stutters November 23, 2009 Share stutters GC Alumni November 23, 2009 from the shouldn't-be-joking-about-this-but-the-only-way-not-to-have-nightmares-about-this-happening-to-me department: 'I screamed, but there was nothing to hear': Man trapped in 23-year 'coma' reveals horror of being unable to tell doctors he was conscious http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1230092/Rom-Houben-Patient-trapped-23-year-coma-conscious-along.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairweather November 24, 2009 Share Fairweather Member November 24, 2009 after 23 years how did he not go insane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discom November 24, 2009 Share discom Member November 24, 2009 after 23 years how did he not go insane Two words: facilitated communication Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymo November 24, 2009 Share anonymo Member November 24, 2009 (edited) after 23 years how did he not go insane Two words: facilitated communication Maybe you should read the article. I still think my nightmare of suddenly waking up to discover I've been a Mac user DJ for the last quarter century is much worse. Edited November 24, 2009 by stutters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairweather November 24, 2009 Share Fairweather Member November 24, 2009 i'm just saying that being consciously aware for that long yet not being able to express it would probably put me in the funny farm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discom November 24, 2009 Share discom Member November 24, 2009 Maybe you should read the article. You saw the video, right? He's communicating through a "facilitator". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutters November 24, 2009 Author Share stutters GC Alumni November 24, 2009 i'm not able to find said video. however, i did find this: "But three years ago, new hi-tech scans showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally." so...call it 20 years of not having facilitated communication? that'd still kind of suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discom November 25, 2009 Share discom Member November 25, 2009 Here it is if it even matters. It shows a woman moving his hand for him.. I'm not sure how that works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laz.e.rus November 25, 2009 Share Laz.e.rus Member November 25, 2009 one of human kinds biggest fears. Didnt Metallica write a song about this? Oh yeah, that was back in ONE of those years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling November 25, 2009 Share samurai nightling Member November 25, 2009 k so this guy is paralyzed, i mean cant even move his fingers to type on that computer. He can't type it himself, but he can't tell the lady what to type either. How is he getting anything that he may be thinking across to anyone? Sure his brain is functioning almost normally, but its still missing how he can tell anyone that hes been conscious the whole time, other then the doctors see his brain has been functioning normally. This is all messed up if you ask me, and makes zero sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymo November 25, 2009 Share anonymo Member November 25, 2009 Here it is if it even matters. It shows a woman moving his hand for him.. I'm not sure how that works. But the point is they only discovered he was conscious 3 years ago...he hasn't been using facilitated communications the entire time. He spent 20 years of his life alone in his mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutters November 25, 2009 Author Share stutters GC Alumni November 25, 2009 But the point is they only discovered he was conscious 3 years ago...he hasn't been using facilitated communications the entire time. He spent 20 years of his life alone in his mind. why don't you get it? facilitated communication Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairweather November 26, 2009 Share Fairweather Member November 26, 2009 we discussed this guy today in my neuroscience class, professor kinda thought his hand movements were subject to a wigi board effect but its not really clear kinda reminds me of Jean-Dominique Bauby (the dude who blinked his memoir "the diving bell and the butterfly") Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling November 26, 2009 Share samurai nightling Member November 26, 2009 how can he move his hand? He's paralyzed!! They would of never said he was in a coma in the first place if he could move some limb or speak some words. So how is he all of a sudden letting people know his thoughts when he couldn't for the last 23 years? He needs a person to move his hand for him for that computer, but how the heck does she know what hes trying to say when he can't move or speak? I'm telling you all something is missing here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymo November 26, 2009 Share anonymo Member November 26, 2009 how can he move his hand? He's paralyzed!! They would of never said he was in a coma in the first place if he could move some limb or speak some words. So how is he all of a sudden letting people know his thoughts when he couldn't for the last 23 years? He needs a person to move his hand for him for that computer, but how the heck does she know what hes trying to say when he can't move or speak? I'm telling you all something is missing here. Is no one reading this article!? They gave him a more modern brain scan a few years ago which revealed normal cognitive activity, unlike someone who is in a coma or is brain dead. Previous technology was unable to show this. He has not been communicating with facilitators all this time, only since they discovered he was still conscious. He can signal yes or no with his foot. If his facilitator got the message wrong, he confirms (or denies) it with his foot ie "Did you mean to say such and such" and he will respond with yes or no until the facilitator gets it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stutters November 26, 2009 Author Share stutters GC Alumni November 26, 2009 what article? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samurai nightling November 27, 2009 Share samurai nightling Member November 27, 2009 (edited) Ok ok, i read the article but must've missed that part by skimming or something. However, how can doctors say someone is in a coma when he has movement of his foot? I'd say if a guy is moving his foot, and its not just twitching like some involuntary muscle spasm very quickly, then I'm not going to say he's in a coma. Of course I'm not a doctor, but how the heck did they miss that? Awesome doctors. I think it prolly went something like this, "Hey this new scan shows his brain is functioning normally, hmmm weird. Hey John did you just see him move his foot when you said that? HOLY $%!@ HOW DID WE MISS THAT OVER 23 YEARS?!?" *Oh and by the way anonymo your whole foot yes/no thing isn't even written in this article. I reread it twice looking for it, and found nothing. Then i did a ctrl+f to search the word "foot" and noticed that it was down at the bottom of the webpage in a comment by another person on that article stating that the foot thing is in other articles. I don't read the comments on articles ever, i stopped at the end of it. We'll just call it even Edited November 27, 2009 by samurai nightling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonymo November 27, 2009 Share anonymo Member November 27, 2009 Haha oh wow...sorry. I think I've read about this from a few different sources...I get a little off the charts after my not-entirely-necessary caffeine fix in the mornings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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