A vegetative state is similar to a coma but isn't the same. People in a vegetative state have recovered enough that they aren't in a coma, but their brain's abilities and activity are still very limited. The potential for recovery from a vegetative state varies widely.
If a patient is comatose for several weeks, which rarely happens, he or she is considered to be in a persistent vegetative state, which can become permanent. Patients may remain in this state for decades if all medical complications are treated aggressively.
The word coma usually refers to the state in which a person appears to be asleep but cannot be awakened. Persistent vegetative state refers to another form of altered consciousness in which the person appears to be awake but does not respond meaningfully to the outside world.
Some people recover from a vegetative state, but it is usually not a complete recovery. The brain damage will likely result in permanent disabilities. Recovery is most likely if the cause of the vegetative state is an injury or a reversible condition such as low blood sugar or a drug overdose.
The difference between brain death and a vegetative state (a disorder of consciousness), which can happen after extensive brain damage, is that it's possible to recover from a vegetative state, but brain death is permanent.
Such persons may be able to communicate with, for example, eye blinking. Life expectancy in the persistent VS. Early research8 suggested that life expectancy in this condition was 2-5 years, with survival for 10 years being uncommon.
Generally, adults have about a 50 percent chance and children a 60 percent chance of recovering consciousness from VS/UWS within the first 6 months in the case of traumatic brain injury. For non-traumatic injuries such as strokes, the recovery rate falls within the first year.
The vegetative stage can last for weeks or even months. It ends when plants begin the transition to budding, whether because they have reached their mature size or because the conditions have triggered the start of reproduction.
Other studies have shown that up to 20 percent of patients in various vegetative states can hear and respond on at least some level. But at least some of the responses seen could be dismissed as simple reflexes, or at best akin to someone in a dream state responding to stimuli.
Summary: Patients in a vegetative state do not respond to what is happening around them and exhibit no signs of conscious awareness. Now research has shown that the brains of patients in a vegetative state emotionally react to photographs of people they know personally as though they recognize them.
People in a vegetative state go to sleep and awaken regularly, and their eyes open and move, but typically, they have lost all capacity for thought and conscious behavior.
Thus some patients can regain awareness after more than four months in a vegetative state, and, although few reach full independence, most can achieve an improved quality of life within the limitations of their disabilities. The recovery period is prolonged and may continue for several years.
Patients in vegetative state do not have emotions, because they do not have consciousness.
Patients in the vegetative state are said to be unaware and to lack the cortical capacity to feel pain (Multi-Society Task Force on PVS, 1994).
Typically, a coma does not last more than a few days or couple of weeks. In some rare cases, a person might stay in a coma for several weeks, months or even years. Depending on what caused the person to go into a coma, some patients are able to return to their normal lives after leaving the hospital.
The persistent vegetative state was initially described nearly 50 years ago by Bryan Jennett and Fred Plum as “the absence of any adaptive response to the external environment [and] the absence of any evidence of a functioning mind … in a patient who has long periods of wakefulness.” It is estimated to affect 10,000 to ...
Severe brain injury is usually defined as being a condition where the patient has been in an unconscious state for 6 hours or more, or a post-traumatic amnesia of 24 hours or more. These patients are likely to be hospitalised and receive rehabilitation once the acute phase has passed.
Duration of coma
The longer a patient remains in a coma the poorer his or her chance of recovery and the greater the chance that he or she will enter a vegetative state (table 3). By the third day the chance of making a moderate or good recovery is reduced to only 7%, and by the 14th day is as low as 2%.
Patients in a vegetative state show no evidence of awareness of self or environment and cannot interact with other people. Purposeful responses to external stimuli are absent, as are language comprehension and expression.
So, the veg stage is when growers determine if plants are female or male, discarding any males that pop up immediately to avoid pollination. Typically, plants will show their sex around the 6-week mark for reference. All in all, the veg cannabis growth stage typically lasts anywhere from 4-8 weeks.
The exact number of days required to reach full maturity varies according to different plants or strains, growing environments, and inputs. Cannabis plants typically reach the vegetative stage 3-4 weeks into its life cycle and can last up to 16 weeks. Plants tend to be quite fragile during the vegetative state.
Here's what to look for when planning to remove fan leaves during veg: Leaves at the bottom of the plant that receive little light can be pruned. Cannabis fan leaves that create shadows over budding sites should be pruned to increase light penetration throughout the canopy, rather than just the tops.
While each condition has its own symptoms, those in a vegetative state have no awareness of the world around them while patients with locked in syndrome are aware of their surroundings, cognitively intact, and can interact with others using eye motions.