Can people hear ???????

[Candace8]

Just in case you come across this with someone you love no one was allowed to cry or say to much around my bed. I had been in a coma for 2 months and not moved a muscle. When they were going to turn my life support off and people came in to say goodbye and cried then from nowhere I stroked my face with my hand so they couldn't turn me off. I think that does prove people can hear

[Kirk5w7]

Yes, this is a well known fact. My family were encouraged to talk to me and include me in conversations. I remember things that were said and done whilst I was in that coma, it was very important.

My daughter who is a podiatrist and has worked in hospitals with coma patients took this back to her workplace and now as a lecturer teaches students the importance of conversing with all patients whether they appear to respond or not.

Janet x

[StrawberryCream]

Yep that knowledge goes back a very long time and ITU nurses always ask your visitors to talk to you, play favorite music etc. My life long friend sat and talked to me for hours when i was in a coma recounting all the things we had done together etc. She is a great talker so chatted away freely which even the nurses commented on her great ability to have a one sided conversation!! I have no memory of it though which maybe because when I did eventually come out of the coma I couldn't distinguish speech for quite sometime, so sadly couldn't hear her, and to this day one of my ears has reduced hearing. They also got my visitors to massage cream into my arms and legs as the sensation of touch is important too.

[peaches2]

I was told the hearing is the last thing to go, I can rem so clearly the nurse saying that to us just before my poor ex sister in law passed away aged 19! xx

[Elenor3]

I completely agree. I've never been in a coma - but semi conscious at the scene of my accident I was able to hear snippets of conversation. Even when I appeared unconscious I must have definitly heard some of what was said as it was confirmed later by witnesses in their police statements. Very interesting subject indeed.

[malalatete]

I think they were given some strange advice - about 20 years ago an ex boyfriend of mine had a car accident and ended up in a coma and I was called by his parents to go in and talk to him to see whether it would help to bring him round - it didn't, but his family were there and talking to him all the time, and eventually he did wake. So why your family were told to keep quiet I don't know....

[CarolM in reply to malalatete]

My family were told to talk to me when I was in a coma (for 18 days) after being in a Road Traffic Accident. That was 47 years ago.

[Candace8]

I was thinking it was just me on certain points. I remember things being said and done but trying to tell "normal" people things I remember. People have said I only know that cause I have heard them say it. I am addermant that's not true. No sorry my family weren't told to keep quiet, worded that wrong I meant be quiet about crash and sadness speach. X

[Candace8 in reply to Candace8]

Eeee I'm not very good at saying things am I . People have said I only remember because people have said it was meant to say that they have said it me AFTER I left hospital. Useless to day of saying what I mean 🙄

[moo196]

I think they say hearing is the last thing to leave us - maybe first to come back ? And from that point of view I think they like relatives/ friends to be careful what they say and be more encouraging / day to day ...

I know when my mum passed away years ago I was enouraged by the nurses to sit with her for the final few minutes and talk - but was understandably so choked up it was difficult. Staff were great at helping.

[cat3]

I'm sitting here nodding away at all the replies. I've only ever passed out once, when my haemorrhage broke, and although I was totally unconscious, I heard the paramedics talking to me & telling me I was going to be ok.

And in HDU I recall voices, utterly disembodied, on many occasions.

My cousin was in a serious accident aged 22 and was comatose for 6 months. Her father gave up work to sit with her every day, play her favourite music, and talk to her. When she regained consciousness she could recall much of what her dad had talked to her about over the months. xx

[Candace8 in reply to cat3]

Oh god that is scary. I know Iv been there but when someone else says it it's diff, scary xx

[Sem2011]

Yes, I have heard talking to people in a coma, playing their favourite music, they can hear, just cannot let others know they can hear.

my dad passed away last year, and he was on a syringe driver, sitting up, pillows behind him, and I thought God this is it. I was too choked to say anything but held his arm. Mum did want dad to know he was dying so we were very careful what we said. Sitting around the bed in those last minutes, he looked so peaceful and out of pain, he looked so much younger, like the dad i knew. my sister talked to him about their nights they sat their watching red dwarfs and recounting the funny bits, and you could see on my dad's face he was smiling and reacting. Minute later he was gone. I hugged him but he had gone, I was too late. You never know how little time you have...

[Candace8 in reply to Sem2011]

Oh I'm sorry. Some people that came to say goodbye to me couldn't speak. My little brother ran out crying. I think just holding someone is often enough XX

[Tortie14]

We were told this 25 years ago as student nurses and taught to tell patients in a coma about what you were doing as you did it. Of course there were nurses that ignored that and gossiped as if the patient couldn't hear.

[Candace8 in reply to Tortie14]

Lol I remember that with one nurse as I was in and out of coma towards the end of coma and I remember that very well

[RogerCMerriman]

Didn't have a coma but I do have a few very week audio only memories of A&E I assume I remeber a kind voices telling me they needed to cut my clothes off.

[Candace8 in reply to RogerCMerriman]

At least the memories you have are of kind voices

[RogerCMerriman in reply to Candace8]

St Georges the few memories I have where of kind calm people.

[dillyd]

When my husband was in a coma I talked to him all the time & encouraged other people to do the same. Although he was in ICU & had lost his hearing aids(he was very hard of hearing), the staff were happy for me talk loudly, make jokes, play music etc to him.

At the end of the day I would leave, very hoarse with a sore throat from non stop talking.

He can't remember any of this, but I am positive it helped him pull through.

I used to massage his feet with cream, about the only bit of him that wasn't bandaged or in plaster, which I think helped me as I felt I was doing something useful