Telenovelas

22 year old basketball player, collapses on the court and stays in a coma for 2+ weeks. Nothing too "easy" to figure out, now.
22 year old basketball player, collapses on the court and stays in a coma for 2+ weeks. Nothing too "easy" to figure out, now.

Yesyes, it's hypothetical.

I am assuming this is hypothetical.

vascular events (CVA)

demyelination

infection, such as cerebral abcess

focal head injury

infection, such as meningitis or encephalitis

epilepsy

hypoxia and hypercarbia

drugs, poisoning and overdoses ( including alcohol)

metabolic/endocrine causes, such as diabetic coma, hepatic or renal failure, hypothyroidism, severe electrolyte disturbances

hypotension, or hypertensive crisis

diffuse head injury

subarachnoid haemorrhage

hypothermia, hyperthermia

sometimes, people just pretend !

Pick one! I personally will go with the electrolyte in-balance myself, due to loss of essential 'salts' during exercises. He may have drank too little water, or too much and created a saturation within his system

powered by Yahoo answers

Telenovelas

Telenovelas

I was just thinking about this?
Did they even know they were in a coma?

the coma won't last for long without modern equipment, they'll just starve to death, then they bury them

powered by Yahoo answers

Telenovelas

Telenovelas

It's ok, I'm not a morbid weirdo. For a screenplay I'm writing, I need to to know very specific details about how coma victims are cared for. How are they fed? Do they need less nourishment than a healthy, awake person? How fast do muscles deteriorate? How is waste dealt with? Anything people can tell me woild be great. I know its a very specialist kind of question but I want my script to be very accurate and true to life.

You should consult with an experienced ICU nurse so you can ask lots of questions. There are tons of variables with "comas". Some of what people call comas are not. Sometimes, a doc will CAUSE a patient to go into a "coma". You need to get someone with lots of experience and someone to whom you can explain all the circumstances surrounding the event.
Muscle atrophy depends on the person. Of course, months in a long-term care facility will cause this, but the amount really depends on the person.
You change a persons diaper or sometimes we put pads (cotton, quilt-type) under the person. Usually, urine is taken care of with a Foley catheter. With an adult, they are usually given feeding by a tube and there is LOTS of poop. They give more than required so the person is getting everything they need to heal, especially protein, which is what we need for your immune sys and tissue formation.
Patients who are immobile are turned every 2 hours: Left, right, back, repeat.
Good luck and best wishes.

Edit: No offense to the doc offering to help you, but docs walk in, write orders and leave. If you talk to an experienced nurse you will get more day-to-day info. Nurses do the actual care and often inform the doc of issues they don't notice, plus, report any changes their patients make during hospitalization.

powered by Yahoo answers

Telenovelas

Telenovelas

If someone is in a diabetic coma, what are the survival rates?

There are many factors in that scenario: how quickly were they diagnosed and treated, their overall health, responses to medications, among other things.

If these are all positive, chances are good that a person will recover from the coma.

As a nurse, I have seen patients come out of diabetic comas, but if their health is poor to begin with, chances are worsened.

powered by Yahoo answers

Telenovelas

Telenovelas

Okay, so say you get bucked off a horse and you hit the back of your head, how long will you have to stay in the hospital for and how long will you be in a coma?

That is impossible to answer….some may be in a coma for a few days, months, years in some cases or just not at all….but you can't count up how many.

powered by Yahoo answers

Telenovelas

Telenovelas

I'm recently going to move in with my grandmother because it's closer to college. She has diabetes, and I'm always afraid she'll have one of those diabetic coma things. If that, god forbid.. ever happens, what things can I do before the medics etc get there?

First you would call the paramedics immediately! You always want to try and catch her before this happens - if you see her getting dizzy or extremely agitated (these are signs that her sugar is dropping) - give her a glass of juice or a piece of candy to get her sugar up. If she is in a coma already though, not much you can do until the paramedics arrive.

powered by Yahoo answers

Telenovelas

Telenovelas

What do they see while they're in the coma? Is it like sleep where sometimes you see some kind of a dream or sometimes it all just looks black? I'm working on something that could really depend on this. Thanks for at least checking this out!

What could you be working on that would depend on knowing what someone sees when they go into a coma? There are several types of comas and reasons for being in them. It’s like saying someone is sick by trying to describe everything from the flu to cancer. Some comas are like being in a very deep sleep, others are drug-induced like anesthesia, and some are brain death with no hope of recovery. A neurologist will be able to tell you more, The few times I’ve been under anesthesia for surgery it was like going to sleep and waking up without dreaming. Although one time after I woke up from major surgery I didn’t remember, and still don’t, several hours prior to the surgery, it’s just a blank spot; no dreams, no looks black. From my personal experience I would say they see nothing.

powered by Yahoo answers

Telenovelas

Telenovelas

I've always wondered how this works. I know that once someone has been in a coma for a while, they are only getting i.v. fluids, but at the start of it - what happens?

Also, what about people who are paralyzed? Do they have to wear Depends?

well I am speaking as a nurse, who takes care of paralyzed and comatose patients.. They have bowel movements the same as a regular person, except they don't go through the pushing routine! It travels and expells the same way! Yes they wear depends/ or diapers, or there would be a huge mess.. Another thing, most of them don't know when the have to go, so depends helps with that as well! It not a big difference, only thing is they have no control over when they go!

powered by Yahoo answers

Telenovelas

Telenovelas

Just a personal project I am doing at the moment. What is the longest time that someone has been in a coma and recovered fully? If you can specify how they came to be in their comatose state, that would be great too. =)

A polish railroad worker recovered after 19 years. Ive heard numbers as high as 21 years but the pole is the only one I know of. Poor guy got hit by a train.

powered by Yahoo answers

Telenovelas

Telenovelas

What does a homeostatic imbalance have to do with a person being in a coma? And what roles do the negative and positive feedback systems have on a person in a coma?

Hypoglycemia ,hyperglycemia, hyperketonemia hyper uremia, are some of the metabolic states causing homeostatic imbalance causing coma. Myxedema coma is caused by severe hypothyroidism. In all these comatose states feedback systems have actually failed.
In coma caused by trauma and poisoning a homeostatic profile helps doctors to correct any defective biofeedback mechanisms

powered by Yahoo answers

Telenovelas