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?

Have your family been in touch with medical professionals about this episode? It's certainly possible she was in a catatonic state for that length of time, this would appear very similar to being unconscious, but it would be due to a mental health condition rather than a head injury. Does she have a mental health diagnosis of any kind?

Although thinking about it, sprinkling water on someone in a catatonic state is pretty unlikely to suddenly reverse it!

Surely she isn't fabricating a broken arm though? There must be some sort of genuine problem.

Is she a drinker OP?

I'm really not seeing her lying unconscious and alone for two days and then suddenly "miraculously" reviving. To be blunt, when found, had she wet or soiled herself?

If not, I strongly suspect she lay down and feigned "unconsciousness" when she heard the noise at the door. Paramedics are familiar with this technique - popular places to go "unconscious" include betting shops, the Jobcentre, and at the till of supermarkets, I'm told - and have a range of (painful) techniques they employ to "bring people round".

Your MIL sounds like she has problems, but I'm not a professional so I don't know which ones. BPD? Severe hypochondria? Munchhausen's?

Is it possible she had a fall or seizure much later on but can't remember what happened before so assumes she has been unconscious that long?

With drink or drugs, perhaps? I've known people lie in a stupor with injuries for long periods. They'd be in a state though, soiled themselves and not "with it".

You'll never know unless you see her medical records, and even then, those are to an extent based on her account. Sadly I think you have to know whether you feel you can continue with her medical issues/dramas, albeit on the fringe while your DH plays lackey. Or whether you need to be away from this all, and perhaps lose your DH in the process.

Sounds tough, Bucket. Sorry you're going through this.

I don't think anyone will never know what really happened during those couple of days, but clearly she is very ill - just not in the way that people think, perhaps. She obviously has quite serious mental health problems that need treating. She may well have physical health issues as well but it's going to be hard to get to the bottom of those when you can't trust her accounts of anything and she obviously has a strong need for attention (I don't mean she's just a drama queen, I mean she has an obsession she can't control).

No drugs or drinks but these incidents also have some sort of physical hurt and they do distract like she had bumped her face into bed once and it was so swollen that everyone believed when she said she had epileptic attack. But after 2 years, she claimed that doctor misdiagnosed her and treated her wrongly. She never had epilepsy. When she is the only witness in these and what is the doctor to do when MRIs come clear. They give her anti depressants and stuff.

For current incident, she is saying she doesn't know, she was going about normally and fell unconscious. Last she remembers is Saturday so she has been out of it until found. I asked my husband about soiling but got a general answer that the kitchen was messy and it was smelly. Both of us were not present but they tend do wrap up such questions with quick snap answers which makes me suspect it. Never get a clear answer then get told that right now we are concentrating on her arm and the surgery. Doctor said it's not possible that she was unconscious for 2 days and psychiatrist will come later for assessment. But it doesn't matter how many psychiatrists they call, they have not been of much help. Good for her that I'm not allowed in these appointments :D

I'm not saying this because I don't like her but I can only think of Fatal attraction movie like it's playing in real life. She self harms a bit so no one pulls her up on other details. But breaking a bone is no joke but then once again not one single report is negative, how to explain.

Was she actually unconscious then when found by her brother and your husband? Was it them that "brought her round with water."?

Her brother found her unconscious, my husband went straight to the hospital. I got a gist that she was given some water and gained consciousness after 2 days. I don't know I can't go into her medical reports neither do I want to sound so nosey. But it's doing my head in the name of science.

Leave her medical mysteries to the medics. It sounds good that the psychiatrist is involved. The brain can quite definitely cause physical symptoms in the absence of any physical disease, it's a recognised problem. So psychological distress can manifest in pain, blindness, seizures and all sorts.

She clearly a troubled woman. I would try to focus on any practical help you and dh can offer and leave the medical side of things to the professionals. I doubt you will unravel this one.

Yes you can be unconscious for two days without brain damage. In combination with waking up because of a sprinkle of water makes me doubt the story though.

I don't think you can be unconscious for two days without your bladder releasing, though. When found, she would likely have smelled pretty bad.

She is clearly a very unwell woman, however you slice it, but OP, I think the best thing for you is probably to distance yourself practically and mentally from this situation as much as you can. I suspect this incident is not what she claimed but trying to get to the actual bottom of it will only drive you madder than a sack of weasels. Practice the art of detaching is my best advice to you.

She would have been severely dehydrated if she had really been there 2 days. Would have wet/soiled herself multiple times.

People dont stay unconscious for no reason, there would be massive brain damage if something had caused unconsciousness and received no treatment for 2 days, or more likely she would be dead.

Honestly i think she deliberately stayed out of contact then faked. Or she has a serious mental health issue.
Small chance it is both, theres a condition called munchousens (sp?) Where people have a mental illness that makes them crave attention and concern so tbey fake illness or deliberately injure themselves in faked accidents. The extremes some go to with how badly they deliberately hurt themselves is frightening.

Just asked my husband again. MIL's brother found her in the kitchen, she had not soiled or wet herself. He sprinkled water on her face, she gained consciousness and then they gave her water to drink. In 15mins, ambulance took her to the hospital. Doctor is saying it is looking like she managed to lock her arm, it doesn't look like broken from a fall. I don't know what that means. There are no other external bruises.

But she obviously didn't break her arm as soon as she heard them breaking in. And I can't imagine the pain from a broken arm to think of anything else, let alone faking unconsciousness and not crying in pain.

Well that's not true then is it . Is she on IV fluids in the hospital .

Yes, on fluids and all sorts and she is getting a steel plate fitted as it's not a fracture. My real worry is that if she is so mentally unwell then this can be passed onto next generations and if I must get out before we have any children. Our lives have been focused around her wellbeing and I'm getting scared now. He is here one day and gone the next morning because MIL is always on death's door.

My real worry is that if she is so mentally unwell then this can be passed onto next generations and if I must get out before we have any children.
Okay, breathe a bit. I think this is an over-extrapolation. She does sound mentally unwell, and your husband sounds quite enmeshed, but I don't think the primary danger here is this illness being passed on to your kids. It doesn't sound like your husband has it, for starters.

I can definitely understand your concern about your husband being bound up in this dysfunctional family dynamic centred around MIL - marriages have ended for less. But I would have some serious chats about it, and see if I could establish/agree boundaries for you and any future kids about staying well away from it all, before I hit the door at a dead run.

This may or may not be solvable, and personally I am far from above saying LTB when I think it's warranted, but I think you could do with taking a step back and just thinking things through before you make any decisions.

Sounds awfully like Munchausens Syndrome.

Tiramisu is talking good sense. From what you've said it sounds like she has trained her relatives to jump whenever she has one of her "episodes" that is where her power lies, and they are too involved to have perspective on the situation. They can't see how they are being manipulated. It sounds more like it has to do with parenting styles (maybe the way MIL was parented and not feeling she could get attention unless she was sick, for instance) than classic mental illness such as bipolar/ schizophrenia. She may have a hold over them as in they believe she had a hard life/ sacrificed herself for them/ had a hellish marriage etc and now they need to repay her. Ideally your husband would have counselling to help him recognise how his mother draws him in and uses his feelings to get what she wants, then he'd get some perspective and not let her manipulate him.Does he say that the situation is stressing him out?

He is frustrated but because she is physically hurt he is not convinced that it is fabricated. I come from an average family where I have not seen so much mania for attention or even such real illnesses for that matter. Worst my parents have is arthritis. These are such unimaginable circumstances - like life and death scenarios every fucking time. If my husband is around, he radiates some magical dust that fixes her undiagnosed illnesses. I'm getting sucked into it just because I'm his wife. I would never not help family in need and so poorly so it is a constant struggle for me. I stay away from most of the drama but when your husband is missing in action in every day life and we go from one crisis to another. I have not had an eventful life and it's not like I'm enjoying it. She might have another 20 years or so to live. But thank you to everyone who has posted.

I have actually dealt with a very similar incident. Was an alcoholic - rowed with family, not seen for 2-3 days, police called and was found on the floor with a broken arm, not fully conscious (not actually unconscious but I'm splitting medical hairs, for all intent and purposes to the medically untrained, you would consider her unconscious). I have no doubt that this person was there for two days. There was skin problems directly due to soiling and lying on floor for so long. Obviously dehydrated and also hypothermic.

So, yes it can happen. I have seen countless similar-ish scenarios - not 2 days but several to many hours - but I would also say that generally drink, drugs, social or mental health issues are involved in these "puzzles".