A vegetative patient who had been comatose for a long time suddenly shed tears, which made his family members excited. Does this mean that the patient's consciousness is gradually recovering? Will you wake up soon?
Vegetative state is called vegetative state . It is often caused by severe craniocerebral trauma, cardiac and respiratory arrest , stroke and other reasons that cause patients to have consciousness disorders. Most of these patients retain the physiological functions of the human body, such as breathing, blinking, and swallowing on their own, and their pulse, blood pressure, and body temperature are basically normal, but they have no speech, consciousness, or thinking abilities.
So is it normal for vegetative patients to shed tears?
This actually needs to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. Most patients will retain some brainstem function and will yawn. During the yawning process, the facial muscles expand, causing the lacrimal sac to be compressed, which will cause the patient to shed tears.
Another reason is that most vegetative patients can open their eyes voluntarily, but sometimes because the patients will not close their eyes after opening them, and the eyeballs are exposed for too long, the patient will be complicated by conjunctivitis , and the eyeballs will become red, swollen and tearful. Family members of such patients must promptly apply eye drops to the patient to keep the eyeballs moist, pay attention to the patient's eye hygiene, and avoid direct contact with the patient's eyes with their hands.
The last situation is that there is a certain probability that the patient will recover his emotional response. Vegetative patients also have hearing and vision. The main reason that prevents them from reacting to the outside world is consciousness dysfunction. As the treatment progresses, the patient's disorder of consciousness gradually improves, and he can gradually communicate with the outside world, respond to some words from family members, and cry excitedly when seeing familiar people. Some patients can also use eye movements or swallowing reactions to relieve symptoms. When responding to family members, it can be said that the patient has a certain degree of consciousness, but it cannot be said that he has completely recovered consciousness.
When we evaluate patients in a vegetative state, we mainly make judgments through the aspects of body movement, eye movement, hearing, eating, and emotion. The main manifestations of emotion are from severe to light, including no emotional response and sometimes excitement. There are tears, excitement, pain, and more complex responses to emotional language. The highest level is normal emotional response. The closer to leaving the vegetative state, the more complex the patient's emotional response. Therefore, some patients in the vegetative state, Hearing some verbal stimulation will cause symptoms of tears, excitement, and pain.
Vegetative patients may have a long journey to wake up, and it may not be as smooth as their families imagine. However, they must maintain a positive and optimistic attitude, patiently wait for the day when the patient wakes up, and provide daily care for the patient to reduce the burden on the patient. , which will help the patient wake up faster.
