From a decent wife and mother of children, she turned into a treacherous bitch. How a coma changes a person’s personality

Vilma Veldre, “Secrets of the Planet”, JSC “Latvijas Mediji”

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It is traditionally accepted to consider the state of coma as an intermediate stage between life and death: the human brain stops responding to external stimuli, consciousness disappears, and only a series of the simplest reflexes remain. In such cases, doctors advise the patient’s relatives to either simply wait for him to wake up on his own, or, in the event that such a condition has lasted for a long time, to decide on disconnection from the life support system.

Among them, until recently, medical researchers were convinced that during the coma phase, a person’s brain is asleep and therefore he is not able to understand what is happening around him. Although many cases are known at the same time when, after coming out of a coma, people said that they heard and understood everything well, but unfortunately they were not able to react in any way. And the latest studies show that people in a coma are even able to think and react to the words dedicated to them.

I

In 2000, Canadian Scott Routley had an accident, after which he fell into a coma. Among them, he was able to open his eyes, move his fingers and distinguish between day and night. Professor Adrian Owen of Cambridge University was interested in this case, who, together with his colleagues, developed a special technique that gives the opportunity to “read” the thoughts of people in a coma. After scanning Scott’s brain, the researchers asked him a series of questions to which he had to answer yes or no. In addition, the tomograph recorded any activity of the brain. As a result, the researchers concluded that Scott is fully aware of who he is and where he is, and responds to external stimuli. For example, he “answered” that he did not feel pain at all, and so on.

Later, the researchers also examined a 23-year-old girl, who unfortunately had brain damage after a car accident – she was unable to move or speak. When the researchers asked her to try to imagine herself playing tennis, the simultaneous scans showed bursts of activity in areas of the brain responsible for motor functions. The same was observed in completely healthy volunteers. Owen said that these results confirm: the comatose patient is at least able to perceive a speech addressed to her and mentally react to it.

II

Illustration by SHUTTERSTOCK

Among them, it turns out that such cases, when completely contrary to doctors’ predictions, a person comes out of a coma, are not so rare in practice. For example, a British resident from the vicinity of Bristol managed to bring his wife out of a coma by using the most common… swearing. Yvonne Sullivan had suffered a bad birth – the baby died, but she herself got very serious blood poisoning. After learning about the child’s death, the woman fell into a state of unconsciousness, from which she could not come out for several weeks. At some point, the doctors capitulated and advised the relatives to disconnect him from the life support system.

After hearing this, Yvonne’s husband got so angry that he grabbed the hand of his unconscious wife, shook it and screamed in despair directly in her face, accusing her of being stubborn and therefore not wanting to regain consciousness. And almost instantly, the doctors recorded certain changes in the patient’s condition, which had more than gratifying consequences: after a few hours, she began to breathe completely independently, but after several days she also regained her judgment. Later, the doctors confidently stated that it was the “scene” arranged by the husband that helped in this case.

Three-year-old Alice Lawson suffered from meningitis and a stroke with kidney failure at the age of one, after which she was no longer able to breathe on her own, and from then on her life could only be supported by special equipment. In March 2010, Alice’s parents had already decided to turn off the ventilator and signed a permit for the use of their daughter’s organs in transplantation.

All the previous night before this difficult event, the parents sat by their daughter’s bed. The mother had brought inflated balloons, which were able to make Alice very happy when the little girl was completely healthy, and she kept talking about how much everyone loved her and the like. Early in the morning, Alice was injected with morphine and disconnected from the equipment. The mother took the little girl by the hand and kissed her. A team of transplant specialists was already waiting in the nearby ward. But… suddenly the doctors noticed that the girl started to breathe completely independently!

Of course, Alice did not recover immediately and completely. For quite some time, all her reactions were at the level of an infant. She couldn’t even hold her head up. In addition, one leg had remained shorter than the other, but it was clear that a surgical operation would help. It is known that after some time Alice started attending a special so-called corrective kindergarten, she can draw and ride a specially modified bicycle. Parents and relatives have expressed hope that soon Alice will be able to catch up with her peers in development.

III

Among them, things that cannot be rationally explained often happen to people who have suffered from a coma. For example, after a head injury, 35-year-old Englishman Heather Howland suddenly turned from a decent wife and mother of children into a treacherous harlot and irredeemably sexually abused woman.

The accident happened in May 2005 – Heather suffered several brain hemorrhages and spent ten days in a coma. When she was discharged from the hospital, her husband Andy took a special leave to care for his wife. Initially, he did not notice anything unusual. After three months, Heather had already recovered enough to go outside the house. The first time she went to the store. But Andy, who looked out of the window, was surprised to see that his wife almost or directly crossed the other side of the street to the house where a worker was busy, and started a conversation with him herself. Soon both of them climbed the stairs to the terrace of the house, and through its glass you could clearly see how they began to kiss passionately… From that moment Andy’s life turned into a real nightmare. Heather didn’t pass up virtually any man without coaxing her into sexual pursuits. Periodically, friends and acquaintances called Andy and urged the zhigli to come somewhere and collect his wife, who behaves moderately inappropriately, tying himself to complete strangers.

Doctors believe that the serious head injury caused excessive irritation of the brain centers responsible for sexuality. The only thing they could do was prescribe a course of special preparations to suppress sexual desire. Among them, Heather herself is well aware of her new problem and would like to change this bad situation herself. She willingly agreed not to leave the house at all during the course of treatment, including admitting that she slept with at least 50 random men in a short period of time after leaving the hospital. Several in one day… So far, it’s hard to say how things will go for Andy and Heather.

IV

Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK

Zoe Bernstein, a six-year-old resident of the US state of California, spent about a month in a coma after the accident, but after regaining consciousness, her relatives did not recognize her at all. Zoya had started the so-called attention deficit syndrome – the previously very polite child had turned into an unruly juvenile hooligan. And everyone, including the doctors, had the same prognosis – it will stay that way and will never change.

There is another known case of a 13-year-old Croatian girl who fell into a coma after an accident and after recovering suddenly began to speak German completely freely and without any accent. On the other hand, she had completely forgotten her native Croatian language after the coma!

But 26-year-old Briton Chris Birch was left in a brain-damaged coma after being hit hard during rugby training. Later, he himself reported: after coming to his senses, he realized almost or instantly that his sexual orientation had changed – he had become a homosexual and, moreover, took it for granted. Here too, as the doctors have said, it is no longer possible to save anything.

It can be added that countless similar cases are known to science, and it is probably all related to a sudden awakening of genetic memory. And this, of course, does not rule out the fact that in some case, after coming out of a coma, a completely different personality may be embodied in a person…

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