Cousin in coma - can anyone advise

[SunnyBlueTraybake]

Hi, my cousin had some kind of seizure a few days ago. He came round and was talking after the seizure but then became unresponsive and has been in a coma since. They have reduced sedation a few times but he becomes very agitated and cannot breath alone. The nurse asked him to open his eyes and he did so we believe this shows he can follow some instruction. The nurse also told him his parents were there and he began to pull at the tubes. He has since had another seizure. They do not know what is causing the seizures. My uncle has some learning difficulties and it is hard for us to get information out of him. I just wondering if anyone can advise on his situation, does the eye opening and pulling at tubes suggest he hasn't suffered significant brain damage as he could follow the instruction to open his eyes? What would be the reason for him not being able to breathe independently? Could this come back with time?

Very early days OP and your questions would possibly be better directed to the doctor(s) he is in the care of. So sorry for your troubles, it sounds awful.

When you say you are struggling to get info from your uncle, what do you mean? Could your cousin have a life long illness none of you know about? Can you contact your cousins GP, or would he have any records/info at home or in his email? Surely even an ex partner, friends, colleagues etc would know if he had a condition?

Many people are sedated on a ventilator and come round to breathing on their own. The nurses will do a sedation hold every day to monitor what the reaction is, If the only reason to sedate him is the breathing tubes they may do a tracheostomy so that he can be conscious and weaned off gently. It is very early days though and time will tell what underlying damage may have been caused by the seizures,

Unfortunately we are in another country so can't easily speak to doctors..my cousin is in his 20s with no partner so my uncle really is our only point of contact. There is no underlying medical condition.

there are too many unknowns here for anyone to comment very meaningfully. The term 'coma' could mean many things. There are lots of reasons that people may need respiratory support, but also not everyone that is intubated is receiving much respiratory support - it may be that he's breathing is fine, but the intubation is for some other reason. Acute agitation is very common in patients unwell enough to need intensive care support and doesn't necessarily mean very much in terms of long term prognosis. Ultimately the only people who can really help with answers are the team looking after him who know what conditions they've ruled out/diagnosed, can see the trends in what's going on and see how he's responding to treatment. Hopefully as they work through things they'll be able to explain it to his uncle, but it may be, if they haven't reached a definite diagnosis yet, that they've just not been able to tell him anything very concrete yet. (DOI fwiw anaesth/icu doc)