Sporadic acausal coma

### Diagnostic method

Transcranial descriptive hypnography, magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalographic hypnography

### Frequency

Only 15 reported cases across the globe (c. 1997)

### Deaths

11

**Sporadic acausal coma,** also referred to in literature as **sudden coma syndrome,** is an extremely rare and devastating neurological condition in which an affected person is suddenly rendered into an irreversible coma for a possibly indefinite amount of time; no identifiable causes can be discerned from all known types of brain examinations. Having only recently been found due to its bizarre lack of causation (divorcing it from other pathologies associated with coma), it has been implicated in possible connections to preternatural phenomenae as a result of the Felix Garner Case and its connection to liminality disorder.

## Etymology

The term "sporadic acausal coma" was assigned to the condition from Dr. Matthias Lebowitz, a neurologist who had found out about the existence of the condition in 1972. It describes the abnormal nature of the condition in which it arises without any specific medical cause in a sudden and seemingly random fashion.

## Signs and symptoms

The signs for sporadic acausal coma is a total inability of the patient to respond to any stimuli. In addition, the employment of transcranial descriptive hypnography, electroencephalographic hypnograms, and other novel magnetic resonance imaging techniques can show signs indicative of REM sleep. This is visibly confirmed with measurable low muscle tone and repeating periods of rapid eye movement.

The symptoms for this condition are noted to include unconsciousness and extremely vivid dreams, with some implications of "out of body experiences" as noted in the Felix Garner case. These dreams carry a high degree of lucidity, and can morph into extremely positive or negative dreams randomly. However, as seen with the Felix Garner case, awaking from this condition can lead to the onset of liminality disorder due to detachment from this "fantastical state" and the mind's intense desire to return to these dreamscapes.

## Causes

No discernable causes for sporadic acausal coma has been found, thus lending the etymology of the condition's name. Differential diagnoses such as various non-sporadic comas can be ruled out through laboratory testing.

The acausal nature of the coma has become one of the centerpieces for the induction of parapsychology as a possible field of interest regarding the condition, especially when compounded with the results of the Garner case.

## Pathophysiology

The only known pathophysiological mechanism of sporadic acausal coma is the inability of the ascending reticular activity system (located within the brain stem) and the cerebral cortex to properly render a wakeful state to the human brain, even when stimulated. The cause of such neurological dysfunction is unknown.

## Diagnosis

The diagnosis for sporadic acausal coma is rendered when all known avenues and causes of coma, unconsciousness, and unresponsiveness are vetted and disproven with the patient. This is checked through the employment of transcranial descriptive hypnography, electroencephalographic hypnograms, magnetic resonance imaging, and computer tomography scans in order to confirm the pathophysiology and determine whether or not a cause can be deduced.

## Treatment

Treatment to liberate the patient from the coma does not exist. Instead, only palliative care can be administered for as long as financially viable, rendering the patient wholly dependent on life support systems to administer necessary nutrients and to minimize the onset of muscular dystrophies until they awake (if at all).

## Prognosis

Sporadic acausal comas are particularly dangerous in that there is no known end to the condition and a return to a wakeful state. Since there has only been one case of an emergence from this type of coma, there is no known viable recovery protocol apart from remediating any presented post-emergence conditions.

## Preternatural effects

The possible preternatural effects of the condition has been hidden from the public through the information blockages enforced by the Preternatural Investigation Branch. These effects were found as a result of the Felix Garner Case, which resulted in the implication of this condition with possible preternatural tendencies.

### Out-of-body experiences

According to the Felix Garner case, patients may be experiencing extremely vivid and accurate out-of-body experiences in which they envision themselves as spectators to true reality. Garner was able to recall several real-world events that had occurred as if he was there, such as the election of President Ronald Reagan and directly spectating the 1980 World Series between Philadelphia and Kansas City, describing these events down to individual person locations. Initially, doctors had thought that he learned this information while in coma through possibly hearing it in nearby conversation, but the sheer vividness of the details dispelled this rumor; this was compounded with Garner recalling where most of his family was and what they have been doing for the past five years.

These details were blocked from being leaked to the public through the intervention of the PIB; all details relating to the case were transferred to the PIB's medical division and was declared *persona non grata* to all non-PIB medical personnel.