Thread: Lucidity In Coma Possible?

What you guys know/think about lucidity in coma? Is it even possible? And if it is, you think that they at some point (if said person is an experienced ld'er) would understand they're in a coma? Just had this random itching thought xd

I believe it is possible. I never been in a coma, though at one time I did have a thought of a "what if?" the life I live now is just a big dream and one day I will wake up from a coma. The thought of that does make me a bit uncomfortable, going off from a theory about Ash Ketchum from the Pokémon series.

I have heard plenty of dream and near death experiences of people who have been known to live out these phenomenons while in stasis.

It's not possible. A coma by definition is a state of unconsciousness. Consciousness is required to lucid dream.

That's not necessarily true, Dolphin. Many people in comas are very aware of what's going on around them but are completely unable to respond in any meaningful way.

That said, there are many stories of people coming out of a coma with memories of dreams, emotions, and/or lucids. So, yes. It's possible and it happens.

So, people are actually conscious during comas, but just can't respond to the outside world? In this case lucid dreaming would be possible.

But, everywhere I read defines a coma is a state of unconsciousness. Maybe by unconsciousness everybody means unresponsiveness.

Originally Posted by dolphin

So, people are actually conscious during comas, but just can't respond to the outside world?

Not everyone is conscious during a coma, but not everyone is unconscious during a coma. It's highly variable.

Originally Posted by dolphin

But, everywhere I read defines a coma is a state of unconsciousness. Maybe by unconsciousness everybody means unresponsiveness.

It can also be defined as extreme unresponsiveness, which in a lot of cases is interchangeable with unconsciousness because they both appear the same.

Medical diagnoses aren't quite as cut and dry as doctors would have you believe. Sometimes they're literally just guessing. When a person is comatose they will perform an eeg (electrical test of the brain) to help determine cause and depth of coma, but tests can't tell you everything and there's no way to know their level of awareness with any certainty until they wake up and tell you. In nursing it's common practice to communicate with a comatose patient like you would with a fully aware patient for this very reason.

It's quite interesting. I just think of those laying in coma for years. Their lucid dreaming must become their present reality.. That's quite disturbing..

I think its actually a comforting thought. Being aware all the time without the ability do to anything, that must be boring as hell and should make you mad in a couple of months. Being able to LD would give you something to experience.

I find it slightly disturbing in my own specified way. If one has made friends and experienced such freedom in a lucid dream during a coma and then waking up to that realization that they can never go back...to meet those they loved and such...I wouldn't know how to handle myself. Then again, at least in my beliefs, I would meet them again once I have died and of course attempt to make those memories reoccur with induction and play with telepathy.

But that Ash in a Coma theory made me cry thinking about that. It's utterly depressing for someone to go through that in my opinion. Especially waking back up in this crummy world if you had freedom in the LD during stasis. What would 'urk' me more is if being in this life long LD during stasis I would probably begin to think that I have died, and this is my freedom from Earth -- "YES!" Then "Nope we won't let you leave this world just yet." I'd probably be more bitter then I am now about life here.

This is a fascinating subject to me. If anyone has any online resources that they have found conveying peoples experiences while in a coma, I think we would all enjoy reading about that. I wonder how much REM you can get in a coma, would it be the same? Would the rest of the time be just like being blind, assuming it is the kind of coma where you can hear what is going on around you?

Originally Posted by MobianAngel

I find it slightly disturbing in my own specified way. If one has made friends and experienced such freedom in a lucid dream during a coma and then waking up to that realization that they can never go back...to meet those they loved and such...I wouldn't know how to handle myself.

Fear not, you could go back in your regular lucid dreams (when going to sleep after the coma is over).

Coma is not a specific state, it's what we call people that have a specific set of symptoms, most importantly unresponsiveness and not being able to wake up. They call it "unconsciousness", but it refers to how the person looks on the outside - we still don't have the tools to check how much of the brain is consciousness - for that something like an MRI needs to be done, but way more detailed than currently possible...
Comas can be very different, and in fact I know of several cases of people that reported, after waking up, having at least some awareness while in coma (I'm sure it's pretty well documented in the medical literature by now, but for that I'll have to do the research... I'm too lazy)

So, I would say that it depends on the sort of coma we talk about, how deep it is, and so on. So, at least in some cases of coma, having some awareness is not unlikely - which means that in these types of coma LDing is possible as well.

fogelbise if you google it many stories will come up. Has anyone seen the movie, The Good Night? It's a fictional film about lucid dreaming that touches on the subject a bit.