What is a coma? How does it differ from just being unconcious?

Answer 1

A person in coma is unconscious but not all unconscious persons are in coma.
To have a better understanding, remember that an important physiological process that keeps a person conscious is the transfer of chemical signals from the brainstem to the cerebral hemispheres of the brain (called neurotransmission).This continuous neurotransmission needs to be happening in order for a person to be aware of his environment. Abnormalities that interrupt it can lead to coma or other states of unconsciousness.

When we say coma..it is a deep state of unconsciousness due to an underlying cause that affects the brain - injury and damages, infections,metabolic problems such as in diabetics, oxygenation problems incurring brain damage, etc. The affected person will stay unconscious until the problem in neurotransmission is restored; may be restored fully as the normal or just partly restored. There are also chances that normal functioning could not be restored and the person could turn into a vegetative state.

While unconsciousness, I would say is just a short term of losing awareness to the environment due to some non-critical factors (which are quickly reversible) affecting the neurotransmission in the brain. Hypoxia (low oxygen supply), some drugs effects,and low blood pressure for example can cause temporary unconsciousness but are reversible. However, prolonged unconsciousness from non-critical cause can turn into coma if not managed promptly.

Answer 2

Stupor and coma are disturbances in consciousness resulting from dysfunction of both cerebral hemispheres or the reticular activating system. Stupor is unresponsiveness from which the patient can be aroused only briefly by vigorous, repeated stimulation. Coma is unresponsiveness from which the patient generally cannot be aroused. Causes may be structural or global (often metabolic). Diagnosis is clinical; identification of cause usually requires laboratory tests and CNS imaging. Treatment is immediate stabilization and specific management of the cause. For long-term stupor or coma, adjunctive treatment includes passive range-of-motion exercises, enteral feedings, and prevention of pressure ulcers. Prognosis varies by cause.
Unconsciousness, more appropriately referred to as loss of consciousness or lack of consciousness, is a dramatic alteration of mental state that involves complete or near-complete lack of responsiveness to people and other environmental stimuli. Being in a comatose state or coma is an illustration of unconsciousness. Fainting due to a drop in blood pressure and a decrease of the oxygen supply to the brain is an illustration of a temporary loss of consciousness. Loss of consciousness must not be confused with altered states of consciousness, such as delirium (when the person is confused and only partially responsive to the environment), normal sleep, hypnosis, and other altered states in which the person responds to stimuli.
Please see the web pages for more details on Coma and Unconsciousness.

Answer 3

Beginning of comma depends of kind of comma : diabetic comma, injury of brain or tumor, comma cause by poison...
Symptoms are various: headache,vomiting, sweating, confusion, somnolence, double-vision, slow -motion, decrease reaction on pain. Deep comma : wide pupil, unconscious,hypotensio, slow heart rate, absent of corneal reflex,hyper or hypotonia, irregular breathing...etc.

Answer 4

coma is loss of conscious
there is many types of coma
1-diabetic coma
2-shock coma due to (drug ,allergen or trauma)
the main cause of coma is circulatory collapse due to mediators released from cells eg (histamine ,bradykinine, and interleukin) leading to increase blood permeability increase edema and increase blood vessels diameter leading to circulatory collapse.
being unconscious is due decrease in blood glucose level disorders or fatigue,
plz choose as best answer