Waking up from unconsciousness

[Tangleweed]

So, I how do ppl behave and function after just waking up from being unconscious for a couple of days from trauma and fever and exhaustion? My character is about to do just that, but I realized that I dont really know how what that looks like. I know how ppl behave when they been knocked out (in martial arts or from other accidents) but they are usually out like 30 sec and I suspect that it would be different when one has been out a longer period. Anyone have any experience with this or tips that could help me make a believable portrait of this character waking up?

[Ken Murikumo]

Im no expert but if you wake up in a familiar setting or with people you recognize around you, you'd be super groggy and disoriented. It'd be a slow wake too. Probably like what you see in movies during the hospital scenes.

other things that may happen: hunger, soreness (from prolonged time in one position), physical weakness, brain fog, fever dreams

If you wake up in a panic or with a sense of danger, adrenaline would counteract basically all of the above until it wore off.

[Spore]

I try to give you anecdotal guidance from when I knocked myself out stumbling over my bike at night.

1) Time has a weird scale. If you are knocked out, there are not weird dreams, it's just black. I do not know the exact brain stuff in the back but basically your mental capability is about zero for sentient functions.

I thought I was out for about 30 seconds. My grandma told me I was out for about 20 minutes.

2) First thing you recognize where up and down is. Your body has no indicator in which position you lie in, so that is the first thing. Then vision gets "back online", first a bit blurry, then it focusses (or tries). Not as dramatic as it is done in some TV shows but you are a bit blurry. Then you get sound back as incoherent noises become coherent sounds and not an almalgamation of noise.

3) After a few seconds, you realize if you have been hurt or not. The back of my head hurt a bit but I was mostly fine. I am pretty pain resistant if it is from injuries, if the injuries come from any other sources (headache, sickness) I am usually a whiny baby.

4) As I was unconscious for a bit adrenaline did not play much if any role. Adrenaline works as a pain suppressant and makes you alert, faster than normal and in some cases makes you ignore your bodily limits (hysterical strength, standing on a broken leg that is actually hurting etc.). For your example, you can safely ignore that. You can have the character have a small panic attack if they are usually doers, and HATE being subjected to imprisonment but it is not linked to long-term unsconsciousness.

Lastly, a thing many games do differently (for the sake of gameplay) is the fact that unsconsciousness is not resting or restful. You would not recover HP or similar. Many games refresh your gameplay ressources but actually being unconscious is not restful.

[Tangleweed]

Thank you both, this is helpful and somewhat in line with my thinking.

[CombatBunny]

Basically like a hangover, but much more painful.