Coma = a state of extreme unpresonsiveness; there is no voluntary movement and in deep comas, there is no response to painful stimuli.
Human consciousness can be thought of a spectrum with fully awake and alert at one end and death at the other. Other forms of altered consciousness on this spectrum? Confusion, drowsiness, stupor and coma.
Some people can be comas for years. It is very rare that someone in a coma for that long will wake up, but here's a remarkable story. Patricia White Bull slipped into a coma while giving birth to her son Mark via C-section in 1983. She woke up, quite suddenly, on Christmas Eve 1999. That's sixteen years later. Her youngest was in high school, her family had moved and her husband had divorced her. However, he said he's willing to get back together if she is.
About Comas: http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/coma
Patricia White Bull's Story: http://www.canadafreepress.com/2000/0002.htm
Patricia White Bull's Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/591847.stm
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