Ambien Awakenings: Waking up after brain trauma

WILMINGTON, NC (WECT) -

Twenty to forty percent of people who suffer a severe brain injury do not survive. Of those that do, a diagnosis can often be hard to reach.

With no proven treatment to improve or speed up recovery from a minimally conscious state, many families are told there is "no hope." There is however, a medication that for some, has the remarkable side effect of "waking" patients up.

Roughly 300,000 people in the U.S. are trapped in a vegetative or minimally conscious state. Causes range from bad accidents to falls, violence and other types of brain trauma.

Unlike a coma, a vegetative state is classified as being unconscious except for some eye opening and periods of wakefulness.

The patient may moan when their muscles are stretched, may cry or smile, track objects with their eyes and react to sounds.

About 50% of patients who are in a vegetative state one month after traumatic brain injury recover some degree of consciousness, yet in many cases they drift in and out and only make minimal progress.

As a result, doctors without experience in treating this type of trauma often rule out the possibility of recovery and patients end up living out their days in hospital rooms or nursing homes.

"The doctors say, 'Oh you're not going to make it.' And they MAKE IT,' noted Dr. Lori Grafton, Director of the Brain Injury Program at Carolinas Rehabilitation. "Then they come to rehab and the families say, 'OK what do we do now?'

Doctor Lori Grafton, a physiatrist, says that in some cases the answer may be: Ambien.

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Ambien Awakenings: Waking up after brain trauma