A Guardian story that just might show us one more time, how little we know…

You’ve got to read this (thanks to the proprietor of the PostWatch Blog, for sending it)

The drug zolpidem – sold as Ambien in this country – seems to bring parts of the brains of people in Persistant Vegetative States out of "hibernation." Many unanswered questions as yet (the article reminds us of the sad story of Oliver Sacks, his patients, and L-Dopa, which briefly worked miracles, then…stopped.), but the initial reports from around the world are astounding. The connection was noticed accidentally:

The remarkable story of this pill and its active ingredient, zolpidem, begins in 1994 when Louis Viljoen, a sporty 24-year-old switchboard operator, was hit by a truck while riding his bike in Springs, a small town 30 minutes’ drive east of Johannesburg. He suffered severe brain injuries that left him in a deep coma. He was treated in various hospitals before being settled in the Ikaya Tinivorster rehabilitation centre nearby. Doctors expected him to die and told his mother, Sienie Engelbrecht, that he would never regain consciousness. "His eyes were open but there was nothing there," says Sienie, a sales rep. "I visited him every day for five years and we would speak to him but there was no recognition, no communication, nothing."

The hospital ward sister, Lucy Hughes, was periodically concerned that involuntary spasms in Louis’s left arm, that resulted in him tearing at his mattress, might be a sign that deep inside he might be uncomfortable. In 1999, five years after Louis’s accident, she suggested to Sienie that the family’s GP, Dr Wally Nel, be asked to prescribe a sedative. Nel prescribed Stilnox, the brand name in South Africa for zolpidem. "I crushed it up and gave it to him in a bottle with a soft drink," Sienie recalls. "He couldn’t swallow properly then, but I helped him and sat at his bedside. After about 25 minutes, I heard him making a sound like ‘mmm’. He hadn’t made a sound for five years.

"Then he turned his head in my direction. I said, ‘Louis, can you hear me?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Say hello, Louis’, and he said, ‘Hello, mummy.’ I couldn’t believe it. I just cried and cried."

Hughes was called over and other staff members gathered in disbelief. "Sienie told me he was talking and I said he couldn’t be – it wasn’t possible," she recalls. "Then I heard him. His mother was speechless and so were we. It was a very emotional moment."

Louis has now been given Stilnox every day for seven years. Although the effects of the drug are supposed to wear off after about two and a quarter hours, and zolpidem’s power as a sedative means it cannot simply be taken every time a patient slips out of consciousness, his improvement continues as if long-dormant pathways in his brain are coming back to life.

Many more stories – go read the whole thing.