How do doctors induce comas?

Question

What is used by doctors to induce comas, and how long can these comas last? I am writing a story right now where someone is put in coma and am I little confused. Please reply. Will pick best answer!

Answer 1

They pump insulin in your body.  When you go into insulin shock, you go into a coma.  It's what they used to do to schizophrenic patients.

Answer 2

No disrespect to the other Answerer, but insulin-induced coma are not always reversible, so I am not aware any hospital inducing coma with insulin on a regular basis.

What's more commonly done is through the use of medications which act on nerve cells (called neurons), like barbiturates:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_com...

(If you think about it, the brain is essentially a huge ball of nerve cells.)

Hope this helps.