Trapped in own body for 23 years

wotzgoingon

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/23/man-trapped-coma-23-years?INTCMP=SRCH

Rom Houben, 46, was diagnosed as being in a vegetative state after an accident in his 20s but can now communicate by computer keyboard. Photograph: VTM Belgium
For 23 years Rom Houben was ­imprisoned in his own body. He saw his doctors and nurses as they visited him during their daily rounds; he listened to the conversations of his carers; he heard his mother deliver the news to him that his father had died. But he could do nothing. He was unable to communicate with his doctors or family. He could not move his head or weep, he could only listen.
Doctors presumed he was in a vegetative state following a near-fatal car crash in 1983. They believed he could feel nothing and hear nothing. For 23 years.Kate Connolly on Belgian thought to be in a coma for 23 years
Then a neurologist, Steven Laureys, who decided to take a radical look at the state of diagnosed coma patients, released him from his torture. Using a state-of-the-art scanning system, Laureys found to his amazement that his brain was functioning almost normally.
"I had dreamed myself away," said Houben, now 46, whose real "state" was discovered three years ago, according to a report in the German magazine Der Spiegel this week.
Laureys, a neurologist at the ­University of Liege in Belgium, published a study in BMC Neurology earlier this year saying Houben could be one of many cases of falsely diagnosed comas around the world. He discovered that although Houben was completely paralysed, he was also completely conscious — it was just that he was unable to communicate the fact.
Houben now communicates with one finger and a special touchscreen on his wheelchair – he has developed some movement with the help of intense physiotherapy over the last three years.
He realised when he came round after his accident, which had caused his heart to stop and his brain to be starved of oxygen for several minutes, that his body was paralysed. Although he could hear every word his doctors spoke, he could not communicate with them.
"I screamed, but there was nothing to hear," he said, via his keyboard.
The Belgian former engineering student, who speaks four languages, said he coped with being effectively trapped in his own body by meditating. He told doctors he had "travelled with my thoughts into the past, or into another existence altogether". Sometimes, he said, "I was only my consciousness and nothing else".
The moment it was discovered he was not in a vegetative state, said Houben, was like being born again. "I'll never forget the day that they discovered me," he said. "It was my second birth".
Experts say Laureys' findings are likely to reopen the debate over when the decision should be made to terminate the lives of those in comas who appear to be unconscious but may have almost fully-functioning brains.
Belgian doctors used an internationally-accepted scale to monitor Houben's state over the years. Known as the Glasgow Coma Scale, it requires assessment of the eyes, verbal and motor responses. But they failed to assess him correctly and missed signs that his brain was still functioning.
Last night his mother, Fina, said in an interview with Belgian RTBF that they had taken him to the US five times for reexamination. The breakthrough came when it became clear that Houben could indicate yes and no with his foot.
"Powerlessness. Utter powerlessness. At first I was angry, then I learned to live with it," he tapped out on to the screen during an interview with the Belgian network last night, AP reported.
Laureys, who is head of the Coma Science Group and department of neurology at Liege University hospital, has advised on several prominent coma cases, such as the American Terri Schiavo, whose life support was withdrawn in 2005 after 15 years in a coma.
Laureys concluded that coma patients are misdiagnosed "on a disturbingly regular basis". He examined 44 patients believed to be in a vegetative state, and found that 18 of them responded to communication.
"Once someone is labelled as being without consciousness, it is very hard to get rid of that," he told Der Spiegel.
He said patients suspected of being in a non-reversible coma should be "tested 10 times" and that comas, like sleep, have different stages and need to be monitored.
Houben hopes to write a book detailing his trauma and his "rebirth".

Imagine that. It would be fu*king terrible. Hearing and seeing everything but couldnt say or do anything.

fro9etb8j5qsl2

Imagine the scandal in that book.....

Jesus Wept

We are all trapped in our own bodies.
True story.

johnners2981

I was thinking I heard this before, article is from 2009.

I now know why you picked that username

wotzgoingon

johnners2981 wrote: »

I was thinking I heard this before, article is from 2009.

I now know why you picked that username

Well detective i see your wide awake at 2 in the morn.

StupidLikeAFox

I think id rather they pull the plug tbh

Chuck Stone

Did he get to see any boobs?

Surely there was at least one nurse or carer who exposed her boobs either by mistake or deliberately thinking Mr Huben wasn't paying attention.

flutterflye

johnners2981 wrote: »

I was thinking I heard this before, article is from 2009.

It's also very like the film 'Awakenings' based on a true story.

Senna

The first words i would type on the screen are "KILL ME NOW".

Chuck Stone

Senna wrote: »

The first words i would type on the screen are "KILL ME NOW".

Mine would be 'tits or GTFO'.

Big Knox

Reading that has really freaked me out, especially the part about his dad dying.

I can't imagine what that feels like, I can honestly say if I was in that state I would want to die. Problem is you can't exactly get that message across...

HazDanz

Hell on earth the poor man was in. The days he may have had an itch must have been the worst.

FarmerGreen

It would have given the game away wouldnt it.

Amzie

That sounds absolutely awful! If that was me id rather not live I would go mental not being able to talk never mind not move!! but wow 23 years trapped and that person is finally able to communicate is a wonderful thing They could never thank the doctor enough

psychward

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Experts say Laureys' findings are likely to reopen the debate over when the decision should be made to terminate the lives of those in comas who appear to be unconscious but may have almost fully-functioning brains.

I think the question shouldn't be viewed as about terminating the lives of people like this but instead be about the morality of keeping them alive indefinitely through artificial means. Not only because of the torture involved either. Aliens looking down on an Earth of scarce resources must wonder at a species which spends tens of millions per patient keeping empty or tortured shells alive for decades while a few hours plane ride away children die of starvation due to not having 20 cent for a loaf of bread.

galwayrush

:eek:At least the girl in million dollar baby was able to bite her tongue to bleed to death.