By their use brain death, vegetative life and coma The words can be mixed a lot. It is possible to wake up from a vegetative state and coma when brain death is not reversible, that is, it is not possible to wake up. You may even come across people waking up 10 years later, 20 years later. This is because, according to the researchers, it has a little more to do with our brain stem.

The brainstem is essential to our survival. breathing, heart rate, reflexes It regulates events such as While the brain stem becomes dysfunctional in brain death, the brain stem continues to function in vegetative life and coma. What wakes it up is that this build still works.

Awakening from the vegetative life is not so easy!

Scientists who studied the brain realized that different parts of the brain have different functions in their research. For example Broca’s area an area that deals with language and speech.

Any problems experienced in that area can cause one to have a speech disorder even when awakening from a vegetative state. or the emotional in the limbic system Having problems can cause problems controlling emotions.

A few years ago in France, they found that stimulating one of these brain regions to wake up a patient who had been in a vegetative state for 15 years worked. The stimulated area serves to connect to brain regions such as the hippocampus and the amygdala. it was the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is also thought to regulate the parasympathetic nervous system.

Unfortunately, waking up from a coma, from that long sleep, is not like in the movies!

The team, which tried to wake the patient up by stimulating the vagus nerve, did so. for 6 months continued. They noticed that the patient could open their eyes and follow the movements of the people in the room in the first month of stimulation. The patient could not get up and walk like in the movie. In fact, the patient would never be able to walk or speak, perhaps due to severe brain damage.

In another case, it was seen in Germany. This time a woman in the United Arab Emirates after a traffic accident in 1991. He was in a coma for 27 years. During this period, the patient, who was treated in different countries and underwent various operations, found the treatment in Germany. This patient also woke up after years of treatment and said his son’s name. He received physiotherapy and rehabilitation support to be able to walk.

The same psychological disorders can be seen not only in the vegetative state, but also in people who wake up from a prolonged coma.

In patients awakening from coma posttraumatic stress disorder It is one of the most common mental disorders. The accident that the person experienced, the fact that everything has changed when he wakes up years later, can trigger the symptoms of post-traumatic stress in the person.

memory problems It can also complicate one’s life after waking up. Sometimes a person can embrace events that never happened as their own memories. Or he can forget the memories lived. He may be stuck in a period of time and then not remember it.

The inability of the person to actively use his body after waking up. depression and anxiety can make. The inability to perform activities such as walking and speaking that he used to have can make him feel hopeless about the future.

Social adjustment problems It is another psychological problem that people who awaken from the vegetative life can experience. Patients may have difficulty adjusting to changing environmental conditions and their social environment, and they may feel lonely in the process.