significant number of adults who have not received both their jabs, which means people will fall sick and will need hospital care and it could lead to further delays in treatment for other people on the NHS waiting list.

It is true that the vaccines offer very good protection against the variant, especially after two doses, but it is not 100% protection.

The Delta variant is finding new people to infect every day. And that is with a record-breaking vaccination programme in full flow.

The light is still there but the tunnel might have just grown a little bit longer.

UK launches world-first trial of ‘booster’ Covid vaccines with results due in September

The UK is launching the world’s first trial of “booster” vaccines for Covid-19, with nearly 3,000 volunteers taking part.

The results from third doses of seven possible vaccine candidates are expected in September – when a large-scale booster programme is pencilled to start.

“The data from this world-first clinical trial will help shape the plans for our booster programme later this year,” said Matt Hancock, the health secretary.

“I urge everyone who has had both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, and is eligible, to sign up for this study and play a part in protecting the most vulnerable people in this country and around the world for months and years to come.”

Backed by £19.3m of government funding, the trial “will be the first in the world to provide vital data on the impact of a third dose on patients’ immune responses”, health chiefs said. 

The announcement comes after Mr Hancock revealed that almost 3,000 cases of the Indian coronavirus “variant of concern” have been identified – an increase of 600 since Monday.

Surge testing and extra vaccine supplies are being deployed to hotspot areas to control the spread of the highly-transmissible strain, MPs were told.

“The race between the virus and the vaccine has got a whole lot closer,” the health secretary said – revealing that 2,967 cases of the B1617.2 variant had been identified, up from 2,323.

Bolton, Blackburn with Darwen and Bedford have been the main areas where worrying numbers of cases had been identified.

At a Downing Street press conference, Mr Hancock also announced surge testing and vaccinations in Burnley, Leicester, Kirklees, North Tyneside, and Hounslow in west London.

He also announced “two further tools” in the fight against new variants, the first being travel data to identify “where the virus is at risk of spreading”.

The booster study will take place at 16 sites across England, as well as at Health and Care Research Wales and NHS Research Scotland sites.

All participants will be monitored for any side effects and will have blood taken to measure their immune responses at 28 days, then 84, 308 and after a full year.

Electronic diaries will allow them to send alerts in real time if needed and they will be given a 24-hour emergency phone to contact a doctor for further clinical advice if necessary.

Reference: Independent: Rob Merrick  19/05/2021