Facts About Vegetative and Minimally Conscious States After Severe Brain Injury

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Hello Tamara how is she doing now? my prayers are with her

my mom is in exact same situation.i went against dr. prognosis..and she is conscious and. was nodding head when asked question..its terrible that A LOVED ONE MEMBER PLAY A BETTER.. ROLE THAN EVER A DR.WOULD.UNFORTUNATELY..WE PAY DRS TO DO THEIR JOB AS COMPASSIONATE AND CARING. SOME OF THESE DRS. NEED LEAVE THEIR PROFESSION. THAY GOT NO PLACE. IN HEALTH..

Hello how is your mom doing now prayers for her you can email me

I'm in the same position. God bless you and your family.

Hello Tamara!
I am totally agree and understand you ,I am in the same situation with mom and never lose my Faith or Hope and I believe in Miracles .
Only Jesus Cristos is a Saver and Trust Him as I do too.
Be Strong and Believe!
Your Mom will be in My Prayers too!

My mother suffered a massive stroke in Feb. She had a living will and my sister and I agreed that to see her bedridden, unable to respond in any way, and not being able to eat normally was going to be pure torture for her. We stayed with her for 5 days until she passed away. We are heartbroken with losing her, but are comforted in knowing we didn't put her through pure torture just so she could be alive with us.

I had a very similar situation and had to do the same for my wife of 22 years she passed at 45 years of age

I am so sorry that is so sad I had a similar situation with my mom it’s terrible to see family that you love and cherish go through this covenant pain and then there’s the pain that you go through I’m not suffering the same type of situation with my husband who had a stroke and is not in a conscious state I pray for everybody

I totally agree with you. Why put your loved one in this position. Firstly would you like to be in it? and secondly try put them before your emotional needs. my partner is in a vegetative state 5 years now! no change and his catholic mother has gone deranged. Everyone wants him to pass. I believe in god and miracles and i know if we pull all machines that is when he can do his work. I am currently in court trying to free his life. Its such a shit house situation and I feel for all people involved.

Does anyone have any input on how these patients affect the psychology in children, especially in small children. So the young child of the vegetative parent. Thank. you

This post was 2019 please may I know how your brother is doing now. I’m in a similar situation

My brother age 28 had a heart attack at work. We believe he was unresponsive for about 18 minutes. His coworkers found him and did CPR until the ambulance arrived which was 4 minutes later. Unfortunately due to us not knowing how long exactly he was unresponsive there is brain damage due to lack of oxygen to the brain. This happened about 7 weeks ago now. The doctors say he will be in a vegetative state. There is body movement and eyes opening but non on command. We do believe he hears us because we have asked him to move his arm or squeeze my hand and to us we believe he is listening because he has done it when we ask. Unfortunately he has not woken up but we continue to do exercises on him and talk to him. He also has a fever that comes and goes due to brain damage doctors say and the only way to control the fever is with ice packs or the cooling blanket. If any one knows of some one that has come out of this I would greatly appreciate the good news. We know this is going to be a long process but our family is hopeful that a miracle will happen.

I am going through this right now with my Dad. Do you mind me asking if he pulled through?

My Father(84) had brain stroke and took him to ER. In ER After giving TPA, he improved. Doctor at ER said they want to check the damage and try to see the artery. They flew him in helicopter (surprised that they did that for brain stork patient). My dad threw up as soon as he came out. Still they performed the operation and try to expand artery which resulted in Major stroke...When we saw him after 8 hours, he was all cold with breathing tube and not responding. Doctor told us that he is in veg state and will not recover. Basically don't let them do surgery on 84 year old if TPA has worked. Anyhow, i did not want to give up... After 36 hours, he moved his right leg and we got hope.. After 2 weeks in ICU, he had improved where he opened his eyes and moved his right side. He also able to adapt on PMV for speech for short duration. After that we moved him to nursing home... Here he started having vomiting and headaches. Vomiting was due to incorrect tube in stomach which resulted in air.. After fixing that, vomiting reduced but did not go away.. With very small feeding amount of 40ml/hr, he is opens his eyes for short time and shows headaches.. At this point, after 7 weeks, we are stuck.. He got worse compare to ICU.. Not sure if we take him back to ICU to treat his headache or keep him in nursing home. Nursing home staff is good with trac patients but don't have neuro experts... As time passes, he will miss out on PT/OT due to not having energy and drowsiness whole day. Please let me know if you have come across such situation and any solution had worked for you.. Thanks.

Keep hope alive. My father went into cardiac arrest following a surgery. 1/28/19. He went through that phase. He is still recovering and fights daily. Keep a journal and don't get discouraged. Don't allow doubters to get you down. Always fight for him. I spend a lot of time defending to others what I have witnessed my father do. I will keep you all in my prayers. Hang in there. It's hard when no one has the answers.

My best friend was in a motor accident.an its been 9 days.he is on life support.on the 4th day he went from zero brain activity to level 1 rem sleep.but has made zero improvments since then.the family is taking him off life support an making this choice as the dr.s said they thing he will be all the way vegi state or brain dead if he stays on the support.is this to early to find out this soon.should there be more time.so he is in a coma an doesnt open his eyes..thus is the 9th day...please any advise.

I am so sorry Chris. Currently I’m reading up on these similar problems which I am going through. For me, I’m the mother of my daughter, 46..so similar to your situation.
In my honest opinion, I won’t give up for quite a long time., can’t not when tears run down my daughters face. I truly believe there is always hope, but every family makes their own choices..

I want to say don't give up my mom fell hit her head had a massive brain bleed . The doctors opened her head & at somepoint suffered several strokes! The doctors told me to let her go. Evevery night from 12 @ night till 7 in the morning I was told let her go. They did an ekg that showed she had active brain function. But another doctor tried to say she was Brian dead! I said are you neurologist? Because I was there when one did the test. Then they said because she didn't open her eyes fast enough she's will be nothing but a vegetable or comatose. Well she did wake up. Her left side was not working.it was everything this forum describes. Up to last year she want able to read two days before Easter she started reading of the TV. She said it comes & goes. Wasnt able at all since her fall jan 4/19. I see s time goes on some things are getting better. Her newest she hasn't use her left arm since the accident. I worked many hours I got her hand flexing & finger tapping. But not her moving the Arm 1 1/2 years later shes moving her arm slowly but its moving. & now wiggling her toes. My question do I hold out hope since the arm now moves her leg might too.? My mom is 76. She will never be totally as she was but I'm glad I fought for her as this was her wish to be saved.

Don't give up!

Waiting for eegs re epilepsy confirmed causing two cardiac arrests anyone know how long it takes to get an eeg

My daughter just had an EEG two days ago. It is pretty non invasive and doesn’t take long.

Hi can any one day me how pain full it is with more than half brain dead she speaks normal look normal but in the bed she can't move her one side leg and hand she is in bed for past 7years and now doctor says her half brain is dead and she is alive with her half brain she all ways keep asking me will I die with lot of pain how long will I live like this what is th really happening in me will my next half brain will die in once or slowly I don't have answer can anyone answer this Question pls

One week ago today (June 5th) my 67 year old mother suffered a choking accident and cardiac arrest and is currently in a coma (today is June 13th). My father did everything he could to help her in the moment. She was not breathing and her heart had stopped when the ambulance arrived. They were able to start her heart again on-route to the ER. She had been placed on a respirator immediately and had been heavily sedated. On Saturday (6/8) they started removing sedation and since she has not been given any. All of the neurological response tests performed showed no signs of voluntary reaction / cognitive brain function. The respirator is really doing most of the breathing for her but there are moments when she over breathes. She has had a fever since Saturday that hovers around 102, and have been told this is not from an infection but from brain damage. Her EEG came back with no brain activity. We are holding on to hope but have been told that she will no recover from this. We are trying to encourage the Dr's to give her alternative supplements and high dose vitamins to see if anything will help. They are refusing most, for FDA and liability reasons. We have also been told that she can only be on a respirator for about 2 weeks, which leaves us with one more week to decide if we want to have a tracheostomy & feeding tube put in instead. Then, we have to make additional decision about her care, and also how to afford everything. None of my family members want her to suffer or live a terrible quality of life. Has anyone experienced a similar situation, with a favorable outcome and partial/full recovery? I should also note that she was transferred from the ER to a local hospital that DID NOT have a neurologist on site! After questioning them to perform the EEG, they told us that there has been no neurologist there for months and she would have to be transferred to another hospital for that test. (They then moved her by helicopter to another ICU.) How can a patient with brain trauma be transferred to a facility incapable of appropriate care?!?

Currently going through this now it’s been 31 days please reach out to me I want to know how is your mom doing omarmoon@me.com

we are going through something similar but my in law was 8 min without oxygen he is currently vegetative stage. i feel like the doctors pressure u in making a quick decision

We must have been at the same Hospital, because the same thing happened with my Husband! He did end up with a traech and feeding tube. He was moved 4x through our orrdeal.

What was the result? I am in the same situation with my bff sounfs likd you wrote her story..

Hi, my father went through the same thing and is currently in the hospital and it’s been 2 weeks since his heart attack. The drs give us no hope of recovery and say that he will be in a vegetative state. His vitals are good aside from currently fighting a ventilator induced pneumonia. Luckily he is now breathing on his own but is not responding to anything like commands. He randomly opens his eyes and mouth, but the Docs say it’s involuntary movements. Can you tell me how your mother is doing now? Thank you

Hello, reading your story, going through the exact same thing now. Any advice and how did your love one do.

Hey what was the outcome of this my husband been in the hospital for a week. He not responded to anything but he did twitching his arm

I am sorry for what you and your family are going through, I am going through exactly what you described with my 7 month old son. I have no answers as I am here looking for them as well. But I know the pain. And ask if you have any updates thank you

Hi I’m sorry about your mother & wondering how’s she’s doing now? I know it’s an older post but going through a similar situation with my 69 year old father. Any advice would be very helpful. Thanks

My sincerest empathy is with you. My 62yo father was rushed to the hospital on veterans day 11/11/2019 having severe chest pains. they rushed him to the cath lab and placed 2 stints and put in an emeplla device. He was as stable as he could be when we left him at the hospitable. at approximately 340 am that next morning, he went asystole and was without adequate O2 to the brain for almost 20 mins when they were able to get him stable again. They kept him in a medically induced coma for a few days until they took the empella device out. after they they tried to wein him from the sedation meds and wake him but was unsuccessful each time. his LVEF was 10% then increased to 20 and eventually got upwards to 30% and i remained hopeful that my dad would pull through. however, his kidneys started failing and he began having issues with the O2 stats dropping. One of the Drs had mentioned a CT and i asked why they hadnt done one to see what type of brain damage we may be facing and i was told it was too soon. I stayed with him every night for 11 days until i couldnt stay awake and would then drive an hour home. On Friday 11/22/2019 i came in that morning and was finally told they would be doing a CT and EEG. It wwas about time because my main concern with wanting one done was his brain function; i knew he was either being kept drugged or he had suffered some brain damage because his pupils were always pinpoint and he maintained a vegetative state even after they brought him out of the medically induced coma. My fears were realized when they advised us that he had suffered a severe stroke at some time and if he were to come out of this, he would be bedridden and full supportive care, to include the ventilator.
My grandma and myself made the horrific decision to set him free and stop the machines.... My father would not want to live that. We buried him the day before thanksgiving.

Whatever decision you make, I pray you keep your loved one in mind and what they would want. My heart goes out to you while you contemplate what you have to do.

My thoughts and prayers are with you doing this difficult time. Keep praying for your mom. My 26 yr. old cousin had a stroke and heart attack on January 4. 2019 and was in a coma for eight days. She lost oxygen to her brain for seven minutes and had multiple seizures. Soon after, she progressed into an unconscious wakefulness state for three months. As of today, June 20th she is now slowly coming around. I believe she's in the minimally conscious state because she is starting to mumble, say a few words and recognize family members. While she is not completely out of the woods, she is making progress. Her mother never gave up hope even when the doctors told her there was nothing that they could do for her. She was transferred to several different long-term nursing facilities and we were told that she would be severely disabled if she ever come out of MCS. The nursing facility has transported her to the hospital for blood transfusion, but they are planning to send her to rehabilitation. On this miraculous account, I would say anything is possible. Don't give up things can turn around.

on 17th june 2018 , my brother is 20 years old, had an electric shock that made his heart stopped for almost 20 mints and because of this his minimally conscious state now for almost 10 monts due to lack of oxygen was deprived that time his heart stopped. we can see improvements for sure he breaths now by his own and he blinks his eyes randomly and move his hand and leg by his own but still no following the commands :(

Don't give up on him he's problem over medicated can't respond at his age I would do what ever it takes to keep him alive doctors are wrong alot about brain activity my sister had a massive stroke at 54 they said she would die in 6months at the most we proved them wrong the human body is amazing it heals it self life finds a way recently she went to hospital in alot of pain it was a kidney stone they where going to operate intubed her sedated her and 4days later was brain dead and died I'm still reading medical records also was not allowed to see her to say goodbye I'm looking to get a lawyer Iwe work 5yrs working out eating healthy foods got her off her meds clean bill of health for at least 3yrs and bam died from kidney stone complications breathing tube she just died July 11 2022 Spokane wa

On November 20, 2018, my fiance age 39, had a car accident and had to be airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical due to a brain injury and a broken hip in three places. He had surgery on November 26, 2018, to repair his hip and on November 27, 2018, physical therapy came in to do therapy on him and when he got up out the bed he became dizzy and nauseated, so they laid him back down in the bed. He kept complaining of being nauseated and later begin to vomit. He got up to go to the bathroom and fell on the floor, about 2 to 3 minutes later he began to have a seizure and stopped breathing for quite a period of time, which caused him to have an anoxic brain injury because of the lack of oxygen to his brain. On January 15, 2019, I noticed that when I moved around in the room, he would follow my movement with his eyes. When I asked him did he understand what me and what I was saying to blink twice he will. He does not follow commands like move your hands, legs, or arms, but he will move them on his own at times. Do you think that he will have a full recovery after this anoxic brain injury or does it depend on him?

Yes, don't give up on him. If he is responding to you like that, continue to spend as much time as you can with him. My boyfriend suffered from an anoxic-hypoxic brain injury a year ago, he was in a coma & doctors tried getting me to let him go after a week, then continued to tell me they didn't think he would wake up and even if he did, wouldn't have a functional life. Go with your gut, you know him better than any doctor ever will. They don't spend the time with a single patient like family does so they don't see what you see when he responds to you. I know this from my own personal experience. My boyfriend is still recovering but has come SO SO far. We are working on learning how to walk again. He's completely alert, remembers everyone & memories. There's still recovery but don't ever give up on someone you love no matter what doctors say. I hope & pray your fiance is doing better.

It's my 53 year old son they told us he wouldn't make it here it is 3 + years you tell him to do some things and he does with lip pulled down ginger on his face plus more told him he shakes his head yes and no has moved his leg and (lr) arm which was suppose to be paralyzed but of course pt sucks suppose to do intense therapy after 8 months oh wow THERAPY then 6 months later sticks oút his tongue pt sucks!!! He had 9 strokes and pertinent vegetated state after studying fór over 3 years I'm the one who diagnosed my son not doctors

I am going through the same thing right now. My husband had a anoxic/hypoxia brain injury doctors arnt giving me much hope. I’m not giving up on him. Could you please get in touch with me?

My dad 59, was found face down a pool of his own blood, he was taken to level 1 trauma, had a tracheotomy, feeding tube & was in a coma for almost 2 weeks, he pulled through from that almost 2 yrs ago, his speech was a little messed up but recovered and was pretty much mentally back to normal! He also had liver failure. Then last month they overdosed him he had seizures, they told me he wouldn’t last the weekend. Well guess what, 2 days later he was back up and talking like nothing happened. So he beat a tbi and hypoxia etc & came out of coma 2 times!! However he is now on life support for almost a month now, he’s now in end stage liver disease, he opened his eyes, and I know he can hear me but he’s just too weak for a liver transplant, but most ppl are not in that situation. So please don’t give up hope, do so much of your own research!!!! Any questions please contact me on Instagram Kristins_thirdeye

my son age 49 at the time had had his 7the stroke 3 in total in 2027 march 17 2018 he had his 8th stroke was admitted to the nearby hospital where we were told he was in a coma when we believ ed he wasin a pertinent vegetated state while there he had a lot of things go wrong respitory distress just to name for one instance he was transdfered to a very nice facility nearby for one where he is now (he entered the facility)where he can shake his head yes or no to questions asked of him he can laugh he can move feet toes legs fingers arms something he couldn't while he was at hospital his family is very pleased with the drs and nursing staff for being there since 7 months hes a FIGHTER1

What about a person who has been in a minimally conscious state for 3 years, what is the prognosis of their recovery or will they be able to fully recover when they are around the mid 50s?

Is there anything the family members can do to help?

This sounds very similar to my brother's situation. Will/can his brain function improve? Are there any treatments suggested?

This may sound very very strange, but I'm feeling very lucky right now. I have been reading the comments from people who have close relatives going through varying degrees of brain damage and the effects it's having on them and their families. My father has just recently had a massive heart attack, which doctors believe may have induced a stroke. My dad's heart was stopped for about an hour and his brain deprived of oxygen for all that time. The emergency services attended very quickly, and after working on him for a long time, they managed to re-start his heart. They assisted his breathing and got him off to hospital. After assessing him in hospital, the doctors told us that dad had suffered irreparable brain damage and there was no hope of survival. He was breathing on his own and had had an oxygen mask on. The first time I saw dad once they had got him sorted, it was a huge shock as I could see the catastrophic damage that had been done to him as a result of such a major heart attack. My sister was very upset as she had performed initial CPR until the paramedics arrived. She said dad looked so peaceful when her and mum first found him, and they had thought they were too late as he had passed then. Now they had brought him back, and his body was under so much strain. His lungs sounded like they were full of fluid (because they were) his chest would rise and drop dramatically with every breath, he never regained consciousness throughout the time. He seemed to have an odd reflex type movement; he seemed to jump suddenly and sometimes would groan. He looked distressed; his body was working incredibly hard, there was no brain response to any test the doctors did. My dad was 80 years old, had always been in reasonably good health and this had happened so very fast. When I saw my dad, I told him it was ok to go, I willed him to give in to it and slip away because up to now he had led a good active life, unhindered by disability and I knew if he did indeed survive this, his life would be constant care, and he would hate it. I work in the care sector, and I have seen some long drawn out deaths which are very distressing for the patient, and very distressing for the families despite doing everything you can to make them as comfortable as possible. Twelve hours after being admitted to the hospital, my dad's dramatic and labored breathing suddenly calmed and he took his last breath, finally slipping away with all his family around him. I truly feel this was the best outcome for my dad. After caring for some people who have survived heart attacks and strokes, seeing how their daily struggle can affect the quality of their lives, I didn't want that for dad, and I knew he wouldn't want it either. I think it is a valid consideration to listen to the doctors and nurses who see this kind of thing on a daily basis, consider what you would want if it were you on that hospital bed. You know your loved ones better than anybody; some want to go on living no matter what, some would say they would rather pass than live like that. I look after one lady who is in her 90's, and she has made it clear she does not want a DNR in place because she doesn't want to die, and on the flip side, my husband has told me he would rather i "switch him off" than let him live needing constant care. For me with this very recent event with dad, I questioned what was the kindest thing to do? Instinct was to resuscitate, but dad had essentially died, peacefully in his bed, we then got him back, saw him appear to suffer for a further 12 hours and die again! I am hoping and praying that he had no awareness of the last 12 hours in the hospital, but unfortunately, nobody knows if he did or didn't. Those 12 hours were the longest of my life and probably of his too, but as deaths go, it could have been a lot worse, so I am grateful. It makes you think about what family member would want in these circumstances and to let people know what you would want also. This takes the pressure off the surviving family members as they will be confident that they are making the right decisions on your behalf. Nobody wanted dad to die obviously, and its very sad understandably, but I know he would rather it happen like this than suffer for months or years with severe physical and mental problems associated with brain damage. I know he can now rest in peace

Thankyou I feel a little better hearing your views my mam passed away from a massive stroke on the 8th of August but hung on for nearly 6 weeks but the doctors said she wold need constant care I just wanted her to live wotever but now reading your story I see it was selfish of me thankyou broken hearted daughter

May God bless you and family !

Your post really helped me. I am dealing with the same type of situation where I am the medical surrogate for my friend, who had a heart attack and stroke similar to your Dad. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Really thoughtful and well-written. I’m sorry for your loss but it sounds like you have made peace with your dad’s passing.

Hello and thanks for sharing your story. A week ago on Tuesday, my BF was struggling to breathe and I called 911. He passed out s few minutes before EMS arrived. I watched them work on him for at least 20-30 minutes before they took him out. After arriving at the hospital, they said his heart stopped for about 40 minutes and that he has brain damage. They put him on ice for three days hoping to preserve any brain damage but unfortunately it did not work. Due to lack of oxygen to the brain, it caused some brain cells to die and swelling of the brain. The brain is pushing other parts of the brain and has affected the brain stem. No response to pain and doctor say no hope for recovery and need to take him off of the ventilator. I wish he could hear me. There are a lot of things I needed to say. We were just laughing a few minutes before.

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