Man had wonderful dreams in a 16-day coma

It occurred to me that we don't know much about what is happening in the brain of people placed into an induced coma as a patient in hospital. To outsiders they appear to be almost dead. They are entirely unresponsive. What's happening inside their brain? Are they experiencing anything?

Craig Mackinlay, a brave British Member of Parliament (MP), suffered from an urgent attack of sepsis which put him in hospital in a life-threatening condition. This is him back at the House of Commons on his return where he enjoyed a long ovation.

It seems that most experts don't know the answer to those questions but today, we have a little bit of enlightenment on the topic because Craig Mackinlay, a brave British Member of Parliament (MP), suffered from an urgent attack of sepsis which put him in hospital in a life-threatening condition.

He was placed in a medical coma for 16 days. When the coma was terminated the surgeons partially amputated all four of his limbs. The sepsis had killed them off completely so they were entirely dead and useless.

He said that he experienced "wonderful" dreams during his 16 day coma. I think this is the first time that I've read in the news media about a first hand experience of a person being placed in a medical coma and thankfully, his experience was pleasant.

I guess there is no certainty that the dreams are going to be wonderful. What if they were terrifying? But perhaps the drugs that induce the coma prompted the wonderful dreams. If that's true then we can perhaps be reasonably confident that patients in hospital in a coma are least experiencing nice dreams.

We can't be sure of that but we know that this man, on this occasion, in a coma, enjoyed wonderful dreams and I think physicians and the experts should tap into this information and store it on their databases.

Below, is some more information about whether people experience dreams when in a coma as provided by Poe an excellent artificial intelligence chatbot with which I've chatted and in fact praised them for their good responses.

Dialogue with AI:

Do you know if people in an induced coma at hospital dream?

That's an interesting question. The topic of dreaming in patients in an induced coma is an area of active research and debate among medical professionals.

Here's a quick summary of what we currently know:

• Patients in an induced coma are in a state of deep unconsciousness, typically induced through the use of sedative medications to allow the body to rest and heal.
• The brain activity of patients in an induced coma is significantly reduced compared to normal waking consciousness.
• There is some evidence that patients in an induced coma may still experience some form of dreaming or dream-like experiences, though the content and nature of these experiences is not well understood.
• The ability to recall or report on dreams while in an induced coma is very limited, as the patient is completely unresponsive.
• Factors like the underlying medical condition, the specific medications used, and the duration of the coma can all influence the potential for dreaming.

Overall, the consensus seems to be that dreaming in an induced coma is possible, but it is a complex and not fully understood phenomenon. More research is needed to shed light on the brain activity and subjective experiences of patients in this state. Let me know if you have any other questions!

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.