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Woman who was in a coma for 3 weeks explains what it's like and how she 'lived a second life'

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Published 15:08 19 May 2025 GMT+1

Woman who was in a coma for 3 weeks explains what it's like and how she 'lived a second life'

The woman spoke of dreams that appeared 'more real than reality'

Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard Kaonga

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A woman spoke of the ‘craziest and scariest’ dreams while in a coma during a rather shocking admission.

Canadian YouTuber Amanda van der Gulik got candid with her fans when she detailed a life changing incident that happened to her.

She explained that she had contracted pneumonia that got progressively worse after doctors failed to realize the extent of her illness, believing she simply had a bad cold.

After getting antibiotics, Amanda explained it got to a point where she couldn’t move and her health continued to decline.

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With her partner she opted to return to the doctors, this time at the ER and they discovered that it had spread to both of her lungs, her oxygen levels were low and she was admitted to the hospital.

Amanda said doctors didn't initially know she was suffering with pneumonia (Getty Stock Image)
Amanda said doctors didn't initially know she was suffering with pneumonia (Getty Stock Image)

Unfortunately, the local hospital she had gone to did not have an ICU and doctors suggested she be shipped to one that did as her condition deteriorated.

One was found 45 minutes away, but in order for her to be moved, she needed to be put into a medically induced coma.

At that point, doctors told Amanda’s partner that she would only be in the coma for a few days, just time for her to stabilize and then she would be taken off the medication and the healing process would begin.

But things took a turn for the worse yet again, as Amanda’s condition didn’t improve, in fact it began to decline once more, and she said she developed ARDS, which is acute respiratory distress syndrome. This ultimately meant that her ‘lungs had given up’ and could no longer function on her own.

This extended her time in the coma to total of three weeks and in the video Amanda spoke of the terrifying and vivid dreams and nightmares she had.

She said: “I had the craziest dreams I had the craziest scariest nightmares of my life, it was awful.

Amanda spoke of having vivid nightmares about her fears and memories (Getty Stock Image)
Amanda spoke of having vivid nightmares about her fears and memories (Getty Stock Image)

“They call it ICU psychosis but its so real it’s almost more real than reality.

“Every experience in my life that meant something to me, every fear I’d ever had, every manipulation that had ever happened to me, they all got mixed together and became this horrible nightmare horror story.

“It’s like I lived a second life and the memories are so strong, they’re stronger than normal regular life memories that I have and they were so clear they’re still clear, they have not gone away.”

Hardly sounds ideal at all, and rather scary affair but Amanda noted that the impact of these dreams has lessened over time.

After three weeks, Amanda says her lungs started to cooperate and she could be pulled out of the coma and start her healing process.

Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/wutwhanfoto

Topics: Health, Community, Canada

Gerrard Kaonga
Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.

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