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People in vegetative state revived by pill

news.bbc.co.uk — A sleeping pill can temporarily revive people in a permanent vegetative state to the point where they can have conversations, a study finds.

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  • jinexile, on 10/12/2007, -58/+15That's cool and kind of creepy at the same time. May have been useful in Terry Schiavo's case.
    • matrox212, on 10/12/2007, -4/+56No it wouldn't have. Her brain was massivly deteriorated. No pill was going to fix that.

      http://www.sptimes.com/2005/06/16/Tampabay/She_never_would_have_.shtml
    • rasterbator, on 10/12/2007, -7/+27I hope this shows up on "House"
    • Alphabet, on 10/12/2007, -21/+3edit: oops, nvm, read the wrong part

      you can mod me down
    • electrosoccertu, on 10/12/2007, -35/+9I'm sorry fellas, but first, science cannot prove a universal negative, and second, nobody knows enough about the brain to say Terry was truly dead. I'm appalled that its ok to kill people if it is "less convenient" to keep them alive. If she was dead, why didn't they just lethally inject her? What? That would have been too immediate, too much like "murder"? If you say she was dead, why does it matter if we kill her instantly, with a gun? It had to happen slowly for it to be "socially acceptable". Even though that was by far the crueler way to do it. Its sick that everyone condones it.

      We wouldn't even do this to any animal whatsoever, if we had to get rid of it, we'd shoot it or drown it or something.
    • sHARD>>, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16@electrosoccertu

      You can pay the medical bill. I'd rather not make the situation worse by putting the entire family in poverty. Additionally, the method of death did not cause pain, so how's that inhumane?
    • electrosoccertu, on 10/12/2007, -29/+4You mean to tell me starvation doesn't cause pain. LOL.

      The husband should foot the bill. He already got millions to keep her alive. Killer her let him have the $$$. Thats what it was all about.
    • sHARD>>, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17@electrosoccertu

      It doesn't hurt when your brain doesn't work well enough to process signals from the pain receptors.

      Here, let me hook you up to life support, a brain like that obviously can't keep you alive.
    • nesquik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@matrox212

      According to the article, the use of this drug was never claimed to fix damaged areas of the brain. The article stated that this would "revive" the dormant areas of the brain that usually do not react by themselves.
    • GiggleStick, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1sHARD said
      >> It doesn't hurt when your brain doesn't work well enough to process signals from the pain receptors.
      >> Here, let me hook you up to life support, a brain like that obviously can't keep you alive.

      Except she wasn't on life support, hence the several day dehydration & starvation necessary to kill her. It takes very little time to kill someone on life support. Thanks for playing though. I think we should starve everybody under a certain ability level, probably starting with you RE-sHARD.
    • Moocat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@electro,

      I didn't really pick a side, considering I thought "hey, who knows what her brain is doing", but even people like you must admit that after the autopsy there was no doubt in anyones mind her brain was swiss cheese. Unless there's some wonder drug that can regenrate dead brain cells and reconstruct memories via a quantum computer there wasn't a chance in hell for her to be "revivied".
  • peskypescado, on 10/12/2007, -3/+51Exactly. I wish people would let the Terry Schiavo thing go. She was gone.
    • BrynoMite, on 10/12/2007, -7/+62In a perfect world, none of us would know Terri Schaivo's name.
    • Software2, on 10/12/2007, -21/+9The only reason I ever heard about it was because people like you (as in the stop talking about this people) kept talking about it. Don't mention that name. Just let it go.
    • geekee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"Exactly. I wish people would let the Terry Schiavo thing go. She was gone."

      The pill is for people diagnosed as being in a permanent vegatative state, which is Schiavo's diagnosis. So it seems reasonable to assume this pill may have sone effect. But Saying she was "gone" when she at least had the capability of breathing on her own seems naive.
  • threepio, on 10/12/2007, -2/+63They're going to start administering this in high school history classes.


    Hiyo!
  • trod13, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Ya, but can the pill really cure most of the reasons why people are in a vegetative state. Cool but, it's not going to work with everyone.
  • nailbunny, on 10/12/2007, -12/+7dugg, as this article is so *****' cool.
  • pixarman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+31Didn't Robin Williams already do this in Awakenings?
    • beg513, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4thank you, I forgot the name of the movie
    • nailbunny, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5oh god damnit thats what it was called. i just spent a couple good minutes looking for the name
    • drgruney, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6One of the best movies ever... I wonder how they found so many actors to be in the vegetative state... I imagine it would be hard.
    • fantasticFlan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Those were catatonic people with encephalitis lethargica, and the movie was based on reality.
    • daveddd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Great Movie
    • stateofmind, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That was different though type of drug though. They used a drug called "l-dopa" which is a precursor to dopamine.

      In this case, they are using what most would in the US would know as "Ambien". Its a hypnotic, normally used for sleep disorders, it acts on the GABA receptors.
    • Lewie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I love that movie! Very good comparison!
    • xplrr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"One of the best movies ever... I wonder how they found so many actors to be in the vegetative state... I imagine it would be hard."

      You have never been to Hollywood, have you?
  • chickenlegs, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2whoa, ""But it's the dormant areas which 'wake up'."", that means 90% of my brain will be saved with this pill
  • Atomic1fire, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2question what about any side effects like getting hooked
    • Roger, on 10/12/2007, -1/+27Hooked on consciousness?
    • burke, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8IMO, there's no problem with being addicted to sentience...
  • Leftyshields, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12But what did they say? Thats what I want to know.
  • nailbunny, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2wasnt this a movie?
  • hackwrench, on 10/12/2007, -10/+3This is the sort of behavior that homeopathy says happens.
  • Kingmishima, on 10/12/2007, -8/+12I'm still waiting for the pill that unleashes the untapped parts of the average brain and creates a society of psychics, telekinetics, and empaths...
    • goat77, on 10/12/2007, -5/+21You sir, are a fool. The "10%" myth has been disproven many times over. It originated in the early 1900's to lure people like you into self-help scams.
    • Modoleinad, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9I'm glad someone knows their Dick (Phillip K. to you uninformed)
    • Kingmishima, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14@goat77 aka MrMcHolierthanthou

      the fact that you took the idea of a pill releasing untapped brain potential as anywhere near the neighborhood of "serious" shows me that apparantly I'm not the only "fool" =)

      damn digg-nazi's and their ban on joking around
    • zionKing, on 10/12/2007, -8/+4@Kingmishima: All due respect, but I have to ask a question. Who in the ***** would want to live in a society where anyone could read anyone else's thoughts. And don't give me that "it'd keep us honest" stuff. No, it'd be a real nightmare to have your brainwaves readable by anyone. Secondly... I've heard the same 10% of your brain myth, however here is a site which explains how this myth is *****: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/tenper.html . I appreciate your sharing your thoughts... but isn't it nice to have that option (i.e. I can't just read your mind)? Think about it. I won't peek.
    • Reddog_x2000, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Wow, what a messed up situation that would be. People without any special abilities would hate & fear those who had them. Those who had them would consider the rest inferior, or at least handicapped. And there'd be jealousy among those who did have powers over who had the cooler power.
    • gusc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Now that would be awesome! Everyone would know when the terrorists are going to blow stuff up. Isn't that just cool? But still it's just a sci-fi. :( Well if stuff like telekinesis could be activated - we would still need some password access of some kind, because it would be awfull to hear what everybody thinks and more awfull that everybody hear what you think.
    • BritOverseas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Do you people not read?

      try Greg Bears "Darwins" books, "Darwins Radio" is the better one I believe.

      They deal with an "Evolved" breed of human and how they are shunned, vilified and put into "concentration camps" and experimented on because they are no longer "Human" and everybody is afraid of them, excellent "thinker" books.

      Humans are assholes, generally, once we accept this fact and get over it, the better.
  • infra172, on 10/12/2007, -19/+4Unless they've already been euphoria'd to death.

    I want to think this is a good thing but I suspect waking brain damaged people is just a way to get more votes for Democrats.
  • bennyboy371, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3People are saying to let things go, but you all know the second this hits the evening news, Terry will be brought up immediately.
    • fantasticFlan, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3No, because, as has been stated, the autopsy proved she was brain dead.
    • bennyboy371, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Since when has that changed anything that the mainstream news has reported? That'll just make them say something along the lines of it being another thing they could have considered DURING that case. Its all about ratings, is my point. I've seen so many things that are blatantly wrong on sensationalist stories its ridiculous,
  • crackerjack, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Didn't the movie have a really sad ending? They had to take the medication for the rest of their lives to stay awake, but in the movie (and IRL, I guess), didn't it take more and more to keep them awake? or did they stop the drug for some reason? I don't remember... all I remember is that it was SAD!
  • kohan69, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2OH no!! More euthanasia dilemma!!
  • paedomorphic, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4Let's hear some of these "conversations" and see one of these vegetables "catch" a basketball.

    "I like purple. This is purple," is NOT a conversation!

    For *****'s sake, WHY are they keeping these people alive? Do doctors crave test subjects so much for their sick brain experiments? Just put the brain damaged out of their misery! They are ZOMBIES!
    • threepio, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8By Persistent vegitative state they mean zombies.


      And by Pill they mean Braaaaaaaaaaains.
    • paedomorphic, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Moonbat, you can't cure brain damage! RTFA! These people DO NOT "wake up" as if normal--they "wake up" as if ***** BRAIN DAMAGED!!!
  • blamanj, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Excuse me. If they can be revived, it's not a permanent vegetative state, is it?
    • MichalDvorak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yes. That's kind of the point of the whole article.
  • Jammerdelray, on 10/12/2007, -9/+0There was a movie on something similar...they gave them them a meciation that treats parkinsons disease that revived them from a permanent vegtative state only to back fire where the patients developed new mental problems and they had to stop giving the medication. I think the movie was called awakening based on fact.
  • devinh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13I wonder if the pills are blue or red?
  • Imperdimper, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Anyone else laugh thinking about someone just laying there "constantly screaming"?
    • Kujila, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6He's an unhappy permanent vegetative state patient, or he's a very angsty permanent vegetative state patient...
  • Kujila, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1Zombie pills sound pretty kickass to me... instead of sending soldier to Iraq, we can use these permanent vegetative state patients as cannon fodder...
  • omnithought, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1Schiavo and Kervorkian would have been a match made in heaven.
  • Alcibiades, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4For the record, the chemical zolpidem = the pharmaceutical sleeping agent Ambien
    • Kujila, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Which I heard can make you hallucinate with alcohol and a severe lack of sleep... So, are they basically giving these patients a buzz? What's next, strapping a bong to brain dead patients' faces?
    • stateofmind, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ambien can be abused. Its a hypnotic, that acts on the brains GABA receptors. If you fight off the sleep effects of it, you will experience a mild euphoria or sense of well being. (a warm fuzzy feeling).
    • gusc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/zolpid.htm
  • Nyghtewynd, on 10/12/2007, -16/+5So what? The courts already decided that we just starve those people to death in this country.
    • Imperdimper, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2And damn right that's what we should do.
    • Nyghtewynd, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4Keep hitting that thumbs-down button. The truth sucks.

      Great logic by some of you, BTW. "If they wake up, they don't really have PVS." So if cancer treatment works on someone, they didn't really have cancer? EXCELLENT science. Back to the altar with you.
    • rohcky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You have what I call "Stupid Logic". Curing cancer is completely different from "curing" brain damage. Most cancers occur in regenerative cells (skin, muscles, organs). You cannot cure PVS because the body does not regenerate brain cells. If your brain is dead then it's dead. Put down your crazy faith book of choice and learn some science.
    • GrinningFool, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1rohcky: I recommend getting some current information before spouting off:

      http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/926345803.html
      http://www.brainlightning.com/regen.html
      http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/317/7168/1272
      http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/health/HealthRepublish_672608.htm

      The list goes on, and on... some of it dates back 4 years or more.
    • rohcky, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1GrinningFool: Maybe you should read the research that you do. Those articles say that brain cell regeneration is possible with research. Just like certain alternative fuels are possible with research. Just not possible now.

      "Human neurons can regenerate, but are new cells fully functional?" - a quote from one of your articles.
    • GrinningFool, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1rohcky: My point is that it would be advisable to dig around a bit before making blanket statements. There are literally hundreds of articles out there, several of them in peer-reviewed journals, which state that at least in part, you're wrong.
  • inturnaround, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5By definition, a person in a "permanent vegatative state" can never come out of it...unless the word "permanent" has become as literal as the word "literally".
  • Software2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8"if ever I'm in a permanent vegatative state, please, for the love of God...

    ...Don't put me on national television."
  • steve693, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Sounds like torture to me.

    How awful must it be to gain consciousness after being essentially non-existant for many many years, only to find out that you'll be re-entering that vegatative state in a few hours?

    Pretty twisted if you ask me.
    • golhra, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3But what about the possibility of continuing to take the pill (non-drowsy version) the rest of your life to keep you awake? Could someone like that live their life?
    • twinklyJesus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Non-drowsy sleeping pills...hmmmm, what's next dehydrated water?
  • Kujila, on 10/12/2007, -12/+1http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/4959/ohterry6jw.gif
  • Nerys, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3well its assumed they were "permanent" clearly some are not permanent it seems. if they can save these people and assuming enough of the brain is left for them to not be totally crippled for life I say go for it.

    a few hours is better than NONE even if it only worked once a chance for one last hugh one last goodbye a chance to say goodbye at all. etc.. etc..

    Chris Taylor
    http://www.nerys.com/
  • Beanlover, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Is it called "Revivitol"?

    Apologies to Billy Crystal.
    • Beanlover, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I guess none of you have ever seen "Forget Paris"
  • mianus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4even if they didn't have pvs it would still be pretty cool if nothing of a sleeping pill... without the sleepiness.... um.... sounds to me like a new great drug... I'd like to try it maybe I got some one inside on me waiting to wake up? and KEVIN ROSE you should add ajax to the spell checker... come one get google to do you up like their email... you know you down with them like that. or so it seems?
  • dontbejack, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1You know, I would rather be killed than be put through some sort of therapy in order to come out of a vegetative state. At that point, the medical costs would be so much that someone should just pull the ***** plug on me.
    • GrinningFool, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Um, yeah. You have fun with that dying thing, kiddo.
  • monkeydoc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1First of all, three patients in no way constitutes a study in any reasonable medical fashion. There was no control group, and no one was blinded.

    With that said, this raises an interesting question; Could something like this be used as a test to further refine our diagnosis or understanding of a persistent vegetative state?
  • SilverRocket, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Ahem / QUOTE!

    "He said a study carried out by specialists 10 years ago had shown that up to 45% of patients diagnosed with PVS actually had a range of different conditions, from which they could wake up."

    Got it? So its quite possible these people weren't PVS to begin with.

  • sHARD>>, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2Bah. Mod this down oh magical modders!
  • dielawn, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1a little pill known as speed.
  • combatchuck, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2OK, now what we need is a pill for the people in a walking vegetative state, so they talk less. That would ***** rule.
  • blanski, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The real question is, how do we get them to swallow it?
  • Lindsay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think anything can be put into a tube.

    Humans are more humane to animals than they are to other huimans. This fact is very unfortunate.
  • MaceSoul, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0>>No it wouldn't have. Her brain was massivly deteriorated. No pill was going to fix that.

    1. Read the article. It affects the "backup" section of the brain which in Sciavo wasn't "massively deteriorated."

    2. The St. Pete Times was wrong time and time again on the matters of Schiavo.

    3. We'll never know how this pill could have allowed her to speak for herself and make her own end of life decisions because they killed her.
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1MaceSoul:
      Yes, this could have acted on a portion of the brain which wasn't deteriorated.

      But the fact that the rest of her brain was shot means there was no way she would have woken. There simply was no consciousness left to awaken.

      You can go ahead and have your own reality, but in ours, it was cleary proven Schiavo was gone long before the plug was pulled.
    • JoiBear, on 10/10/2008, -0/+0Yes they did kill her...or should i say the A??hole did
  • JoiBear, on 10/10/2008, -0/+0I have a brother who is in a vegetative state and they tried to give him 5mg tonight and then tomorrow they are going to try and give him 10mg...he collided with a semi 9 years ago and he knows me and mom and his friends and he is in St Louis, Mo and the state of MO wont' let him come home...he needs to be with his family who can stimulate him everyday and he dont get it down there...when i go and see him i tell him who i am first and then when he hears my voice he starts to cry...its been bad for my family since he is down there and we are in Pennsylvania its hard to get there all the time...so we will try anything to help him but i think if he was here it might help...
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