Probably a very stupid question but I can’t wrap my head around it. For instance if someone had head trauma, why can they not wake up after a few days or so? What is it that keeps them unconscious for such a duration of time with nothing to wake them?
Edit: i’m confused why this got so many upvotes but thanks😁
In: 5318
Well,depends on the cause but I’m gonna explain the most frequent causes:
1.basically a cerebral trauma (someone falling on his head)/a brain tumor/other brain lesions that are extensive and/or alter important brain parts that have the role of assuring awake* state=> various degrees of comatose state
*for example, there are specific brain parts that controle how awake you are,how asleep you are, just by sending stimulating/inhibitory signals to other parts of the brain that assure thinking/sight/hearing/etc.
2.Otherwise after a shock sustained by the body that alters its capacity to function and to deliver oxygenated blood to the brain ( polytrauma etc) the brain goes into “protective” mode :
inhibitory signals get sent more than stimulating ones and thus the brain reduces its activity and its oxygen consumption until the body recovers.
3. some toxic waste products/drugs alter the brain neurochemistry upping the production of inhibitory neurotransmitters.
*In medicine,we sometimes give patients drugs that induce a neuroinhibitory response (coma) to protect the patient until the body heals to a certain degree (we call this induced coma).For example we may induce the coma in order to intubate a patient and replace the respiratory function.
It all boils down to sending messages to other neurons that they either need to be working harder (stimulatory), or they either need to tone it down (inhibitory) or damaging the very parts that usually send those messages.
Hope this helps,
Cheers!
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