Coma or Vegetative state

[mamo23]

Hi - My brother has been in an induced coma following a stroke for 3 weeks. Every time they try to wake him they say he gets “agitated”.

Also, today his case manager told me he is able to open his eyes, but when they did the light in the eyes test, there was no reflex.

What does that mean? Is he officially in the vegetative state? If so, is there even a possibility that he might get better?

[Austinrreneau]

U asked a very open question. What was the cause🙁

[mamo23 in reply to Austinrreneau]

substance abuse

[Sepsur]

People recovering from critical illness generally experience a similar series of issues not matter what condition put them in such a serious state in the first place. This forum is crammed with people who have recovered from the direst of situations. It is equally true that not everyone can make the same recovery, at the same pace or level and others will not recover.

Your question is very tricky to answer - wishing your brother steady progress.

[Orleans1011]

It is possible for recovery, its too early to tell, all you can do is wait and see, I hope he recovers fully it is possible

[mamo23 in reply to Orleans1011]

thank you

[CohenG01]

My son was agitated every time they tried a sedation hold, well he wasn’t agitated he was Neurostorming, which was discovered once they moved all sedation and tried a million drugs. Had to have Trachy has he desaturated by biting on the tubes..

My son was GCS 3, and had minimal pupillary response, it took him a while to come round, we are 19 weeks and only emerged in the last 2 weeks, still non verbal and total cares.

He moved to rehab last week, we spent 3 months in ICU/HDU.

Check out neurostorming, leaving it can delay “waking up” and cause further damage.

Basically my sons heart rate would be highly elevated 160bpm, BP high (179/125) temp over 39, excessive sweating, soaking the sheets, and posturing with his hands, legs and torso.

Check the agitation again signs of neurostorming, to rule it out. Once they finally listened and diagnosed neurostorming we got it under control.

My son had a way to go, will have to relearn everything, but he’s coming back to us, we had hope when doctors had none, and that’s all you have.

Wishing you all luck and strength.

[mamo23 in reply to CohenG01]

wow, that is amazing how you learned all this medical information. Thank you so much for the information you shared. will definitely search more about it.

When you say, when they finally listened, did you mean listen to you or one of the doctors finally figured that out? thank you

[CohenG01 in reply to mamo23]

I meant listened to me, we shouldn’t have to fight for our loved ones when we go through a time like this, but sometimes you have to. Doctors don’t know everything and they make mistakes.

All I did was throw myself into research in the beginning.

Keep hope and strength 🙏

[LarUlysses]

My sister was agitated when they were trying to ween her and wake her up, it was really frustrating because they just kept upping the dosage again. She had a tracheotomy in the end and that really seemed to help. She made a full recovery and is coming up her one year on now so there's always hope! Good luck to you and your family.

[mamo23 in reply to LarUlysses]

Thank you and happy that your sister is now fully recovered.

[Sepsur in reply to mamo23]

How is everything going?

[mamo23 in reply to Sepsur]

not good. he is in a light coma and there is almost no sedation, but his eyes goes in circles and he doesn't look straight. Also, he can't move his arms or legs very sad. the doctors keep saying due to the significant brain damage, it is almost impossible for him to recover.

[Sepsur in reply to mamo23]

I’m so sorry