People who woke up from a coma reveal exactly what they experienced while unconscious: ‘I was trying to scream… but I couldn’t make a sound’

Falling into a coma might sound like the ultimate way to catch up on sleep—but survivors have revealed it’s anything but restful.

Dozens of people who have woken from comas shared their experiences on Threads, Instagram’s text-based app, after one user asked: ‘People who have been in [a] coma, how was it?’

The post quickly went viral, attracting nearly 25,000 likes and more than 3,000 comments. 

Not one described the experience as ‘relaxing’ or ‘restful’—instead, many said it was surreal, disturbing or terrifying.

One user who had spent four weeks in a medically induced coma claimed that she ‘went to so many different places, different timelines. Visited the Dalai Llama [sic] and Mother Theresa.

‘Was in a plane crash over the ocean. Was jettisoned out in space. I was seriously challenged spiritually by someone or something. But I persevered.

‘It felt like a never ending bizarre dream but real. But I made it.’

Another user described an altogether bleaker experience: ‘It was nothing. One minute I was there, being prepped for emergency surgery, the next I was in a totally different month, waking up to being on life support and listening to the machines that had been keeping me alive.’

A third commenter revealed: ‘I had lots of crazy ass vivid dreams. Including that my husband was murdered.

‘When I woke up I was intubated and unable to speak so I couldn’t ask if it was true so I just believed it.

‘He came in to visit me one night and I legit thought it was his ghost. I freaked out so bad and they didn’t know why.’

A nurse posted an anecdote about a former patient which tapped into the alternative timeline theme.

‘She had cancer and a stem cell transplant, went into a coma for about a month and told me about this whole other life she lived while in the coma.

‘Described a Caribbean type island, all the people she met. It was wild,’ she posted.

Other Threads users highlighted the pitfalls of being out of action for months; the brakes might have been put on your life, but the demands and pressures of the real world have not abated.

One described their experience as ‘Stressful as f**k once you wake up tbh especially if you don’t have the right support system. You wake up to bad credit, overdue bills, rent is due and most of your friends have moved on. It sucks.’

Another shared how the coma totally derailed their life, and had serious medical repercussions.

‘The coma itself felt weightless. I was intubated for eight days and the first six days I have no recollection or memories,’ wrote one user.

‘The last two days felt surreal, my body was starting to wake itself up. I could hear the nurses talking, all the music played above my room, I even started getting strange dreams of looking down over myself.

‘The recovery was harsh—I forgot my name entirely, had to learn how to talk again, walk again. Temporary dementia and permanent body damage, nine years later I’m fully disabled.’

Many people claim they could hear their loved ones talking to or praying for them and the chatter of medical staff, and they desperately wanted to communicate but were unable to.

One of the most harrowing accounts read: ‘The only thing I remember is I heard the nurses tell my mom that I couldn’t hear her and I was trying to tell her I could.

‘I was trying to scream but I realised that I physically couldn’t and freaked out.

‘It was like mentally being aware but in a physically dead body. Super weird. As soon as I woke up I told my mom that I could hear her every day she came in the room.’

However, arguably the most unsettling accounts of being in a coma were the ones from people who didn’t even realise they were in a coma—in their minds they were living life as usual.

One person warned: ‘You know the crazy part? You could actually be in coma right now and not know it, thinking you’re living the life while being in coma in real life.’

‘My Lyft driver was in a coma for four months she said it’s like she was living her day to day life she had no clue she was in a coma,’ said another.

The NHS defines a coma as a ‘state of unconsciousness where a person is unresponsive and cannot be woken.’

Someone who is in a coma is unconscious and has minimal brain activity, and sometimes they are unable to breathe or swallow without mechanical assistance.

The NHS guidance continues: ‘They’re alive, but cannot be woken up and show no signs of being aware.

‘The person’s eyes may be closed, and they’ll appear to be unresponsive to their environment.

‘They may not respond to sound or pain, or be able to communicate or move voluntarily.’

People can end up in a coma due to a brain injury caused by a severe head injury or stroke, and there are other conditions which can cause a coma. 

One type of coma, an ‘induced coma’, is when doctors administer anaesthetic to keep someone unconscious, usually while they are in an intensive care unit (ICU). 

A coma can last for an indeterminate period of time, from days to months—sometimes even years. 

People may either gradually regain consciousness and awareness, or tragically, never wake up at all.