I know this question probably depends on the context and has to be described more accurately. I don't know that much about comas. How much of them are still conscious? I think due to the risk of being conscious while that coma many people would reject it.
Let's say you are not conscious during that coma. Many here have suicidal ideation or the desire to stop existing. Would it make for you a difference whether you are really dead or just in an eternal sleep (till you die)? Also here I should specify it. Our loved ones would probably worry about us and hope that we would wake up one day. Moreover they would not have the information whether we still can perceive our environment. I think vigilant coma is for many people an horror scenario.
Holy shit I just skimmed through an article about vigilant coma. That sounds like extreme torture. But one has to differentiate with the locked-in syndrome
It seems like it is likely that most people in vigilant coma are not conscious. However people with locked-in syndrome are.
"Locked-in syndrome (LIS), also known as pseudocoma, is a condition in which a patient is aware but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for vertical eye movements and blinking. The individual is conscious and sufficiently intact cognitively to be able to communicate with eye movements"
Here is the difference:
Persistent vegetative state: (I called it vigilant coma)
"A persistent vegetative state (PVS) or post-coma unresponsiveness[1] (PCU) is a disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness. After four weeks in a vegetative state (VS), the patient is classified as being in a persistent vegetative state. This diagnosis is classified as a permanent vegetative state some months (three in the US and six in the UK) after a non-traumatic brain injury or one year after a traumatic injury. The term unresponsive wakefulness syndrome may be alternatively used,[2] as "vegetative state" has some negative connotations among the public."
Both quotes from wikipedia
That thread was educational for me. But the latter one scares that shit out of me. I often think I hate my life and that my life tortures me. But when I read stories of some people in this forum I think in some instances I am still privileged. (for the moment).
But to know that are thousands of people locked inside their body without being able to communicate is pretty nightmarish. It must be hell on earth.
I can at least vent about my pain. But not even scratching my body would make me go insane. I mean they torture people with sensational deprivation. Sounds similar to the locked-in syndrome.
However I have to say I am a complete layman and take my words with a grain of salt. I just searched some online articles that is even less than half-knowledge.
I might accept eternal sleep under certain conditions.
1. No risk of being conscious
2. My family and friends knew I would not suffer
3. Nothing that could turn the sleep into a severe agonizing condition
Edit: One probably had to differentiate between sleeping and coma but the thread is already way too long.
Let's say you are not conscious during that coma. Many here have suicidal ideation or the desire to stop existing. Would it make for you a difference whether you are really dead or just in an eternal sleep (till you die)? Also here I should specify it. Our loved ones would probably worry about us and hope that we would wake up one day. Moreover they would not have the information whether we still can perceive our environment. I think vigilant coma is for many people an horror scenario.
Holy shit I just skimmed through an article about vigilant coma. That sounds like extreme torture. But one has to differentiate with the locked-in syndrome
It seems like it is likely that most people in vigilant coma are not conscious. However people with locked-in syndrome are.
"Locked-in syndrome (LIS), also known as pseudocoma, is a condition in which a patient is aware but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for vertical eye movements and blinking. The individual is conscious and sufficiently intact cognitively to be able to communicate with eye movements"
Here is the difference:
Persistent vegetative state: (I called it vigilant coma)
"A persistent vegetative state (PVS) or post-coma unresponsiveness[1] (PCU) is a disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness. After four weeks in a vegetative state (VS), the patient is classified as being in a persistent vegetative state. This diagnosis is classified as a permanent vegetative state some months (three in the US and six in the UK) after a non-traumatic brain injury or one year after a traumatic injury. The term unresponsive wakefulness syndrome may be alternatively used,[2] as "vegetative state" has some negative connotations among the public."
Both quotes from wikipedia
That thread was educational for me. But the latter one scares that shit out of me. I often think I hate my life and that my life tortures me. But when I read stories of some people in this forum I think in some instances I am still privileged. (for the moment).
But to know that are thousands of people locked inside their body without being able to communicate is pretty nightmarish. It must be hell on earth.
I can at least vent about my pain. But not even scratching my body would make me go insane. I mean they torture people with sensational deprivation. Sounds similar to the locked-in syndrome.
However I have to say I am a complete layman and take my words with a grain of salt. I just searched some online articles that is even less than half-knowledge.
I might accept eternal sleep under certain conditions.
1. No risk of being conscious
2. My family and friends knew I would not suffer
3. Nothing that could turn the sleep into a severe agonizing condition
Edit: One probably had to differentiate between sleeping and coma but the thread is already way too long.
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