How to survive a car crash, get out of a coma and start over

Several years ago, the world of music lovers spread the news: the well-known TV presenter of the music channels MUZ-TV and MTV, Beata ARDEEVA, had an accident. For more than a month she was in a coma, and after coming out of it, she learned to walk, talk, and breathe again. In an instant, the life of a young woman has changed dramatically: bright appearance — on a scarred face, voice — to an indistinct whisper, the stage platform — to the resuscitation ward, prestigious work — for lack of money.

Despite her severe injury, she categorically refused to be disabled. And every day, for three years, she did everything to get back on her feet. Beata shared her experience in the pages of her book It Was Worth It. And at the same time, she told about her methods and valuable recipes in an interview with our portal.

"In 33 days of coma I lost 40 kg"

— Beata, what caused such a terrible catastrophe?

— That summer, my friend and I decided to relax by the sea, in Antalya. Arriving at the place, we immediately rented a car, which later, as my fellow traveler recalled, was constantly “skidding”. That tragic night I was driving alone.
I was moving along a mountain serpentine when another car suddenly drove into the oncoming lane. Mechanically, I veered to the right and the next minute I crashed into a pole. From a strong blow, the car rolled down and, turning over several times, fell on the rocks.

There were few fractures, only one collarbone. But the main injury was a severe brain contusion, which resulted in a long coma. It was later that I learned that four days of being in a coma is considered a critical period. And I was in this state for more than a month, 33 days! And even after learning about it, she tried to smile.

A few days after the incident, my beloved ex-husband flew in. The minute he crossed the threshold of resuscitation, all the sensors to which I was attached signaled a sharp improvement in my condition. After this incident, he was freely let through to me.

I was in the intensive care unit of a Turkish hospital for a month. Then, after long discussions and with difficulties, I was transferred to Moscow. That move became significant — the next day I woke up.

— Did the doctors talk about the possible recovery time?

— With my injury, some predictions were a thankless task. On the 44th day after the injury, attempts to speak appeared, and she began to answer in monosyllables and completely began on the 58th day. In addition, at first I breathed through a tracheostomy tube.

During the coma, I lost up to 40 kg. Once, while washing, I looked at myself in the mirror and was horrified: an exhausted woman was looking at me. I always wanted to lose weight, but I never dreamed of seeing myself like this. She returned to the ward with the words: “Yes! Fast and a lot!»

"The most important thing was — learn to walk»

— When you came to, did you recognize those around you?

— I had very selective amnesia. I remembered the spelling rules and foreign languages, I could accurately say the intercom code of the entrance of my house or my friend's birthday, but at the same time, some events of my life were erased from my memory. At the same time, this did not depend on the statute of limitations at all: in the same period there could be both bright and forgotten events.

But the most important thing was — learn to walk. It took several months in the hospital ward to somehow start to hobble. I did not expect that the recovery process would take a long three years, and when, after the first weeks of physical therapy, I was offered special devices to facilitate walking, I categorically answered: &

Recently, while walking habitually for many kilometers, I was overtaken by a couple on a motorcycle. The driver emotionally shouted: "You walk beautifully!" He had no idea what a compliment he gave me! For me, after all, it was a huge job to take my feet off the ground: I always thought which muscle should be strained first, which — after.

Besides, my coordination was disturbed. For the first six months, I had difficulty keeping my balance and could not stand straight and walk straight. Often I was mistaken for a sleepy alcoholic and offered to sleep first, and then take on any business.

— As a rule, patients with such injuries attach great importance to therapeutic exercises…

— She really helps a lot. Having tried a number of techniques over the course of only one year, today I can say that:

Bodyflex gives a refreshing effect, aerobics — restorative.

Pilates is very stressful, just like running.

The dances are very rhythmic and feminine.

Yoga improves coordination, strengthens muscles and sets in a positive way.

But learning to walk – it's half the battle. It was much more difficult to coordinate movements. There were no glassware in the house — Everything fell and broke for me. Even after three years, I couldn't walk through the kitchen with a cup without spilling my coffee. But with dancing, there was a problem at all: she could already move her limbs correctly, but she could not get into the rhythm of the music — the movements were awkward and erratic. Over time, this also improved, although I still don’t know what helped me more — effort or time factor.

"I have learned to be silent and hide my distracted gaze"

— Did your colleagues support you?

— I no longer worked on television, and television friends did not support, although we were friends before. I was already a co-producer of Tatu when it all happened – and, of course, my colleagues from my last job helped me a lot! The soloists of Tatu also came Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina.

And once a familiar music editor called. I was delighted at first, but as it turned out after a few minutes, he called on business — borrow money to pay for the apartment. Unable to restrain myself, I asked: does he know what happened to me? It turned out, yes, he knows: both about the accident that happened and the monthly coma. But he also knew that I would not refuse his request. I borrowed it, and after a couple of years I already recalled this amount with sadness, as a gigantic one, — he was ashamed to return it.

There was a rumor in the television environment that I had a profound amnesia and I could hardly understand what was happening. Often, when meeting or talking, my former colleagues asked if I remember them? As a result, I got used to answering the question with a question: “And you me?”. But it was hard for others to believe that I understood everything well: my facial expressions and speech were very repulsive. So over time, I learned to be silent and hide my absent-minded gaze.

Beads on the neck — best scar cover

— Were there scars on your face after the disaster?

— Yes, and they obviously did not decorate me. In addition, I spent more than a month in a capsule with tubes through which I breathed, and this also left a scar on my neck. Since then, I have fallen in love with wearing beads.

I didn't look in the mirror: there were a lot of scars on my arms and legs. Every day, three or four times, I treated them with a special pharmacy cream "Kontraktubeks". Every scar — two minutes each.

— Did breathing through the tube affect your voice?

— The brain injury also affected his voice, and he had to be restored for a long three years. During this time, I not only learned how to voice my requests, but also faced the reaction of strangers to my speech.

One day I was handed a "certificate" on the street. from some beauty salon: the girl who called on the left phone cheerfully invited me to SPA procedures. When I informed her that tomorrow I would not have time to visit the salon, she said: "Ah, tomorrow you will drink again ?! ".

I studied with speech therapists, spent two months at the Center for Speech Pathology and Neurorehabilitation, where I got acquainted with phoniatrics and the methodology of group classes. I found special exercises and recipes for unique decoctions. I especially liked the ginger one, thanks to which you can significantly improve your voice.

Ginger drink to improve voice. ¼ grate ginger root, pour 1 cup of honey and boil. Add 1 tsp to a glass of tea. the resulting mixture, 2 tsp. sugar, stir. Drink a couple of glasses of ginger drink, wrap yourself up well and go to bed. Do this procedure two or three times.

• As a phoniatric exercise, an imitation of motion sickness of an infant is effectively used, for example: "Aa-aa-aa-a!" This exercise, familiar to everyone since childhood, helps to sound clearer.

• For articulation, tongue twisters are indispensable. I remember this one well: “From the clatter of hooves, dust flies across the field.” But each patient has different speech defects and their own optimal set.

Out loud: how to learn to breathe properly

— Was the voice problem the only one?

— Unfortunately no. The biggest problem was a violation of the respiratory system. We learn to regulate it in childhood — when to inhale, when to exhale, when to hold your breath, and how to create intonations. I, like everyone else, knew this, but after the coma I forgot. The list of my defects was supplemented by a broken articulation and a missing purity of voice.

The doctors consoled me, they said that the activity of the diaphragm would be restored. True, I imagined this diaphragm itself very vaguely: I knew that it was inside and somehow connected with the voice.

Later I realized: diaphragm — this is a film-like muscle that is located at the level of the lower ribs. During breathing exercises, you can pull it up, and you need to speak with it (and preferably on an empty stomach), and not with bundles — so the voice sounds much bigger and clearer.

• How to speak with a diaphragm: while inhaling — the stomach is inflated, on exhalation — the press is tense, and speech and its sound are born exactly at the level of the lower ribs, making the voice even deeper.

— What helped restore breathing?

— Gymnastics Strelnikova. For a whole year I practiced according to her method, making several hundred breaths every day.

Another pleasant discovery was the body flex. He attracted me with his simplicity and lightness. At first, I didn’t even imagine that 15 minutes a day devoted to body flex gives a fantastic result: in this way, it is possible not only to lose weight, but also to strengthen the diaphragm.

• Exercise course «Bodyflex». Lie on your back, put your feet on the floor, raise your knees. In this position, exhale all the air, and then raise your arms and upper body up and reach for the sky for 8 seconds. Take a deep breath. Repeat three times.

• Diaphragm exercise. While standing, exhale and lean forward, raising or retracting the diaphragm (you can imagine it as a transverse thin muscle at the level of the lower ribs, similar to a dense film). Also pull in your stomach. Then rise up and inhale deeply to feel how the diaphragm goes down under the pressure of the air. Repeat two or three times.

The voice immediately becomes louder after that.

Alcohol "resets" the effectiveness of any diet

— Did you still have problems with weight?

— Yes, but they have changed dramatically. In the first months spent at home, I gained 30 kg! Assessing the horror of her situation, she ate chocolate for days on end, thus distracting herself from sad thoughts. But then I realized: this is no longer possible. Just imagine: not only was I covered in scars, with terrible coordination, an incomprehensible hissing voice, but also fat!

I went on a diet and tried a variety of things, from vegetables to proteins. Maybe because I combined all of them with active sports exercises, the results were not long in coming.

I know from experience that foods high in calcium are good for strengthening the skeletal system. Look for it in sour cream and eggs, for example, in my favorite omelette according to the recipe "Like in kindergarten."

For 1 egg: 15 g milk or water, 0.5 g salt, 3 g butter or margarine.

Mix eggs with milk, add salt. Take a mold of such size that the layer reaches a thickness of 2.5-3 cm. Lubricate it with fat and pour in the egg mixture, bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes at a temperature of 180-200 ° C.

• To prevent the omelette from burning, cover it with foil 3-4 minutes after baking.

— Are there any rules you could share?

— Yes. First of all, I would advise all girls who decide to fight weight to undergo a consultation with a gynecologist-endocrinologist to determine whether the hormonal balance is normal. Otherwise, all efforts will be in vain.

Don't count calories, it's a waste of time. It's better to just impose a limit on the consumption of sweets.

Stay away from baggy clothing. You get used to it and so you get used to being fat.

The desire to please yourself helps to lose weight. For this reason, I dyed my hair, plucked my eyebrows and chose the colors of tracksuits — and was pleased to see the obvious progress in the mirror.

My Diet Experience

• Do not give up meat, it does not get fat.

• Be sure to include vegetable oil in your diet. It strengthens nails and hair.
• You need to drink 1.5 liters of water per day: it is very easy to drink 2 glasses of water in the morning on an empty stomach and it is worth getting used to drinking 1 glass before each meal.
• Alcohol is banned: it "resets" the results of any diet. This also applies to all kinds of desserts, especially pastries with creams.