10 astonishing changes people have experienced after waking up from a coma

Despite the leaps and bounds mankind has made in medicine, there are still a lot of things about the human body that remains a mystery to us. The functions of the brain, in particular, have left many experts baffled and the astonishing experiences of individuals who have been in a coma state could give even Hollywood sci-fi movies a run for their money. Curious to know the strangest of such stories, Redditor u/_bread-boi_ took to the platform asking people to share the most surprising change they've experienced after waking up from a coma and struck gold. Here are 10 of the most astonishing ones from the thread:

1. I was in a coma for 4 days. When I woke up everyone was talking about the baby boy I had. I had lost my long term memory and didn't even remember being pregnant. My son was at the children's hospital in the NICU. I delivered him via c-section at 29 weeks. All this was due to me having Crohn's disease, (I found out after I woke up) my colon had ruptured during my pregnancy. My husband said I was talking like a child when I first woke up. When I woke I felt super tired, but then the next few days, kinda restless. I remembered one conversation my mom had with a nurse while I was under. After a couple of days, I got my long term memory back and remembered everything up until my 2nd surgery then nothing until I woke up. My son was my 3rd surgery—@PennyCundiff.

2. About 20 years ago, my cousin had a severe head injury from a fall. He was in a coma for almost 4 weeks. When he woke up, he fairly quickly discovered that his memory was eidetic. He could repeat entire conversations back word for word and even tell you the date and time you said something. Also, he could memorize images with just a few seconds glance. His memory is still eidetic today—@cheezemeister_x.

3. I had some hair loss in certain areas that wouldn’t grow hair for months. When it came back, it was jet black. My hair is brown normally. Eventually over the last 6 years. The color adjusted back to brown again—@Rthoens89.

4. Not my story, but my boyfriend's mother's. She was in a coma for about 30 days because of a heart condition caused by diet pills (I believe the exact term is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy - Basically her heart muscles are closing in on themselves because of the diet pills. There was a massive lawsuit). Before she woke up, she was an avid smoker, almost a pack a day. But when she finally did wake up, she was shocked to know that she was a smoker. Basically said, "I used to smoke??" And then never did again. Definitely for the best—@Binxgamesandguitar.

5. My wife was in a coma. 2 weeks medically induced. When she woke she had very wrong memories. They were all based on conversations people had while in the room with her. For example, she thought they flew her to Washington DC for treatment. While she was in a coma, my father-in-law mentioned how he just flew back into town from DC on a work trip. Somehow, she overheard this while out and her brain interpreted it to mean SHE flew to DC. Even after we explained to her the reality of where she was, it took DAYS for her to come to terms with reality—@kp1877.

6. Back in the ’90s, my great-grandfather had a stroke. He was in a coma for 3 weeks, and when he woke up, he could not speak English. All he could speak was the Choctaw language. He had learned it when he was a kid, because his family lived right near a Choctaw reserve, and he played with a lot of those kids. He spoke it fluently at that time but forgot it over his life. This went on for around 10 days, and then he woke up from a night’s sleep and could suddenly speak only English again, not remembering a word of Choctaw—@GoldH2O.

7. A good friend of our family went into a coma for half a year. Finally, when he woke up, he was stunned why his wife looked so old. He actually lost the last 15 years of his memory (he knew he had 2 children but they were babies and he didn't even know about his 3rd child). And the memory never came back. He skipped from no mobile phones to smartphones, to laptops. Everything was new to him. Being stuck in the early 90s but actually being in the 2000s, there was a lot of change to handle. But learning you missed all your children growing up, was the hardest for him—@BsNLucky.

8. Not me, but my dad. He was in a coma for about 8 weeks. When he woke up, his eyes had changed colors completely. He had green eyes before and they changed drastically to blue. It wasn’t even a subtle change—@StSym.

9. Neighbor's kid was in a bad accident and was in a medically induced coma. The doctors said that he might be able to hear what they said so sound upbeat, talk to him, play his favorite music, sports, etc. He liked Elvis so they played his CDs almost non stop. When he finally awoke from the coma he thought he was Elvis. It took a long time for him to accept the truth. He had a very long recovering because of his traumatic brain injury. He now works as an Elvis impersonator—@designgoddess.

10. A guy I dated for a few weeks in high school was standing at a bus stop when I was driving back to my old home town to visit my parents. I waved at him and he just looked bewildered. So, I messaged him on Facebook just to be nice. It turns out that he had no idea who I was cause he’d been in an accident and a nearly half-year coma. He somehow woke up with a Scottish accent and had to relearn to walk. His family finally figured out that the Scottish accent was because his ultra Scottish grandma was with him a lot as a baby and I guess that’s what his brain latched onto. He’s now a happy ren-fair performer who used to be a very troubled guy headed for military service. I guess he’s happier, but it really makes you wonder who he would have become. He also kept asking me if I knew why he wore this specific ring. Unfortunately, I didn’t—@ihrie82.