Why would you induce a coma for pneumonia?

Inducing a coma allows the brain to rest. It decreases the brain’s electrical activity and metabolic rate. Ultimately, this state helps decrease brain swelling and protects the brain from further damage.

How long does it take to wake up from medically induced coma?

Normally a patient in a medically induced coma would wake up over the course of a day. Some COVID patients are taking nearly a week to wake up.

How long do you stay on a ventilator for pneumonia?

Some people may need to be on a ventilator for a few hours, while others may require one, two, or three weeks. If a person needs to be on a ventilator for a longer period of time, a tracheostomy may be required. During this procedure, a surgeon makes a hole in the front of the neck and inserts a tube into the trachea.

How long can a person stay in an induced coma?

In most cases, a coma is induced for a few days up to two weeks; induced comas longer than a month are extremely rare. “It’s very much dependent on the individual circumstances,” Souter said. Like most medical procedures, an induced coma carries some risks.

How long can someone stay in an induced coma?

How do you come out of an induced coma?

To induce the coma, doctors administer a cocktail of substances, including general anesthetic drugs, to patients in carefully controlled environments. The idea behind the treatment is to curtail the body’s natural triage mechanism, which would otherwise shut off blood flow to injured areas.

What are some reasons for an induced coma?

Reasons for a Drug-Induced Coma. According to the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the most common uses of drug-induced comas involve the presence of serious brain injuries, but other causes include drug overdoses and strokes. Such incidents can often cause a person’s brain to swell, which can be extremely dangerous to the organ itself.

What are the side effects of an induced coma?

A side effect of a drug-induced coma can be the onset of vivid nightmares. This could be the result of some exterior stimulation, as some patients can sense some things from the outside world while in the coma state.

How long does it take to wake up after an induced coma?

According to the National Institutes of Health, it is uncommon for comas to exceed 2 to 4 weeks. However, there is no limit to how long a coma may last under certain conditions. Some patients have remained in a coma for decades.