by wannaoreo

Question by all you need is LOVE, LOVE, LOVE: How long can you live in a coma WITHOUT TREATMENT?
okay, so i was writing this story ( something i do often :D) and this girl was in a coma. i am wondering how long its possible to remain in that state, just so i can make it seem more plausible.

real thorough answers please, and maybe a couple websites with information? Thanks!
What about the vegative state of a coma? How long can you live in that state without treatment, if at all?

Best answer:

Answer by Steve L
Coma is an extended period of unconsciousness from which a person cannot be aroused even with the most painful stimuli. Coma is not a disease. It is a symptom of a disease or a response to an event, such as a severe head injury, seizure or metabolic problem. Most comas do not last longer than four weeks. Some people in a coma shift to a persistent vegetative state, in which breathing, maintaining normal blood pressure, digesting and eliminating foods continues without the patient’s awareness. The vegetative state can last for years or decades. The outcome of a coma ranges from full recovery to death. Whether a person recovers, and to what extent, depends upon the cause of the coma and the type and extent of the brain damage.

A coma involves two different concepts: Reactivity and perceptivity.

The perceptivity concept refers to responses of the nervous system to learned stimuli. These types of stimuli may be learned through language or communication skills.
The reactivity concept refers to the inborn functions of the brain. These functions include the eyes, ears, responses to pain, wakefulness and turning ones head toward a sound of movement. These movements are also called reflexive movements.
A person in a coma does not experience reactivity or perceptivity. The patient can not be aroused by calling their name or experiencing pain.

Symptoms of a Coma

The main symptom of a coma is the inability to be aroused to consciousness. Other symptoms are: Lack of self-awareness, Lack of a sleep-wake cycle, Lack of purposeful movements, Lack of suffering and Impaired breathing.

What Causes a Coma?

A coma can be caused by a variety of things. The most often cause of coma is severe head injury. Other causes are: consumption of a very large amount of alcohol (toxic or metabolic coma), diabetes, morphine, shock or hemorrhage. Treatment varies depending on the cause. Overall, in coma cases, damage to the brain’s “thinking, and life support centers” have occurred. When damage has occurred, bleeding in the brain, swelling and congestion of the damaged tissue is present. In extreme cases, brain swelling is so great that portions of the brain must be forcible squeezed out of the skull. This dead or “dying” tissue is then surgically removed. An alternative to squeezing portions of the brain out of the skull is to saw off the skull and place it in a cold storage to better accommodate the swollen brain.

What happens during a coma?

There are different stages of a coma. Most people believe that a person in a coma is in a deep sleep. This is not entirely true. Some stages of coma resemble a deep sleep but not all. The progress of coma is measured by the patient’s increasing awareness of external stimuli. There are many levels of coma which the patient will pass through as functionality increases. Depending on the stage, a person in a coma may make movements, sounds and experience agitation. Coma patients may also have reflex activities that mimic conscious activities. Sometimes, coma patients must be restrained to prohibit them from removing tubes and IVs.

Emerging from a Coma

When a person begins to emerge from a coma, they begin to react to certain stimuli. However, to regain consciousness, both reactivity and perceptivity must be present. Reactivity and perceptivity are necessary for a state of awareness. It is often the case that some parts of perceptivity such as speech and self care must be relearned.

A beneficial Coma

Sometimes a coma may be chemically induced by a doctor to aid in medical treatment and recovery. This usually happens during a head injury.

Coma Statistics

Every ten minutes head injury claims the life of another child.
Head trauma is the number one cause of death and disability among people between the ages of 1 and 44.
About 5% to 10% of all coma patients are incapable of conscious behavior, and end up vegetative, which most of the public think of as prolonged coma.

Answer by formerly_bob
There is an infinite spectrum of coma severity.

At one end of the spectrum, the brain is damaged enough that a person’s breathing is affected and they would not get enough oxygen if they were not on life support. Without any treatment, these people would would die within a day or two after the initial injury as the breathing function slowly stops. If they were taken off life support, the heart would stop beating within 2-5 minutes.

At the other end of the spectrum, a person may be in a state that is very close to a deep sleep with otherwise normal brain function. These people could theoretically live indefinitely with life support. Without life support, they would die from dehydration after several days or maybe a little longer since they couldn’t drink water.

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Question by Shane Lindsay: i was arrested for posession of marijuana and my job suspended me can i get unemployment?
it was only a small small 1 bag amount

Best answer:

Answer by thefullmetalcore
No

Answer by Shamrock
Your company may have a different grounds on terminating your employment.
1) It may violate its drug free code of conduct policy and/or its arrest charge policies for employment. Suppose this charge was publicized and it mention that you were an employee of the company, it could damage the company’s name and image.
2) If you did not take a proper leave of absence when you went to rehab, you may also be terminated for job abandonment because you did not report to work after so many scheduled work days.

Now for claiming unemployment benefits, an employer can appeal to block an unemployment claim if the former employee violated rules or policies that caused the termination. This means that the employee was at fault for termination and not released on the “fault” of the employer. It is no harm in trying to collect, the worse that could happen is you have a hearing with the unemployment officer and employer rep. Some states are very “employee centered”, meaning you could have a good chance of winning the appeal.

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Question by oblivious: how did elliot smith die?

Best answer:

Answer by iijakii
Elliott Smith died on October 21, 2003 in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California at age 34, from two stab wounds to the chest during an emotional fight with Jennifer Chiba. [16] According to her account, the two were arguing when she locked herself in the bathroom. Chiba heard him scream, and upon opening the door, saw Smith standing there with a steak knife in his chest. She pulled the knife out of him, after which Smith collapsed and she called 911. The time of death was listed at 12:18 PM. While originally reported as a suicide, the official autopsy report released in late December 2003 left the question of possible homicide open:
While his history of depression is compatible with suicide, and the location and direction of the stab wound is consistent with self-infliction, several aspects of the circumstances (as are known at this time) are atypical of suicide and raise the possibility of homicide. These include the absence of hesitation wounds, stabbing through clothing, and the presence of small incised wounds on the right arm and left hand (possible defensive wounds). Additionally, the girlfriend’s [Jennifer Chiba’s] reported removal of the knife and subsequent refusal to speak with detectives are all of concern.

According to the coroner’s report, the alleged suicide note, written on a Post-it, read, I’m so sorry – love, Elliot. God forgive me. The misspelling of “Elliott” was later acknowledged as a mistake on the part of the coroner. Robin Peringer, one of the singers few close friends towards the end of his life, says that Smith was a “cutter”, which would help explain the “possible defensive wounds.” Fritz Michaud, an engineer during the Basement sessions, claimed that “Elliott literally wouldn’t have been caught dead without his shirt on,” possibly explaining why the stab wounds penetrated his shirt (something extremely uncommonly seen in stabbing suicides).

His death has not been officially declared a suicide, and the investigation into his death continues, although almost no new information at all has publicly come to light since 2003.

Answer by mavsman15
According to Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing, he began to display signs of paranoia, often believing that a white van followed him wherever he went. He would have friends drop him off for recording sessions almost a mile away from the studio, and to reach the location he would trudge through hundreds of yards of brush and cliffs. He started telling people that DreamWorks was out to get him. “Not long ago my house was broken into, and songs were stolen off my computer which have wound up in the hands of certain people who work at a certain label. I’ve also been followed around for months at a time. I wouldn’t even want to necessarily say it’s the people from that label who are following me around, but it was probably them who broke into my house.” [12] Nugent’s book says that during this time, Smith hardly ever ate, subsisting primarily on ice cream (bizarrely, it was the only thing that he kept in his freezer). He would go for several days with out sleeping, then sleep for about 24 hours.

On November 25, 2002, Smith was involved in a brawl with the Los Angeles Police Department at a Flaming Lips/Beck concert. [13] Allegedly, Smith saw the officers harassing a young man, at which point the musician tried to step in and defend him. Thinking he was a homeless man, the officers supposedly beat and arrested him and his girlfriend, Jennifer Chiba (without reading them their Miranda Rights). The two spent the night in jail. Smith’s hand and back were injured in the incident, causing him to have to cancel a number of shows. [14]

He attempted to go to rehab several times, but he “couldn’t honestly do the first step {where the individual admits that they have a drug/alcohol problem}. I couldn’t say what you were supposed to say and mean it.” Finally, after several years of darkness, things began to lighten. In the fall of 2002, Smith went to the Neurotransmitter Restoration Center in Beverly Hills to start a course of treatment for his drug addiction. In one of his final interviews, he spoke about the center: “What they do is an IV treatment where they put a catheter in your arm, and you’re on a drip bag, but the only thing that’s in the drip bag is amino acids and saline solution. I was coming off of a lot of psyche meds and other things. I was even on an antipsychotic, although I’m not psychotic.” [15] This time the center proved to do wonders for him, helping him permanently beat his addictions to heroin and crack. After his 34th birthday on August 6, 2003, he gave up alcohol, caffeine, red meat, refined sugar and his longtime regiment of sometimes abused psychological medication. “Elliott’s getting better”-type rumors spread on the internet and throughout the independent music community (as apparent on Ben Folds’ tribute song to Smith, “Late”).

Elliott Smith died on October 21, 2003 in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California at age 34, from two stab wounds to the chest during an emotional fight with Jennifer Chiba. [16] According to her account, the two were arguing when she locked herself in the bathroom. Chiba heard him scream, and upon opening the door, saw Smith standing there with a steak knife in his chest. She pulled the knife out of him, after which Smith collapsed and she called 911. The time of death was listed at 12:18 PM. While originally reported as a suicide, the official autopsy report released in late December 2003 left the question of possible homicide open:
While his history of depression is compatible with suicide, and the location and direction of the stab wound is consistent with self-infliction, several aspects of the circumstances (as are known at this time) are atypical of suicide and raise the possibility of homicide. These include the absence of hesitation wounds, stabbing through clothing, and the presence of small incised wounds on the right arm and left hand (possible defensive wounds). Additionally, the girlfriend’s [Jennifer Chiba’s] reported removal of the knife and subsequent refusal to speak with detectives are all of concern.

According to the coroner’s report, the alleged suicide note, written on a Post-it, read, I’m so sorry – love, Elliot. God forgive me. The misspelling of “Elliott” was later acknowledged as a mistake on the part of the coroner. Robin Peringer, one of the singers few close friends towards the end of his life, says that Smith was a “cutter”, which would help explain the “possible defensive wounds.” Fritz Michaud, an engineer during the Basement sessions, claimed that “Elliott literally wouldn’t have been caught dead without his shirt on,” possibly explaining why the stab wounds penetrated his shirt (something extremely uncommonly seen in stabbing suicides).

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