Do women still get their periods while in a coma? The question took social media by storm after it was posted by user @CloudxRaven last Monday (December 2), garnering almost 24 million views with more than 3,000 users leaving comments ranging from informative to… less informative.
"I've never seen a question so good, yet so bizarre," a user wrote, echoing the sentiments of thousands of netizens scratching their heads at the phenomenon. Some, coming from fields unrelated to gynecology, went as far as to answer the question confidently.
Highlights
- The question went viral with more than 24 million views.
- An expert confirmed that women in comas can still menstruate.
- Dr. Zeon explained that certain bodily functions do not require consciousness.
- An associated question also went viral, centering around men getting erections while under anesthesia.
"In most cases, menstruation stops during a coma due to changes in the body's normal functions," a user stated, only to be proven wrong when Otis Zeon, a Los Angeles physician hailing from South Africa, gave his expert opinion on the matter.
"Menstruation is not controlled by level of consciousness - so they will still get it," he said. "Also, keep in mind that because the cycle is regular, they can still get pregnant."
The question of whether women still get their periods while in a coma went viral on social media, with experts revealing what truly happens
Image credits: stock.adobe
Zeon was caught off-guard by the question's virality. "I didn't see this going viral—mommy, I'm famous," he joked. His initial response received more than 32,000 likes.
"But on a serious note, it's shocking to me to see how shocked people are," the doctor said after confirming that yes, women will still menstruate. At the same time, even in a coma, their bodies, while unresponsive, continue many biological processes that don't require conscious thought.
Image credits: stock.adobe
Of course, social media, being social media, took this interesting piece of medical information and ran with it—straight into the land of sarcasm.
"It builds up, and they explode," one user explained confidently. "It's true! It happened to me last night," another joked.
"Dang, we can't even go into a coma in peace," lamented one reader.
The doctor shared the case of an Arizona woman who, in 2019, gave birth despite being in a vegetative state
Image credits: CloudxRaven
Instead of having their curiosity satisfied, some people went from shocked to dumbfounded as they fixated on the doctor's extra revelation: that women in a coma can get pregnant.
"Was the last part really necessary, Doc?" one user asked. "I'm sorry, but it correlates with ovulation and menstruation. It was likely the next question," Zeon replied.
Image credits: stock.adobe
"What? Get pregnant?! Are you implying she could go full term, assuming her condition doesn't change, and, if possible, give birth too?" a netizen pondered.
Things took a darker turn when Dr. Zeon linked an article discussing an infamous case where an unresponsive woman in Arizona became pregnant and even gave birth after being raped by a healthcare worker while unresponsive.
Image credits: Kaboompics.com/Pexels
The incident occurred at an assisted living facility in Phoenix, Arizona, in January 2019, when a 29-year-old woman who had been vegetative since she was three became a mother as a result of a 36-year-old nurse taking advantage of her state.
While the case cast a dark shadow over the mostly lighthearted discussion, it nevertheless showed how certain bodily functions still operate without the need for full consciousness.
An equally bizarre question—this time about the possibility of male patients getting boners while on anesthesia—also went viral with more than 4 million views
Image credits: CloudxRaven
When people were recovering from the previous discussion, the same user went viral the following day (December 3) with another, similarly out of left field question: "Do guys get boners during surgery, or does anesthesia stop that from happening?"
One user quickly jumped in to reply with a nuanced answer: "Anesthesia typically prevents bodily responses like erection, but they can still occur, even if rare," they said.
According to a 2017 study by the Department of Anesthesia of the Lister Hospital, United Kingdom, the answer is yes, but only on specific procedures and in extremely rare cases.
Image credits: Getty Images/Unsplash
The phenomenon is known as "intraoperative penile erection" and affects about 0.1% to 2.4% of patients who undergo operations that target the penis specifically, such as transurethral surgery and endoscopic urological surgery.
Despite being an exceedingly rare occurrence, it can cause complications or the cancellation of these procedures. The study recommends doctors administer a dose of ephedrine via injection to treat unplanned erections as it safely returns the penis to its flaccid state.
The entertaining X account regularly asks strange questions, but none of them have been as popular as the mystery of women in comas and their periods
Image credits: Curated Lifestyle/Unsplash
Netizens who gave serious replies to both questions were quickly overshadowed by a barrage of jokes, with many users wondering what exactly caused @CloudxRaven to ponder such dilemmas.
"These are the very definition of shower thoughts," one said.
"I'm too worried about my mental stability to worry about a boner," another stated.
"I'm going to have surgery tomorrow; I'll let you know if I get a boner or not," a netizen wrote.
While @CloudxRaven kept trying to go viral with similarly strange and original questions like "Do twins share the same d–k length?" and "What habit feels impossible to break once it starts?" none of them lit the internet's curiosity in the same way.
"Damn that's a decent question," Netizens not only had fun but also learned a thing or two about human biology thanks to the strange tweets
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