Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler woke from a ‘medically induced coma.’ What does it mean?
Bonnie Tyler was placed in a medically induced coma following emergency surgery. Northeastern experts explain.
“Total Eclipse of the Heart” singer Bonnie Tyler woke up from a month-long, medically induced coma this week.
What does that mean?
While little has been disclosed about the circumstances of the 75-year-old Welsh singer’s condition and treatment, Northeastern experts explained generally what a medically induced coma is, how one wakes up from it and what the side effects can be.
According to updates posted on her official website, on May 6, Tyler was admitted to a hospital in Faro, Portugal, for emergency intestinal surgery. While the surgery went well, her team announced that two days later, she was placed in an induced coma “to aid her recovery.”
On Monday, her team announced that Tyler was no longer in a coma “but remains very unwell and in intensive care.”
“Her doctors remain confident that she will make a good recovery but it is going to take time,” the update said.
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What is a medically induced coma?
“A medically induced coma is a controlled state of intentional unconsciousness brought on by sedative medications,” said Glenna Regan, director of Didactic Education at Northeastern.
It’s a colloquial term that “sounds dramatic” but typically refers to a deep level of sedation, noted Stephen Wood, director of Northeastern’s Adult/Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program.
A patient can be placed under varying levels of sedation depending on their condition and needs. Light sedation can be used for comfort or minor procedures, where someone can take their own breaths, squeeze fingers or blink their eyes in response.
Deep sedation is “a step beyond that,” Wood said. Medical professionals monitor deep sedation through the suppression of burst patterns using an EEG, or electroencephalogram, which measures electrical activity in the brain.
Unlike a coma brought on by traumatic brain injury, stroke or other medical issue, a medically induced coma is “completely intentional and it’s reversible,” Regan said.
Different medications can be used for anesthesia, such as propofol, ketamine or phenobarbital, Wood said.
Why are people placed in medically induced comas?
There are a variety of reasons why people are placed in medically induced comas, Wood said. This deep sedation can be used for a patient’s comfort or pain management, like when they need to be placed on a ventilator, to protect their brain during a critical illness or to stabilize them following a medical procedure so they don’t move around.
Medical professionals use deep sedation to stop status epilepticus, which is when the brain is seizing continuously. Another use is for ARDS, or acute respiratory distress syndrome, when a person’s lungs are inflamed and filled with fluid, and need to heal under deep sedation.
How does someone wake up from a medically induced coma?
“Waking up” from a medically induced coma, Wood said, means that medical professionals slowly wean a patient off of anesthesia.
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What is the recovery process like after waking from a medically induced coma?
Recovery from a medically induced coma can vary, setting aside any other medical issues that a patient is recovering from.
“We put people in a medically induced coma because of some sort of life-threatening situation, and it helps them survive that acute illness or trauma, but it does carry these long-term risks,” Regan said.
A patient can get confused and disoriented after being sedated for days or weeks, with the potential for developing “post-ICU syndrome.” Those symptoms can also include depression, memory gaps and PTSD. Additionally, a person’s muscles can also become “extremely weak” while under deep sedation, Wood said.
“Medications in and of themselves have a number of complications,” Wood said. Anesthetics may not affect the brain directly, but they can accumulate in the brain and can take “a long time to ‘wash out’ as we start to wake people up.”
The less time a patient is under deep sedation, the quicker rehabilitation can start to speed up recovery.
How long can someone be put under a medically induced coma?
There’s no set limit as to how long a person can be put under a medically induced coma, Regan said. But health risks increase the longer a patient is in that state.
“Your clinical condition is going to dictate that,” Wood added. “Most of the drugs we use can be used for the long term.”
It can be a matter of days or weeks. Medical professionals weigh the need for the medically induced coma and the potential risks connected to the length of time under sedation.
“It’s going to mean that your recovery is going to be much, much longer as well,” he said.
