Thanks to Dallas for bringing these items from BBC|Health to my attention:


 1)  'I felt trapped inside my body'

      -- a woman who was diagnosed as being in a vegetative state for six
months reports wondering what had happened to her, being aware of the
content of photos shown to her & of what others were saying to her, and
feeling frustrated because she was unable to communicate.  The topic is of
interest to me because I've read about people who heard what was said in
the operating room during surgery, while they were supposedly
unconscious... and I had a somewhat similar experience when I was in the
recovery room after surgery.  I heard the nurse ask another patient what
her name was & what day it was, and I heard her answers.  I had been
told I could see Dallas when I asked for him.  But from my point of view it
seemed that I asked for him repeatedly & everybody ignored me!  I guess
my brain was working & my mouth wasn't.  I also noticed similar
occurrences at Sunny Hill.  Some kids had been in a coma for a long time
because of severe brain injuries... typically caused by motor vehicle
accidents.  One of them was a six-year-old boy who often made unhappy
noises but calmed down when Nora held his hand & spoke to him.  One was
a twelve-year-old boy who puckered his lips when his mother said "Give
Mommy a kiss."  And another was a young woman who seemed so
unresponsive I couldn't be sure whether she was awake or asleep until she
heard... via the PA system at the aquarium... that she had won a door
prize.  She grinned from ear to ear....  :-)


 2)  Voices in the head 'are normal'

      -- Dutch findings suggest one in twenty-five people regularly hears
voices in their head.  Because such voices are generally regarded as
symptoms of mental illness the content & meaning are rarely discussed. 
What seems to matter is how one interprets them, however.  This doesn't
come as a great surprise to me.  But it might be validating for other folks
who have had similar experiences....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+