Man in coma for 23 years, was actually conscious whole time

[JujuFish]

Either that's a 3 year old article or someone sucks at maths.

I propose a third option: you suck at reading comprehension.

 

[Don66]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzgGTTtR0kc

 

[AdamK47]

I can't imagine going through what he went through for a week let alone 23 years. Any photos of the computer/keyboard he communicates through?

 

[Modelworks]

Someone suggested something to me, what if your nose itches ? It is something simple, but imagine wanting to scratch it so bad but not being able to.

 

[Eli]

Wow. Words can't even describe how awful that would be. Wow.

I hope this opens some eyes. Until we can know exactly what is going on in the heads of each individual case, we shouldn't be putting anyone in a coma to death.

Could you imagine? Being conscious of your family gathering around you, pulling the plug and watching you die? Wow.

 

[KK]

Sleep paralysis is a relatively common (at least common enough to not be considered unusual, anyway) occurrence. Basically, it stems from the portions of your brain that inhibit movement during sleep not coming "online" quickly enough once you exit the sleep state. I've never experienced it personally, but have met quite a few people who've dealt with it; they mirror your statements about its unsettling nature.

They must be using Windows.

 

[KK]

Also if I was conscious but couldn't move anything like this guy, I'd wanna die.

 

[destrekor]

Odd note:

I just turned 22. Sometime few years from now, what if "I" awake from what's been a coma for the past 22 or 23 years? That would be a terrifying event.

 

[destrekor]

They must be using Windows.

So is a heart attack the BSOD of Windows Human?

 

[Locut0s]

Wow. Words can't even describe how awful that would be. Wow.

I hope this opens some eyes. Until we can know exactly what is going on in the heads of each individual case, we shouldn't be putting anyone in a coma to death.

Could you imagine? Being conscious of your family gathering around you, pulling the plug and watching you die? Wow.

Are you kidding? In that situation I would love them even more for making that decision.

 

[destrekor]

Wow. Words can't even describe how awful that would be. Wow.

I hope this opens some eyes. Until we can know exactly what is going on in the heads of each individual case, we shouldn't be putting anyone in a coma to death.

Could you imagine? Being conscious of your family gathering around you, pulling the plug and watching you die? Wow.

Are you kidding? In that situation I would love them even more for making that decision.

I vote... if I get dropped into a coma, no matter what the actual case is - Give me 2 years max, and only continue at that point if there has been clinical recovery progress. After that, ans especially with no signs of progress - pull the damn plug. Never know, the forceful point of near death the brain might do something odd. A possibility.
But regardless, after 2 years, if I am indeed in a situation similar to this guy where I can think but no ability to do anything that can interact with the outside world. I'd be begging for it at that point. Saves family unnecessary medical expenditure in my opinion.

 

[The J]

Either that's a 3 year old article or someone sucks at maths.

The article says that the discovery was made three years ago and that he has been in therapy.

 

[between]

...

 

[Eli]

Are you kidding? In that situation I would love them even more for making that decision.

Well, fair enough.. I guess I'm a "glass half full" guy. But also think of it from the point of view of the family - would they be able to go through with something like that knowing that you were intently watching them, perhaps screaming at them to stop?

It's just an awful thought all around.

 

[WelshBloke]

Unsettling doesn't begin to describe it. Whenever I have a nightmare and eventually wake up (which usually happens just as I'm about to be murdered, in my dream), I'm paralyzed for 5-10 seconds. It fucks me up, BADLY. I won't be able to sleep for days at a time, until I just get so exhausted that I unintentionally fall asleep. It's so terrifying to me that I'd rather be dead that even have to live through another few seconds of it.

Your still asleep now.

Go on try and wake up.

:twisted:

 

[zCypher]

When I feel like shit, I think of how much worse things could be and how I should be thankful for the life I have. This reinforces that line of thinking. Life can be so much more of a bitch that wtf do I have to complain about?

Unimaginably horrible experience that must have been for that poor guy. Wow.

 

[mizzou]

i would like to see more investigative work about him actually being conscious the whole time

 

[Schadenfroh]

sometimes, when I lay down to nap, I wake up but I can't move/say anything/etc. That feeling lasts for about 30 seconds. That shit is SCARY. I cannot imagine how that would feel for 23 years. Holy shit.

Did that guy fall asleep or was he awake/conscious the whole time?

Same, but to add to that experience, I hallucinate usually when that happens and not the good kind either. When I regain control of my body and the "presence" and / or "figures" (sometimes standing against the wall, sometimes standing looking over me) vanish, I am usually so upset that I cannot go back to bed immediately. Freaking sleep paralysis.

Even without the hallucinations, not being able to move for 23 years is beyond nightmarish...

 

[Platypus]

so that's pretty much my worst nightmare right there, holy shit. I can't believe that guy didn't go nuts in 23 years.. I would have lost my mind

 

[PieIsAwesome]

So lets see, after thoroughly losing my sanity sitting there for 23 years, I would:

Kill the doctors who misdiagnosed me.
Kill the people who didn't kill me after freaking 23 years.

 

[Syringer]

IT'S A FRAUD. It's a disgusting what they're doing here. Put him out of his misery already, please. Let science take it's course.

The Amazing Randi debunks it here: http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/a7hnv/wow_it_turns_out_the_guy_who_was_paralyzed_but/

No, that is not what the man said, Dr. Snyderman. That's what an incompetent layperson typed for him! I ask you to first go to http://tinyurl.com/y8lku48, and note the section of the video from 12 to 35 seconds, then come back here.

This is yet another obvious example of abysmal, practiced, purposeful ignorance by medical personnel - including Dr. Snyderman and her staff who prepared this piece. I cannot understand how anyone, professional medical person or layman, can continue to believe that the farce known as "Facilitated Communication" [FC] represents anything other than a fantasy that was begun back in 1977, when an Australian woman named Rosemary Crossley came up with the idea that autistic persons could express their thoughts via a keyboard when their hand was "supported" by what she called a "facilitator." In 1989, Douglas Biklen, a sociologist and professor of special education at Syracuse University, eagerly took up her cause, and as a result vast sums were donated to SU by friends and family members of autism victims - money that was simply wasted in futile "research."

 

[nageov3t]

So lets see, after thoroughly losing my sanity sitting there for 23 years, I would:

Kill the people who put me in a coma and stole my daughter with a samurai sword.

fixed

 

[El Guaraguao]

Unsettling doesn't begin to describe it. Whenever I have a nightmare and eventually wake up (which usually happens just as I'm about to be murdered, in my dream), I'm paralyzed for 5-10 seconds. It fucks me up, BADLY. I won't be able to sleep for days at a time, until I just get so exhausted that I unintentionally fall asleep. It's so terrifying to me that I'd rather be dead that even have to live through another few seconds of it.

Ive gone through several sleep paralysis episodes in my youth. but it was never associated with nightmares. The first couple of times I would wake up in a extreme state of FEAR. I dont know wtf i was scared of, but after a couple of seconds i would go right back to sleep. During the final episodes, I would wake up and try talking and if i couldnt do that, i would try to move my arm but never could, until what I could remember is the last time i had sleep paralysis, i woke up and tried to move my arm, and I did. that was the last time i ever had that sleep paralysis shit.

 

[T9D]

...

 

[Mo0o]

Watch how they say he's "communicating" http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31388323/vp/34111007#34111007

Then read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facilitated_communication

This is pretty much 1 step away Weekend at Bernie's. I'll be curious to read the paper itself