'I was in a coma for two weeks - I was screaming in my head but couldn't wake up'

Thousands of people spend time in a coma every year in the UK. Some sadly pass away before regaining consciousness but others wake up, some back to full health but others needing life-long care.

But what is it like to be in a coma?That question was asked onInstagram'stext-based app Threads prompting dozens to share their experiences. Obasi quizzed fellow users of the app: "People who have been in [a] coma, how was it?"

More than 3,000 people commented on the post - both those who had experience of it or knew someone else who had and also from people keen to know the answer. It saw the post quickly going viral, attracting nearly 25,000 likes and more than 3,000 comments.

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People told of four different types of experience. Some felt nothing but others had either peaceful or terrifying memories of their time.

'I was mentally aware but in a physically dead body'

Some people said they could remember little or nothing. Cece said: "I had nothing. The only thing I remember is I heard the nurses tell my mom that I couldn’t hear her and I was trying to tell her I could. I was trying to scream but I realized that i physically couldn’t and freaked out.

"It was like mentally being aware but in a physically dead body. Super weird. As soon as I woke up I told my mom that I could hear her every day she came in the room."

Josh said: "The coma isn't so bad; it's the slow waking up, vivid dreams, hallucinations, and the INTENSE recovery process that are brutal. Not to mention the PTSD from coming to consciousness with a tube down your throat and arms strapped to a hospital bed (so you don't pull the tube out), and, in the moment, having no idea why."

Josephine said: "I was in a coma then induced coma from a car accident. TBI. I do not remember a thing but I can tell you when I woke up I was confused and angry, wanted to go back to it. So restful."

Joyce said: "Back in 2018, I was in a coma for 3 days. When I woke up, all I could remember was darkness no sounds, no shapes, nothing. Just an endless black void.

"My family and friends didn’t even know where I was during that time, so nobody could visit me. I think I spent those 3 days completely alone, surrounded by nothing but pitch black. And even after waking up, my memory didn’t return right away it was like a whole week had been erased before my mind slowly started catching up again."

Anne said: "I was in a coma for 2 weeks. It just felt like I was sleeping. In the beginning, I could hear everything, but I couldn’t open my eyes. I still clearly remember my dad asking the doctors, “Did she pass away? Doc, please tell me she’s still alive.”

"And I was screaming in my head, 'Dad, I’m here, I can hear you. I’m not dead!' My family told me that I would cry whenever someone cried beside me, even though my eyes were closed and I couldn’t wake up."

Sadly complete recovery didn't always happen. Shay said: "The coma itself felt weightless. I was intubated for 8 days and the first 6 days I have no recollection or memories. The last 2 days felt surreal, my body was starting to wake itself up. I could hear the nurses talking, all the music played above my room, I even started getting strange dreams of looking down over myself.

"The recovery was harsh- I forgot my name entirely, had to learn how to talk again, walk again. Temporary dementia and permanent body damage, 9 years later I’m fully disabled."

Vivid dreams and deep peace

For some their time was packed with vivid dreams including plane crashes, out of body experiences and meeting dead relatives. Jon said: "Four weeks in a medically induced coma. I went to so many different places, different timelines. Visited the Dalai Llama and Mother Theresa. Was in a plane crash over the ocean. Was jettisoned out in space. I was seriously challenged spiritually by someone or something. But I persevered. It felt like a never ending bizarre dream but real. But I made it. Eight years later and I still remember a lot of it. Unlike dreams where I forget them as soon as I wake up. But “the other side” it’s all true."

Jennifer said it was "weird". She said: "I felt like I was trapped in my dreams. I was only in that state for two days, but it felt like FOREVER. I saw family; disjointed memories; I “heard” music…sporadically. So sometimes it was peaceful, and sometimes it was “noisy.” But it was like…I was having an out-of-body experience that seemed endless."

Saysha said: "My mom said for a moment she was in a place that she could only describe as heaven. It was so bright and peaceful. She also said it was the best rest ever she got in her life."

Sandi said: "I was in a coma for a week and had vivid and never ending dreams of being in hospitals and and even a big old mansion in different countries. I was bedridden in most of them so was observing all the crazy stuff happening around me.

"I also had hallucinations within these dreams (if that makes sense!). When I woke up I could barely communicate and was still hallucinating a lot for a couple of days. 5 years later and I can still vividly remember the dreams, it was crazy."

And some say they met with God or other spiritual beings during their time. Sandy said: "I definitely remember it along with seeing a man in a tunic asking me what I wanted to do. Stay or go."

Daj said: "Man while in my coma it was like I was in a portal between life n death….i was stuck between the two, I wanted to just go but something would always keep me from actually dying…I was like I was put in a video game and had to go through so much to win the game which was living…but I would say GOD is truly real cus man."

Tionne said: "When I was in a coma I spoke to my best friend that sadly past away. I was in a different world. Much more spiritual & understanding."

Terrifying memories

Others said their whole experience was "terrifying". Playgirlreese said: "As a person who was in a coma for a whole month and intubated. I was in the icu the entire time. I saw souls leaving in terror, all while hearing their monitors go off signifying death. I saw all this, but all glory to God, I wasn’t scared. I was seeing it all happen around me. I saw Salvador Dali’s “the persistence of memory” (I found out its name and meaning after waking up) which I had never seen before & I also seen “the scream” by Edvard Munch! Both paintings I’d never shown interest in.

"Meanwhile I’m in the icu with trauma patients.. I Seen ppl screaming in terror as they exited their lives, it’s like I was seeing them but they didn’t see me, I seen ppl peacefully walk out of their lives and drop into what appeared to be dust mid stride as they walked into oblivion.. waking up intubated is the scariest part!!! Literally feels like choking to death while ppl grabbing your hands telling you to calm down!!

"Woke up petrified of flies!!! Literally of all things flies scared the heck outta me!! Woke up not knowing I had had a baby. Woke up and thought I could walk but my body was soo disoriented and weak and felt soo heavy!! I was telling my sister things that happened while I was in a coma, I was just eavesdropping on their conversations while unconscious. God is soo good!!"

Morgan said: "I dreamed that I was in my friend’s basement and they were doing medical experiments on me, and there were spiders hanging from the ceiling, and I could hear the doctors and my family occasionally."

Candice wrote how they had vivid dreams while in a coma for three weeks including one that her husband was murdered. She said: "When I woke up I was intubated and unable to speak so I couldn’t ask if it was true so I just believed it. He came in to visit me one night and I legit thought it was his ghost. I freaked out so bad and they didn’t know why."

Kyle said: "I felt like I experienced different dimensions. It was extremely frightening, though not in a normal sense. Very hard to explain, but part of me thinks I went to hell and back, based on that primal fear alone. Life-changing, 0/10 would not recommend. Definitely helped change my perspective on life, though."

Michael said his experience was "the worst 5 weeks of my life". He added: Endless nightmares on and on and on. I was played. I was suffocated. I was imprisoned. I was stabbed. I was in horrific car crashes and chased by terrorists.

"It went on for years to me. I am not in the least religious but when I was awakened 1) it looks me days to convince myself it didn't happen, 2) the nightmares continued for years when I slept. 3) I thought maybe I had been in some sort of purgatory."

Merinda also had a bad time. She said: "I was in a medically induced coma for a few days. I had a series of extremely vivid “dreams” I guess. One I was in a different timeline, still with an ex. One was a reoccurring dream, it KEPT repeating where my current boyfriend got ran over by a car while road cycling. Then another, I was on a train and tied up/kidnapped by this evil woman. This is when I started to gain some sort of consciousness and was cussing out the nurses and yelling at them thinking they had kidnapped me."

According to latest figures it is hard to be 100% sure of how many people spend time in a coma but it is thought to be about 9,000 new cases in the UK every year. According to NHS inform a coma is a state of unconsciousness where a person is unresponsive and cannot be woken.

It can result from injury to the brain, like a severe head injury or stroke. There are also a range of conditions that can cause a coma. Sometime people may be placed into an "induced coma" coma while in the intensive care unit (ICU) as part of their treatment.

Someone who’s in a coma is unconscious and has minimal brain activity. They’re alive, but cannot be woken up and show no signs of being aware.

The person’s eyes may be closed, and they’ll appear to be unresponsive to their environment. They may not respond to sound or pain, or be able to communicate or move voluntarily.

Someone in a coma may also have very reduced basic reflexes, like coughing and swallowing. They may be able to breathe on their own, although some people require a machine (a ventilator), and a breathing tube to keep their airway open.

Over time, someone in a coma may start to gradually regain consciousness and become more aware. Some people will wake up – the length of time a person spends in a coma can vary from days to months. Other patients may never regain consciousness and wake up.