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uniquesoul

What is brain death?

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I've got a fren who told me that his gf who encounter with brain death last few days. She is still in coma and breathing with medical equipments. Doc said there is zero chance to survive even thou if operation is done. Is there anyway that a miracle will take place? How can he, her frens and family help her? She is still so young at the age of mid 20's. Really felt sorry to hear this.

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Brain death means that someone's brain is basically just on mechanical function - in other words, you could say that the lights are on but no one is at home. The nerves are all working but the person is not thinking, dreaming, etc (there is no brain activity). To understand this, you first need to know that even when we sleep, the brain shows signs of activity be it dreaming and so forth. When someone is brain dead, there is no activity at all in the brain but the body continues to function (heart beating, etc).

There have been instances where "brain dead" people wake from their comas but these are rare and few in between plus it also depends on the severity of the damage to the brain.

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Her condition is where she experience a terrible headache and fainted. Doctor said her blood vessels in her brain explode or something. She's still in coma now, operation has been performed which nearly cost 100k and 1 day per stay in ICU cost around 10k. She cant stay in the hosp all the time, as it will cost a bomb.

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Yeah...sounds like clot forming and then leading to hemorrhage, resulting in additional pressure in the brain (blood pushing onto brain and against the dura (protective lining of the brain)). One main symptom of this is often a headache and when a clot bursts (leading to hemorrhage), it is quick and often fatal. That's why people prone to headaches and migraines OR have a concussion due to a fall (especially the elderly and children) should go for regular check-ups or see the doc at the first sign of trouble (sleepy, dull, inactive, change in appetite, etc).

Wiki has a simple write-up on this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_hemorrhage

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Most likely it's aneurysm, where there's a 'balloon' in one of the blood vessels in the brain. This 'balloon' gets filled with blood, and bursts when it becomes too big (imagine filling a balloon with water). This a type of stroke. One of the symptoms patients often complain about is having 'the worst headache of your life'. Operation needs to be done immediately to stop the aneurysm from re-bleeding, and removing blood clots. Blood clots blocks oxygen to the brain cells, and brain cells die not long after.

Common risk factors are diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, smoking, alcoholism and old age. But I've seen quite a number of young patients in their 20s, 30s, 40s who have it, and most of the time, the cause is unknown.

Brain death means that the brain is no longer working, and this is not reversible. Patient is only kept alive through a ventilator, a machine which helps you breathe.

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http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file...9&sec=north

"Brain dead’ shuttler yawns and shows limb movements

GEORGE TOWN: The state shuttler, who was pronounced brain dead by a doctor, has improved so much that she is now able to to move her limbs."

Never give up hope, miracles can always happen. I would say, if the condition has stabilised, to move to a Governent Hospital where it is cheaper or normal ward. Must talk to the patient. There have been testimonies from ppl who recovered who claim that they could hear their family members talking but were not able to respond until much later.

I am not saying in false hope but just hope. At the end of the day, its all that is left - hope.

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Hope is one thing, but the financial means to sustain that hope is another matter. Besides, there's the risk of not able to live a normal life even though death is miraculously beaten. The worst is to recover and live as a vegetable. That would defeat the very purpose and meaning of life for the person concerned beside bringing on griefs and miseries to loved ones.

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Brain death is not the same as coma, because someone in a coma is unconscious but still alive. Brain death occurs when a critically ill patient dies sometime after being placed on life support. This situation can occur after, for example, a heart attack or stroke. The heart continues to beat while the ventilator delivers oxygen to the lungs (the heart can initiate its own beating without nerve impulses from the brain) but, despite the beating heart and warm skin, the person is dead. Since the brain has stopped working, the person won’t breathe if the ventilator is switched off.

Signs of brain death

Some of the signs of brain death include:

  • The pupils don’t respond to light.
  • The person shows no reaction to pain.
  • The eyes don’t blink when the eye surface is touched (corneal reflex).
  • The eyes don’t move when the head is moved (oculocephalic reflex).
  • The eyes don’t move when ice water is poured into the ear (oculo-vestibular reflex).
  • There is no gagging reflex when the back of the throat is touched.
  • The person doesn’t breathe when the ventilator is switched off.
  • An electroencephalogram test shows no brain activity at all.

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My uncle (mat salleh) also brain internal bleeding, and sent to hospital, doc declared he is in coma. He stays in germany, doc there do the operation and put him in sleep. cause do not want him use any brain, let the brain rest, can also say is in come. Doc also say eventhough he wake up, will become "vege" or coma. Miracle happen, now he is awake, he can move his eyes and is consious, just he cannot speak. There is one time his family want to give up on him, but my aunty does not give up.

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"brain dead" is when your brain stops functioning and the only thing that makes you live were the mechanical apparatuses that is attached to your body.

it is caused by a severe trauma in the head.

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