A Belgian man believed to have been in a coma for some 23 years was actually conscious the entire time.

Rom Houben, who was paralysed in a car crash in 1983, had no way of letting doctors know he could hear their every word, reports the Daily Mail.

After a series of tests, Houben's consciousness was declared "extinct".

But three years ago, advanced technology allowed experts to discover that his brain was functioning close to normally.

"I dreamed myself away," said the 46-year-old former martial arts enthusiast.

"All that time I just literally dreamed of a better life. Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt."

The bizarre case was only recently revealed in a paper by neurological expert Dr Steven Laureys, the doctor who made the discovery.

"Medical advances caught up with him," Dr Laureys said.

Although Houben is highly unlikely to ever be able to live without special care, he is able to communicate via a computer and now also has a device that allows him to read books while lying in bed.

"I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me ? it was my second birth.

"I want to read, talk with my friends via the computer and enjoy my life now that people know I am not dead," Houben said.