If that patient is actually aware of his surroundings, then he has been trapped in a body with almost no sensory input for almost 6 years. Personally, that sounds like the worst hell imaginable.
I've told everyone close to me that if I am injured badly they are to ask for 'no extreme measures' for this exact reason...
It's just the opposite actually, and worse. If he's aware of his surroundings, he's been trapped for 6 years without any output instead. Able to observe and think, but unable to move, unable to speak, unable to interact with or affect his environment except as a comatose patient.
Being Locked-in is one of the worst things I can imagine and yet is very real.
Yes, you are absolutely correct. I was kind of thinking in terms of interaction but got it backward.
What I was trying to convey was that no matter how dedicated your loved ones are they're not going to be with you every minute of every day if you're apparently comatose. That means this poor guy has probably spent most of the last six years lying in a bed by himself with nothing going on around him...
I think within a few months you would descend into a self-hallucinatory dreamworld -- you'd be insane, but I don't think it would be the worst hell imaginable. Not even close.
Hallucinations are caused by sensory-deprivation rather than motor parylization. For example, float tanks, also there are specially designed rooms that have as close to no background noise as possible, and people report hearing all kind of audio hallucinations such as bees, etc.
This test demonstrates he can at least hear sound. I'd imagine the effects would resemble senility from lack of engagement more.
Over stimulation by excitatory neurotransmitters is the primary cause of neuron death during stroke, the idea is that many neurons thought to be dead might have just shutdown to prevent from being overstimulated. And if baseline stimulation is reduced enough through what is normally sleeping medication, they might actually start to activate again.
I'm not sure that I meant hallucination in the clinical sense. I meant that if I was trapped inside my own mind for months on end, I would have nothing else to do besides create elaborate fantasy worlds in my mind and I suspect many others would do something similar.
Good point on the living will... Up until now I have just made every person close to me promise to pull the plug if it ever came to a situation like this. I'll look into that some more...
I've told everyone close to me that if I am injured badly they are to ask for 'no extreme measures' for this exact reason...