Drug Induced Comas and Physical/Mental Therapy afterwards
Fri, 05/29/2009 - 22:13
I'm attempting to write a novel an I'm hoping someone here might know a bit more than me about how long it takes to regain the use of your limbs after three years in a coma. What type of physical/mental therapist would be suggested by the doctor? For how long? And how exactly is a coma induced? Does the doctor have to keep feeding drugs to keep the patient in a coma, or does the patient stay in the coma once the drug is administered? [The patient doesn't remember the crash and is 'suffering' from memory repression.]
Thanks in advance.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
-Jimmy
Three years! I couldn't say, but I'll tell you my experience and maybe you can build off of it.
I was out for about 3 weeks, lying down for 6. Then I was in a wheelchair and went to rehab, it took about 3 weeks until I could get around on my own, for short distances, with a walker. That was working with a Physiotherapist, and is about half the time normally expected to recover to that point. If your character is older it will take even longer, because I'm young and spry
The Occupational Therapist had me doing lots of strength exercises with my hands and arms and also worked on my fine motor skills with things like crafts. Oh they got me to play Wii sports, too
There was also a Vocational Therapist, (work/school) a Speech Therapist, (for speech as well as the whole swallowing thing, when you're fed though a for tube that long your gag reflex doesn't work anymore...insert dirty joke here...)and a general counselor for whatever you feel the need to blab about.
Hope that gives you some insight!
oh also they will have horrible balance and probably experience vertigo.