To ask how long someone can be unconscious for?

[BucketOil]

Hi,

Is it possible for someone to be unconscious for about 2 days without any brain damage showing in CT scan or MRIs and come back to consciousness after giving some water to drink and sprinkled on face immediately when found?

YABU ask a medical expert

Is this something that someone has claimed has happened in real life, OP? Or are you thinking up a fictional scenario and want to know if it would be plausible?

I think maybe a bit more context is needed.

I can't imagine a scenario where someone would be unconscious for 2 days and then revived by having water tipped on them , sounds more like a very short fainting episode .

No. No it's not possible.

I would imagine not.

Could the person have been in a coma?

I very much doubt it. Sounds like one of my BILs tall tales.

not enough information for an answer. Medical background, ongoing issues, medication , investigatons, age etc. Level of unconsciousness/coma. Bear in mind the water part may be purely coincidental. Impossible to answer going by your post,

There is something about this post that implies the OP thinks someone is telling a tall tale. Best to just be honest about it from the off OP!

Well I suspect MIL with BPD with self harm tendencies and have pointed that out but I'm being the black sheep of the family. Everyone has covered up all other seizures for diseases that were later claimed to be misdiagnosed. But those were grey waters. I don't see how this is medically possible. She has broken a bone in this episode so the argument is why would she do that to herself. This is the biggest blow so far. I have been kept outside the circle but it is affecting me too as our family life is turned upside down and random things has been going on for years. Don't want a MIL bashing thread but even genuine questions go silent because it is called an 'investigation' in a negative way. I don't know if this is genuine but my brain can no longer accept this and pretend to be part of this. I can't stay sane as I'm finding it hard to cope with the cover ups from all other adults and relatives. Like I'm living in some other world than them.

Please be kind, I feel like I married into a crazy house and going insane.

Well you wouldn't give an unconscious person water to drink as they wouldn't be able to drink it!

OK, so perhaps she had a fall and was immobile until found would be plausible. Not unconscious.

Just don't engage. Let it wash over you. You don't need to respond or get involved. Just make non committal 'hmm, how awful. Gosh that sounds grim. Oh dear' type noises.

I'd say if you believe she is Bi-polar, could she have been in a catatonic state rather then unconscious? Being unconscious for 2 days is possible, being able to drink water to be 'woken' is physically impossible 🙈

Well she could have broken her bones if she fell during a seizure , has she had an EEG ?

Was she unconscious because she was having a seizure ? My neice was unconscious for a couple of hours while docs tried to get her out of a seizure - she has suffered some quite marked brain damage.

Perfectly possible to break a bone during a seizure.

How is it affecting you OP, you haven't actually said. Is it more of a 'come over right now you are needed' thing or something else?

I have known people who have medical emergencies when they feel they need attention. It is unclear whether they know they are doing it for this reason (attention) or whether they do really think that they have a serious medical problem. Either way, it's tricky to resolve!

I'd say if you believe she is Bi-polar

I would assume the OP is referring to borderline personality disorder rather than bipolar disorder.

As a pp said, if she was genuinely unconscious she wouldn't be able to drink. Sprinkling water in her face would only work if she was coming round anyway. It sounds like there is a long back history there. Certainly families can all work together to hide a diagnosis or prop up someone's outrageous behaviour. Would it be worth posting in Relationships?

There is so much history of her showing symptoms of depression, anxiety, blood pressure and even epilepsy. Something happens to her that she gets admitted to hospital, full on family drama but then she later on declares treatment ineffective because she was misdiagnosed after an year or so of receiving treatment and I hear another new illness comes up after every episode. Every seizure or whatever she has had so far was muddy but this clearly can't be true. You either faint, unconscious for a few minutes/hours but surely 2 days would be termed as coma and you can't be woken up by pinching/poking/water. And then again, no brain damage visible after one scare after another in the last 7-8 years. Like no trace whatsoever? I just couldn't find online that someone was unconscious for 2 days. My husband becomes her personal caretaker while she gets better and because I try to stay away from this, I have mixed feelings how to react. The whole scare of her going missing for 2 days was really scary. Like what if she is kidnapped and all sorts of horrible possibilities were coming to mind. I just see her every episode getting more dramatic the more he and his family prop her up. It will end up badly. From my past experience, this will the focal point of all discussions until next time. I just wanted to know if someone has known to be unconscious for that long and woke up with no medical intervention when found.

Ah, so she was missing for two days, and claims to have been unconscious somewhere. That does sound fishy.

I think if her family want to believe it, there isn't much you can do except support DH.

She may believe it herself- she could have really complex MH issues.

In brief. It's bullshit.

She lives alone. Her brother called saying she is not answering her door or taken the newspaper, lights are off. MIL informs my husband about her whereabouts but she was not found at any of her friends too. She was unreachable for 3 days but had been unconscious from Saturday afternoon to Monday afternoon at home.

So they broke the front door on Monday afternoon and found her lying unconscious in the kitchen. Story after that isn't clear because she had a broken arm and that has become the priority. We all were dying of the worry. This is just off the scale and still nothing has come back from medical tests.

How old is she?