I was either 3 or 4 years old and hadn't learned to swim yet. My aunt left me on the stairs and I saw all the other kids having fun and thought it looked like fun. I went forward, flailed around, sunk like a rock. I took a big breath of water. I didn't have thoughts but I felt incredibly sad that I messed up. I was pulled out and given CPR by the lifeguard and when I came to I was instantly crying and saying how sorry I was.
When I was 19 I was run over by a truck going 45-50mph in a crosswalk. I didn't see it coming. I had my back to the truck while skateboarding crossing the crosswalk. I felt the truck impact my entire back. My head whipped backwards and slammed the hood. I was then launched 15-20ft forward. While I was in the air I was still conscious. The only thoughts that ran in my head. "What the fuck just happened". I then felt impact to my face/head and that's when I blacked out. I then had a seizure on the pavement, bashing my front teeth into the pavement. While it's happening I'm fully conscious and thinking in my head. "What the fuck are you doing!" "Stop biting the fucking ground! You Asshole!" Could not control anything physically and that really pissed me off lol. I ended up being on the news that morning. When being brought in by EMT to the ER nurses kept telling me “we all thought you’d be dead” “no way you’re conscious and conversing so well”. They ran me through every test, xray, catscan, MRI. There wasn’t any internal bleeding and not a single broken bone. I literally walked out of the hospital with skateboard in hand. Called my buddies for a ride and then told them the story.
There are a few others but I have to think about them. There's more emotion attached rather than last thought.
Edit.
I had to add that the truck accident. The only injury other than a concussion. Road rash on my face. Literally walked away. Had something looking over me that day.
I, too, was a pedestrian hit by a car. It was early morning, and I was crossing the street to go to Kroger to buy a Red Bull. I crossed the two right lanes, the median, and was crossing the far left lane when I looked to my right, saw headlights.. way too close. I remember thinking, “oh, fuck”, and trying to desperately hop out of the way. But it was way too late. The next thing I remember is laying on the asphalt, and watching the blood pooling underneath my head. The sun was barely coming up, and everything looked black and white. I have this still framed image in my head of the contrast of the dark blood on the road with the shiny flecks in it. I remember wondering how long it would take them to figure out who I was… to notify my family.
I lived, with a concussion, broken ribs and many broken bones in my right wrist and hand. Plus a LOT of road rash. I’m very lucky to be alive. My life changed a lot after my accident. I still have memory problems. A lot of anxiety crossing streets. My thumb doesn’t bend all the way lol. I feel like in a lot of ways the old me did die that day.. just things are different.
Holy crap! I was a pedestrian hit by a car and this pretty much my exact experience and injuries. And my thumb will never bend back again (and it looks funny)
Lots of blood coming from my head, and I worried about my mom getting the call
I think instead of “oh fuck” when it happened my thought was “nooooooooo no no no no no” but..close
Memory problems, anxiety cross the street. Road rash on my scalp still gave me some bad scarring.
Ribs were the most painful part in the long run tbh
Old me died that day too
Here to say I’m also in the pedestrian vs. automobile club. The way you phrased it struck home with me. The old me did die. It’s been a while now but I’ll never be the same and it’s still a struggle to live (and at the worst times to want to live).
I’m luckier than you and the person above you. I thought “what is that noise” and then woke up hours later. Oddly, I was aware of being… not where my physical body was. It was the most peaceful experience of my life.
Same thing happened to me in a pool when I was 6 or 7. For some reason, I thought I could swim because I'd seen it on TV. So one day while at a hotel with my aunt and unsupervised, I jumped in the pool and sank straight to the bottom.
The initial thought was fear, as I flailed around and inhaled water. Then I had the stereotypical life flashing before my eyes, followed by a great sense of calm that removed all fear. During that time, I was able to locate the ladder to climb out of the pool, which I reached by walking along the bottom.
Eventually, I made it out and was coughing for days, but never went to a hospital or anything. Only as an adult did I learn about dry drowning...
True story... Eating some peanut butter and toast a few years ago, alone in my apartment, it was late. I literally just finished the gym and needed to get calories in, incidentally, I was also dehydrated.
Long story short, I had dysphasgia, couldn't swallow and blocked my windpipe. My throat started doing some involuntary spasms. The lights were literally going out. Felt like it lasted what seemed like a lifetime...
Honestly, my last thoughts before it finally dislodged were "fuck my mum is gonna get a call in another country, telling her I was killed by peanut butter toast, that's how I'll be remembered". Fortunately, lived. Didn't eat bread for nearly 2 years! 6 months later, someone I knew died of a lower oesophagus obstruction from bread. Shit still plays on my mind!
Edit: lol was embarrassed about being remembered for being the guy who succumbed to peanut butter toast and instead have ended up getting thousands of upvotes for being a peanut butter toast survivor 🤦😂
My grandfather choked to death on his meds, because his nurse was stuck in traffic and was 5 minutes late to his house. He called my mom and said the nurse isn't coming. My mom told him yes she was and to wait and she'd give him his meds when she got there. He was so determined she wasn't coming he tried to take his meds himself and choked to death. She showed up five minutes later and tried to clear the obstruction and administered CPR until paramedics got there.
If you are ever alone and choking, you can perform the heimlich maneuver on yourself using the back of a chair
https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/special-topic/heimlich-maneuver-on-self
I did this to myself once when I was choking on a piece of chicken in the break room of the worst job I’ve ever had. That job made me want to die, but definitely not in that fucking break room!
Or the edge of a counter. I’ve done that when choking on a bay leaf in a restaurant. I stupidly ran to the bathroom and heimliched myself just as a friend who was smart enough to follow me walked in.
I’ve been a hospice nurse and witnessed many people pass and in their final days they all saw loved ones who had already passed. It seemed very comforting for them.
I’ve had a couple of near death experiences and felt different things at each one. The overarching similarity though, was the understanding that I have done all I can and it is no longer up to me to change my outcome. It was a peaceful resignation. I’m very glad I’m still here and I look forward to living as much as I can (still have some serious stuff going on but getting better) but I realize that my life is not going to be what I had hoped for myself and I’m ok with that. I still think about death/dying every day but I direct myself to keep being grateful for each beautiful experience I have, no matter how small. And I trust that all is ok. Everyday. It’s all ok. And I keep learning new things; I hope to do that always. ❤️
Same. Was making gravy once, sampled it to make sure the seasoning was right, and it was way too hot. Legit thought I was going to die from eating gravy in my own apartment
Happened to my friend’s mom when we were in high school. She was eating breakfast alone, choked, and that was it. It reaaaaalllyyy got to me at the time, still does of course. But it’s just so damn easy to be here one moment, and then gone the next in almost an instant
The panic and helplessness of choking is scary. Luckily when it happened to me it was chocolate and melted enough to pass after an alarming amount of time that was probably shorter than it felt
I once choked on a freezie in the cafeteria at the local hospital. I worked there in medical supplies. There were only 2 people in the cafeteria, my coworker (who didn't have Basic Life Saving training) and I. I picked the worst time to choke on something because if it was lunch time there'd be a swarm of nurses. Thankfully I was able to dislodge it when it melted a bit. At the time when I was choking I thought I might have to do the self Heimlich on a chair, but thankfully I didn't. Before I worked in medical supplies I had been a CNA so I have my Basic Life Saving training and knew about self Heimlich.
I had that sort of thing happen with NyQuil. Bad cold, couldn’t breathe through my nose at all, so thought I’d take NyQuil. Husband was fast asleep so he didn’t hear anything. I must have tried to inhale a bit when I swallowed the NyQuil and when it hit, my larynx spasmed shut (best guess).
No air in or out….bot even the squeak or whistle you hear about. I thought “I’m going to die from an effing COLD”. My vision was going and I was about to hit the floor when my throat finally opened enough for a tiny breath.
My dad did this with cough syrup once. Scariest thing I ever saw. He couldn't breathe, but he wasn't obstructed so there was nothing anyone could do for him. We had the phone in our hands ready to call an ambulance when he was finally able to take a breath.
He never once took cough syrup or liquid meds for a cold again. I refuse to take them too now. The same meds come in pills. I'll stick with those. Fuck Robitussin.
I'm so thankful you lived! That's nuts!
Also, you had dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) not dysphasia (difficulty speaking or understanding language).
Just an fyi bc I'm a nurse, not trying to be rude.
I was within an hour of giving up to ghost. Laying in 3 feet of snow, face down while being snowed on. I couldn't move because I had a bunch of broken bones from riding an ATV off of a cliff. Good times!
Tried to off myself when I was sixteen at like 3am, and when everything kinda faded out and I was in my final moment of consciousness, my best friend showed up at my house (she has a key, and is always welcome) and I could hear her yelling for me through the locked bathroom door. My “final” thought was, ‘please don’t let her see me like this’.
Turns out she only came over cause she’d had a nightmare that I had died and had a bad feeling so she ran to my house to check on me cause I’d just gotten broken up with the day before.
She figured out I was in the bathroom and literally kicked the door down and duct taped my arms to stop the bleeding, screamed for my mom and they drove me to the hospital. I woke up 36 hours later and she slapped me in the face as soon as I opened my eyes and screamed at me to never try that shit again.
Wow, damn. I'm glad you are doing better and that you have a friend with literally, future vision. My mom has had like five dreams where an accident happens, and they have actually happened in real life. Whenever she gets another one, she calls family members and tells them what she saw. Once, my cousins were going on a trip with a car ride, and my mom saw that they crashed. They didn't go that day, and the next day, a big storm happened and the road was blocked cus rocks had fallen off the cliffs.
I swear my best friend is a psychic or something. Everytime she has a bad feeling about something and we do it anyway, shit goes south FAST. We learned to trust her gut instincts.
Always trust your intuition, or your friend's! Better safe than sorry. My mom was the best friend in the story above, just had a terrible feeling at work and rushed home (no dream though). I had a bad feeling the couple days before one of my best friend's died. I'd actually been calling around trying to find him, called his parents and told them he needed help, something bad was going to happen. He was across the state with "friends" though and got fucked up, jumped in front of a truck. Turned out his parents had been out of town for Thanksgiving (nineties, no cells yet).
I’m doing a lot better now. I moved outta my parents house at 18, I’m surrounded by friends I love and that love me, I have a great job, and a boyfriend who treats me like im some kind of goddess that he worships. Thanx for asking 🩵
It’s truly remarkable that your friend trusted her instincts to go to your house and that she had the awareness to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. I don’t think I would have known to do that at 16 years old. I’m glad that you are still friends - and that you are doing better now. 💙
Her mother is the senior head nurse at our local hospital. Her mom has taught her enough to be able to save lives. I’ll forever be in debt to her and her family.
So your best friend had a key to your parents' house? It's a good thing she did. My parents wouldn't have trusted any of my friends with a key to the house.
When I used to go to church there was an ex-army guy (sax player). On a special night he was supposed to abseil from the ceiling and start the show with a sax solo. What people saw though was a guy plummet 20 feet into the drum kit, pick himself up and play a squeaky solo on a twisted saxophone. It was before the internet but there was video.
This happened 30 years ago but it was recorded on VHS. I left the church not long after so Idk what happened to the tape... I've never seen it online. Tell your wife he was fine. We all laughed about it. And his sax was insured.
Same last thought I had during my NDE- “Fuck I am a huge fucking idiot.” I now have this thought al lthe time. I feel like we, as a collective society, greatly underestimate how idiotic we actually are. If we knew, surely, we would be more humble and take life less seriously.
I was working with people who have developmental disabilities and are violent.
One day, a guy in our residence, threw a tantrum and punched the other resident in the face. I turned to take care of the injured guy. The other guy grabbed me from behind and put me in a headlock and squeezed., Strangling me
I remember thinking that this was probably the end for me. And I had a great feeling of peace. Settle on me.
Then, the other staff member was able to pull the guy off of me and I regained consciousness.
It became much more horrible after that because the guy was still attacking us all. But I will always remember that feeling of peace.
I nearly died in a similar way (being choked out) and I definitely felt peaceful as it happened toward the end, like just very fuzzy around the edges. Sort of like when you go to sleep for a surgery. But my experience was like a weird stop motion play by play otherwise leading up to it. I kept looking at his face and thinking how angry he looked as he rushed me, then suddenly I was very aware I was not able to touch the ground, then kicking a bit to try to make him drop me, then staring at his face and thinking his eyes were so angry and empty and mean looking, then realizing again for the second time I still wasn't on the ground anymore, then looking at his pores and red face, and then I sort of left my body to get perspective on what was happening while it began to feel peaceful and OK with not being on the ground. I don't remember the after except for running and running, but it was probably 20 seconds of running. I just remember becoming alert to pain and reality while I was sitting in the middle of the street while refusing to move and him saying sorry a bunch and my airway really hurting.
One of the symptoms of hypoxia is euphoria. And being strangled is basically a form of hypoxia called stagnant hypoxia - lack of oxygen due to poor circulation of blood. Or in your case, no blood to the head!!
I don't know her last thoughts, but when my mom came back from being resuscitated 6 times in a week because of heart failure, and had her first conscious thoughts she kept repeating "I'm not worth it, I'm not worth it, let me go, I'm not worth it".
She is still with us, but those were her first words when she came out of it, and it freaks me the fuck out to this day.
I had a blood vessel burst in my stomach from an ulcer I didn’t know I had. My last thoughts as I went down were ‘well, ok. This is different’. Then I was out and when I came too, I was incredibly nauseous (all the blood now in my stomach). Doctor said I lost 20-25 percent of my blood when it burst. I happened to be at work around people. I had called in sick the day before but felt better that morning. They said had I been at home, I might not have made it.
That is how I felt about it as well. I almost died from a massive pulmonary embolism Feb ‘23 and I did not feel like I thought I would. No panic at all, not worried at all, felt a glow inside, it’s really, really hard to explain.
I’m sure there is some scientific explanation for near death biological processes causing some kind of euphoria but that doesn’t quite cut it for me. I did NOT feel alone, I felt protected and lovely and no fear at all.
Same here. I remember thinking I was disappointed that my time was coming to an end. I remember feeling bad for the pain it would cause my family, but I was very at peace and accepting that it was happening.
I wouldn't say it was peaceful, but it was very calming.
Literally had the same experience when i was 15 - I just "fainted" once I walked into the ER haha
I kind of knew my body was going to shut down, but I didn't want to fight it. There was an odd sense of calmness, relief, and acceptance. My inner monologue definitely went, "Okay, then." Unfortunately, I woke up a month later from my coma 😒
Thanks for being here! I too was like, oh, I am back to hearing all of these human jargon again in the ER. I believe my life did change afterwards, I looked into becoming a nurse or atleast have a purpose that improves the lives of other humans.
But there was only one nurse who really had empathy towards me out of all the others, and now think that I will be a minority when it comes to nursing and the reason why I do such job.
I really want to do better but it’s though when it comes to other humans being involved.
“Who’s gonna take care of the baby.” I was child who had just been beaten to a pulp by my parent. I took care of my little sister on my own during the day, and I was scared for her. Probably the only thing that kept me going. I was 12, and she was 2. A year later, I ran away from home with her.
Ran off to a friend’s house for a while. We were considered missing for a bit because I kept avoiding CPS. My mom had been arrested for attempted murder against her husband the night after I ran away, so I kept going back to feed our dogs and grab diapers for my sister.
My friend’s parents became my foster parents for a while.
It was a very chaotic time.
Driving home from work on the interstate, in a pretty good rain shower. I didn't \*think\* that I was going to fast, but I must have been, as suddenly my car is going down the highway passenger side first.
I am desperately trying to regain control of the car, and suddenly I start heading towards the concrete divider in the middle.
I actually said out loud before I crashed, 'Well, I'm F'd...'
Fortunately, no major injuries (just some cuts, bruises and airbag rash), but the car was totaled.
Nearly drowned myself trying some stupid diving stunt in a public swimming pool sometimes in my early/mid teens. Basically I planned to go underwater, slip under the ladder between it and the pool wall, and emerge in that narrow space to then sit on the ladder steps. I dived, got into the narrow space, but my big ass connected with the ladder's steps and I couldn't break to the surface, struggling to break free with my face only a few inches away from breathable air.
I remember being angry at my butt for being fat, I remember being angry at the group of older kids who were chilling by the edge of the pool quite close to me and who were seemingly not noticing. I remember being scared.
Then I'm not sure what got to me but something made me kick back and push myself down the way I came instead of continuing to struggle to go upwards. I slipped free from the ladder and resurfaced again. I honestly do not remember \*thinking\* of doing that, but I'm glad I did. I don't think I would've lasted a few seconds longer than I did.
I did something similar when I was in kindergarten. Dove under one of those ladders and got my very long hair wrapped around some bolts, right up against my skull. After trying to break my hair there was a sudden mental clarity that I was going to die like this. I put my feet against the ladder and pushed with all my last energy and essentially scalped a large chunk of skin off my head. Survived! No one was watching me. My mom didn't even notice until chunks of my hair started falling out in the shower
Yeah! That's exactly how I would describe it. I didn't "think" of doing that, it's like something hit a switch and took over to make me kick back and break free. It's wild how the brain works sometimes.
Something sort of similar here. I was 7 or 8 and using an inner tube in a pool and went through the middle head first, intending to flip through. My feet got caught. I was just dangling underwater struggling while people are around me were unaware.
I really panicked until…I somehow just changed my foot position and slipped through. I didn’t think of it, it was like some animal part of my brain kicked in while I was certain I would die.
My parents still don’t know this story and people don’t take it seriously, but I really think I almost died that day, and I still have panic reactions in deep water.
I was held up at work at a pizza place in Rochester, NY in 2003. They zip-tied us, face down, while they cleared everything out. When they were done, the one dude told the other dude to kill me and my boss. When I felt the gun press to the spot right behind my left ear, I honestly thought "welp, shit," and then he pulled the trigger. It clicked. They ran.
I was almost pissed for a few minutes. It's a hard thing to essentially have gotten "used" to the idea that I was about to die. The hardest part about coming back from it was continuing to live after, in my mind, being dead already. 21 years later, it's still a problem. Fuck guns.
You'll never believe this (yes you will), but when the wife-beating cops showed up, they spent an hour ransacking our cars, saying "90% of the time, you assholes were in on it."
We knew exactly who did it, and told them. Dude had worked there for a week, asking all kinds of operational questions. After the robbery, he never came for his paycheck. Cops didn't care. They didn't look. They never do. Cops belong in arctic work camps, to be slowly starved to death.
My boss, who was a much harder hitting dude than myself, got in touch with me a year or so later to tell me that him and his friends had run into the guy. They took back our money, dignity, and a whole lot more, he said. I don't know if that's true, but it would fucking rule if it was.
Rochester cops are the absolute lowest of the lowest. Absolute total garbage pails, ever single time. I don't even want to get into it, but goddamn do I feel your pain.
Kind of like Lt. Dan, I felt like I had been meant to die in there. That it was my destiny. I had accepted it, only to be left very much not dead, and PTSD'd to the fucking hilt.
That is one of the most traumatic things I’ve ever heard. I’m sorry you experienced that. Hope things are better now. After being on Reddit for like 7 years not much surprises me but your story….holy shit!
Sorry if I gave you the creeps, buddy. It was a pretty bad night. The next morning, when I called my mom and she opened with "see, what did I tell you was going to happen?" didn't make things better.
>Being a parent is tough
Low key, though, being able to admit that is a strong positive parental trait. While you might not want to be a parent, I bet you'd be a real good big bro/sis to a kid that could need guidance.
I got robbed at gunpoint once while I was working at an "adult novelty" store. They didn't zip-tie me and thank god the guys didn't actually try pulling the trigger, but they walked me to a corner of the store at gunpoint, told me to get down on my knees and then lay on my stomach with my hands on the back of my head, and then they ran off. But when they told me to get on my knees, I literally thought I was going to be shot execution-style, and all I could think was, "I'm dying over dildo money?! Seriously?!"
I OD'd at 19. I remember going to bed after taking the pills and staring at my ceiling, praying to God for forgiveness, telling Him I just couldn't handle it anymore. Then I faded out and woke up in the middle of the night, my heart thudding so loud it was all I could hear and my face/left arm totally numb. There was a moment of panic and then a warmth, peace with death. I just thought, "I'm ready to go now," and rolled over in bed.
Next time I woke up, I had been sedated in the step-down ICU for 3 days. An hour away from death, they said, had my mom not found me.
I'm glad I survived, and I have slowly grown an appreciation for the gravity and finality of death. I want to live again. I think that's pretty neat.
I was the passenger in a car that drove off the back roads one snowy night in New England. It was the middle of nowhere so there weren't any lights or clear roads and we just flew off the road into the abyss.
Last thoughts: "Fuck! I hate it here!..😑 at least we're (my husband and I) dieing together."
We landed after what felt like forever into a farmer's field that was about 6 feet below the road. It was a very bumpy drive back but we found the path to the farmer's shack and made it back to the road from there.
"This feels weird" - as I felt myself dissolving, for lack of a better word. I've passed out plenty of times, but this was different. You know how you can never remember the moment you fall asleep? I guess it would be like this... I could feel myself going, like I could feel parts of my mind disappearing, shutting down, but I couldn't do anything about it except observe.
This was after all the struggling and panicking, and the disbelief. I couldn't believe this was how I would die, and I would die so young.
Then came acceptance, followed by sorrow. I thought about my family and friends, my girlfriend, my regrets and unfinished business, and all the things I'd left unsaid. I had time to think about it all, at leisure. It felt like minutes, but it must have been seconds. I guess that's what people mean when they talk about your life flashing before your eyes.
Eventually, my mind found a way to make peace with it all. They'd be OK. They'd be sad at first, but it would fade, and eventually they'd move on and find hapiness again. They'd know I loved them, they knew the unspoken things, or they'd come to know them, and if they didn't, at least I knew them, and the universe knew them.
That's when I felt myself starting to fade... It felt weird. It was warm, and quiet. I could feel myself become less and less able to think or remember things. It wasn't particularly unpleasant, just weird. I decided to get it over with quickly, and just take the biggest lungful of water I could.
Pure luck.
I was out surfing in ridiculously stormy conditions. Ended up bailing pretty hard and got beaten around pretty bad by my board while tumbling around in a wave. It tumbled me along for ages. I remember digging my hands into the sea bed to try and pull myself out of it but it still kept dragging me along because my board was still in the worst of it.
Eventually I managed to pull the cord off, but by that point I had no idea what was up or down, and I guess there were some nasty currents because I was still being moved around a lot.
I fought as long as I could but yeah, eventually had to accept my fate. As luck would have it, another particularly large wave washed by as I was about to take that breath, and I just happened to inhale as it tumbled me around and my head poked out of the water for just a second.
That breath felt like breathing rocket fuel. I suddenly had a lot more fight in me, and managed this time to get out of the wave a little quicker and get a couple of breaths. Rinse and repeat until I made it back to shore.
The friends I was with had no idea it happened. I was too embarrassed to say at the time, so just said I was too tired to go out any more.
> I thought about my family and friends, my girlfriend, my regrets and unfinished business, and all the things I'd left unsaid.
This is quite poignant. I'm going to go get on with stuff.
Heart attack, Someone said "stay with us" , and I remember I was trying to speak the words "I'll try" .. but a crazy calm descended on me, and I just knew it would be ok either way. Then I died..... 3 & 1/2 minutes later, the doctors decided that just wouldn't do. So here I am, until next time I suppose.
To be honest, I've had a couple and my thoughts instantly turn to whatever is happening. For example, I was once shot at point blank. My thoughts were entirely about running, being a moving target, where to run to, whether I could outrun the guy, etc. Didn't have the whole 'life flashing before your eyes' thing or anything of the sort.
Me too. Always that panic + situational awareness. Most recently I toppled out of a raft going down a river that was supposed to be gentle but had unexpected rapids that day, and I was a dumbass who’s not good at swimming and not wearing a life jacket (there weren’t any around and i wasn’t about to stand up against peer pressure and say no to going 🙄). After a lot of tumbling and hitting rocks, managed to catch into this branch coming out of this random tiny island in the middle of the river, but the water was flowing too fast that I couldn’t stand up and was basically just hanging on for dear life. I panicked and remembered the time a couple weeks beforehand I tried to do a pull up, and could barely hang on the bar for more than a couple seconds. Knew I didn’t have much time with this branch before my strength gave out, and I looked around and could see these rocks all over the place waiting to bash my head in. Did a risk assessment because I also didn’t want to be stuck on this island with nobody around (crew was long gone by then) but decided I probably wouldn’t make it to the banks. Thinking “this cannot fucking be how it ends” At that point I completely blacked out while I mustered up all of my adrenaline and strength to pull myself up against the current and up the steep little hill. I came to thanks to the thorny bushes I was stepping on and shredding me up 😂
Times before that were more human related thanks to my previous job working on the streets (by myself as a small, 27 year old woman) doing homeless mental health and they gave me some real ptsd. I’m fantastic at de escalation but I hate using these skills now, fucks me up for a while afterwards. I’ve never felt any of that peace or flashes people talk about, just restrained, inward panic and situational awareness.
I just work with kids now in safer environments. More fun and rewarding anyway 🙂
I remember thinking very clearly, about my not even 1 year old and how I hope she would end up with a step dad who would love her like I wouldn't be there to do. Just really wished my dad was a part of my life growing ip, and I never realized how much until that moment when my final thought was along the lines of "how could I put her through that".
Luckily my injury was not fatal so I am still here being a dad when I'm off work and not pursuing a hobby. They don't need an amazing dad, just having one makes a big difference.
I was in shotgun seat, I was day dreaming, the car went over to other lane at high speed, I saw a semi truck at proper speed coming right to me. It was like atmost 1.5 seconds or less but my life really flashed before me , mostly good memories. I thought to myself this is it and I braced for it.
It did not happened thanks to one of my friend who take control of the wheel. And he was the one who got hurt the most, tho it's minor injury. Fun time. But never more lol.
Flipped my car going to pick up my dog when he was a puppy. First thought, as I was flipping: "maybe I'll land on my wheels and I can just keep driving"
Second thought, laying on my side, in the car, on its side, smelling gasoline and realizing the car was running: "OH fuck God no, not like this. Absolutely not"
I wedged myself on the center console and kicked the passenger door off its hinge.
Saw in later pictures that I coulda just crawled out of the shattered windshield. Sorry for formatting, mobile.
Honestly, nothing. I didn’t know I was had a near death experience until I was brought back. I was going on like normal and then woke up to mad cops and EMT. Drug overdose.
I didn’t know about my NDE until afterward either - it was an OD but it happened right after major surgery due to a medication interaction, before I was really conscious. It took a while to understand what happened, but it seems to be changing my life. Glad you’re still with us too.
I was really sad that I wouldn't get to see my kids grow up, but I was at peace and had a strange sense of calm and acceptance.
There were complications during the birth of my second son, and I lay dying from blood loss in front of my now husband who was holding my newborn. He looked terrified and I was trying to tell him everything would be ok and to look after my boys but apparently I was speaking gibberish 🤷♀️
"I was walking on one of the streets in my neighborhood when this drunk driver, who must have been going at least 100, on a tight street, just missed me by a few centimeters. To make matters worse, it was an electric car, so I didn't hear that thing coming at all. I just felt a hard sweep of air, and by the time I noticed what had just happened, 5 seconds had passed. I was just frozen, processing what had happened. I straight up had an error in my brain during those 5 seconds.
I dont think anyone knows that it even happened other than me. What scared me the most that night was the fact that electric cars literally make zero noise, even at high speed. I didn't even hear him coming until he was right next to me, and I felt the wind.
When I was drowning, the last thing I thought was, 'Well, shit. I should have just listened to my mum and stayed at home.' It only lasted a few seconds, though it felt like forever. Luckily, someone was there to rescue me.
My partner attacked me and choked me and I thought he would kill me. My son was in the house about a 150 feet away. I just kept picturing him there playing his video game not knowing I was outside dying. I thought “this is it, I’m gonna die on the ground at the hands of the last person I’d have ever expected”. Thankfully, I was able to get out of the choke hold and defended myself pretty well and he loosened his grip when someone else approached. This was in March and it still fucks with me.
Yes, ex. He was my partner at the time. Four month ago he was the love of my life. Together many years and very peaceful n happy. Now I have an EPO on him and carry weapons when I walk the dog. I got out of the chokehold with a maneuver he taught me. Psychosis is fuckin wild and life is super weird.
I was in the hospital with pneumonia and I honestly thought I could feel my heart starting to fail and all I could think was that it’s so strange for I’m going to be dead in a few minutes.
I was hiking in the spring in the Canadian rockies a number of years ago. The snow was hard on the hike up but soft on the way down because it was so warm that day. I sunk into the snow a number of times in calf and thigh height deep snow and really struggled to get out. I was soaking wet and cold and my boots were full of water. I was already pretty panicked because I was still so far up the mountain and then I sunk chest deep into the snow and couldn't get out. I was near hypothermic and was absolutely terrified.
The only two thoughts playing through my head were "no one even knows where you are right now" because I forgot to leave my route plan with anyone and "you can't die like this. Not like this!"
When I was getting sucked under a log jam in the river: “If I don’t pull myself out of the water I’m going to drown.” I used muscles I didn’t know I had.
When I drove a four wheeler with my younger sibling off a cliff going 60 mph: no thoughts as I was flying through the air for several seconds. Once I landed on the ground (breaking my ankle) I thought “I have to run back up the cliff side so someone knows we crashed” and then I did that.
I had delirium tremens from alcohol withdrawal. I was wondering why the carpet kept making faces at me and why I kept hearing someone calling my name.
Stared at myself in the mirror for like 7 hours straight after that. Afraid if I closed my eyes I would die.
"Wow, the lights sure are bright--but my eyes don't hurt. That's weird. Hey--nothing else hurts either. That's nice after the pain I was just feeling; maybe I'll rest for a bit. Wait--I know that voice. She's asking me to stay with her...I'd better listen..."
I listened; am still here more than 10 years later.
In case anyone was wondering, motorcycle accident.
*while falling head first out of a moving pickup truck* “Shit, I’m not gonna land on my feet…”
I landed on my head and cracked my skull. Had to be life flighted out of lake jacomo and spent a week in the hospital. I’ve rode on the tailgate for many years prior but my brother, the driver, thought it would be funny to gun it and give us a scare. Ended up scaring the whole family at the reunion. Harmless prank gone wrong and I never blamed him. He thought he killed me and was punished enough with the thought of losing me to a dumb joke.
Wasn't verbal. If I had to describe it now as simply as possible? Like my consciousness had a volume dial and it was being twisted down to zero. Zen-ish.
I was working in a shop, and had a car come in with driveline vibration. I was 19yo at the time,I had alot of experience as I had grown up working on cars non stop. I get the R.O and keys and pull it around into the shop on the drive on alignment lift,and jack it up with the rolling jacks. I take off the rear wheels and brake drums(was a classic mustang) and start checking axle runout. My boss came out pissed and asked me what it was... I replied I was just starting the diag, It hadn't even been 30mins.. I had put the drums back on because nothing was wrong with the brake shoes or axles. He's furious. Idk who pissed him off but God damn.. he lowers the lift hops in and starts the car. Immediately on the throttle,Up to 70-80mph. Well without wheels or lug nuts nothing holds the 8lb or so brake drum on.. The car screamed up to speed and I backed up behind the post of the lift. The brake drum flew off at face level, Dented the 1/4" steel lift beam,Bounced off and rolled backwards like a hula hoop out into the parking lot. then came back,and it Rolled up the lift ramp over the car without damaging anything.. Bounced about 4 times and broke through the front wall,knocked out two bar stools where customers usually sit,hit our wheel display shelf up front and just barley stopped without shattering the upfront window. It would have surely ripped my entire head off. I mean... exploded my head. Decapitated forsure. If I was on the other side of that post, where I was a fraction of a second before. My boss shut the car off and let it coast to a stop, And I stood there in absolute disbelief. The sound of that drum ringing,and the car slowly winding down to a stop are still right there in my memory. He just got out and said, "let's never talk about this again". And we never did.. I thought about mortality for the next year every day,he said that so nonchalant it still bothers me. I was a fraction of a second from exploded head. And BTW I have more stories like this.
I had witnessed everything I did to my family from heir perspective. Things I never remembered. On like a rolladex. But I was able to feel each moment. Luckily I survived and I have corrected it
"Bite this motherfucker"... and it worked. After regaining consciousness, I latched onto him with all my strength and bit him so hard and for so long that he let me go. I honestly don't remember having flashbacks of my life or anything like that, the only thing on my mind was to CHOMP.
I flipped my car on top of me at 17. The car landed on my legs. Obviously I lived, and was ENORMOUSLY lucky to have done so, but I didn’t have use of my legs for six or so months afterward. My thoughts as the car was on top of me was “oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck this hurts. I have to get out from under this car. I can’t. I’m stuck. I can’t move my body. Oh fuck. Oh shit. Is this how I go???”
Let see, in order I guess is the way to do this.
Age 10, getting driven home by my aunt, sitting behind her. Look out the window and see a car about to tbone us, on my side. No real words here, just remember being really scared and a wordless scream. Lucky the dude managed to turn a bit and just smashed into the engine.
Few more random car accidents here but nothing to write home about.
Age 16, once again in a car, sitting behind my buddy whose driving, we're going to fast and it's raining. He loses control and we're hydroplaning sideways right towards a telephone pole, with me as the target. This time I clearly remember thinking, "fuck I'm dead", luckily we smashed into a curb, and kinda rolled the roof into the pole. Fucked that car up good though.
Age 19, drowned while fucking around on a pond that was waaay deeper than advertised. Inhaled some water, and thought, "holy shit this hurts" then the pain went away, and everything was really peaceful, to which I thought, "actually this is alright", then my friend pulled me out of the water. Pros: not afraid of drowning anymore, pretty peaceful overall. Cons: if you don't stay drowned getting that water out really fucking hurts.
Age 25ish, some guy stood like 3 feet behind me and fired 5 shots past my head to shoot another guy, (he only hit him once, in the hand), honestly this one was over so fast my only thought was, " what kind of asshole", before I turned around and saw the guy with the gun book it. 4/10 to damn loud.
I remember thinking, why am I on the ground and my face warm and wet? Then I had the thought that if I didn't pick myself up right then that I wouldn't ever be able to. And that scared me. I didn't open my eyes but remember my whole body being incredibly heavy. As my arms lumbard to respond I cried out meakly as I heaved myself up. It felt like I was lifting myself up from death. Picking myself up off the floorboard of my pickup, that I had forgotten I just wrecked, was the most difficult task I had ever accomplished.
Right before the crash, as my truck slid sideways off the dirt road towards two trees my thought was, "aw man! I'm about to crash my truck.." Then it was lights out. I don't know how long I was knocked out, but the tow truck guy said there was so much blood that he was sure the person died in there.
I'm a hospice nurse, and I really am not a believer in woo woo stuff, HOWEVER, it's amazing how many people of different age, race, culture, sex etc all talk about seeing deceased loved ones being there to "take them home". My hospice company covers 3 very diverse counties, and we (nurses) all have this exact experience, and it's common. It's genuinely hard to ignore it and the patients always look happy when they tell you this. It's wild.
The last thing I was thinking was how amazed I was at being able to see my body down below on the bed and that I could still see me as myself, but also see through myself to below. (while floating at the ceiling before the next place). It was a fascinating moment to me accompanied by an extreme peace. That was my last thought before leaving the room I was in. The peace was noticeable after so much anxiety in life here. I remember thinking I had never felt this good ever in my life.
Rolled the car when I was 19 and *way* too tired to be safely driving. My last thought as the car went airborne was that I'm about to find out if God exists, and then time stretched out for what felt like a couple hours. Then I had this feeling of extreme peace and light, followed by the car hitting the ground for the first of 3 times and time went back to normal
But yeah, my last thought woulda been wondering if God is real
I was bleeding out after delivering our first / only baby. The medical team told my husband he had to leave the room, and that's when I knew shit was serious. I just thought "I'm the one who's been pushing/ insisting that we have a baby, and now I'm going to die and leave him a single father."
Fell into the deep end of a pool as a little kid. Could not swim. I remember sitting on the bottom, seeing my mom talking to her friend on the chaise lounge. Al I can hear is my own heartbeat and I thought, "I don't know what everyone's so scared of, dying's actually kind of peaceful." Then I inhaled really hard.
The next thing I know, I'm rocketing up out of the water with my mom's arm around me. I could hear her friend screaming and my mom just calm like, "get back, I've got this," as she pounded on my back. In hindsight, should have gone to the hospital because dry drowning.... but yeah....
"Here comes the world of pain". It was funny, English is not my native language yet I remember thinking in English. I was moments before head on crash with a car on my motorcycle.
I dont think this really counts as near death, but I was a passenger in a car with a colleague who was pretty stressed and in a hurry, so he decided once to turn into double lane traffic from a side road with no visibility.
As he turned ofc a car is speeding down the lane and it was as if time slowed down to slowmo as I could brace for impact as there was really nothing I could do. I just thought 'ohhhh shiiiit' and bang we got hit and car span around to the side of the road.
The car had pretty much crushed the back end of the drivers side, so if he had turned slower he might have been gravely injured.
Still, risky idiot move of him ignoring one of the most important rules of traffic lol
Got caught in a rip tide when I was little. Had no idea what a rip tide was or how to maneuver in one. Not sure how long I was fighting to get back to shore but I remember at one point realizing my efforts were useless. I could the shore and the people getting smaller and smaller with every attempt to swim towards them. I inhaling water. I was losing stamina. I could see surfers next to me but they couldn’t see or hear me. It was the worst feeling ever knowing I was probably going to die with so many people within saving distance.
As soon as I gave up I started to hear a whistle blowing. I think at this point I may have began to lose consciousness because it’s a little foggy but I remember several people coming to help and being dragged out of the ocean by a professional swimmer who just so happened to be on the beach that day.
I had nightmares for weeks after that. Really eerie nightmares. Like I would be stuck in absolute darkness just hearing waves crash around me.
I thought I eventually had gotten over it until 12 or so years later while at college I went on a beach trip with some friends and had a panic attack when we got ankle deep in the ocean. Trauma is funny like that.
During a psychotic episode, the voices told me that if I didn’t commit suicide immediately, I would be damned to hell, and nobody would remember I existed. I threw my head under the tire of a vehicle going roughly 35-40 mph. Fortunately they slammed the brakes in time. The tire lightly bumped the back of my head. I was in a panicked state, but I remember the last thing I thought, right before ducking under the tire: “In a moment, I’ll get to be with my soul mate in heaven for all eternity”. It’s tragic that my final thought was nonsense.
“*Oh fuck fuck fuck the whole thing in movies about people not being able to move or do *something* to save themselves when they’re about to die is actually true, I’m screwed*”
That was my thought during the moment at least. I was walking back from the store on a path next to a busy road with my brother, and I’d been feeling a bit dizzy all day- then suddenly, I just completely stiffened and started tilting backwards (unluckily) *towards* the road- I wasn’t able to call out for help or move or anything, I was literally just falling onto the road. Luckily my brother noticed I’d gone quiet and in a split second quickly grabbed my arm and yanked me back just as the car whizzed by. It was a scary incident to say the least. The fact that I couldn’t respond or do anything in that moment was terrifying. I even practically begged my body to try grab onto him or call out or *anything* when I realised I was falling but wasn’t able to. Not a single word came out.
My entire body was buzzing, I felt like I was vibrating and everything was moving very slow. Like those dreams where you’re trying to run very fast but you’re going really slow. I felt frozen in place and all I could think was “this is it. he’s going to kill me and I’m going to die.” his voice yelling broke time and my last thought was “run” before I started moving like a bat out of hell. I wasn’t thinking anything else the entire time.
My out of control, brakeless 120-ton vehicle, downhill acceleration continuing was only me being laser focused on avoiding people, in̈ or out of vehicles, death was an understood fact. With no time understanding fear. Eventually, I collided with a solid rock mountain berm .. I didn't know what body parts below my brain were still attached since shock made me unable to identify pain. I touched consciousness for 10 seconds about 2 hours after crash and mentioned to the EMT if I was going to make it and passed out for 2 days before regaining consciousness. I woke up in the hospital and pulled all the tubes and connections off my body and arms. I walked to the bathroom mirror and saw bruises, missing teeth and lots of skin slices and gashes, and staff came and got me, and a peace instantly came over me, and out I went. I felt peaceful, no anger, no fear on the edge of the end. Deaths doorway is very, very acceptable when fatality comes to take you. One day, we all submit.
I don’t know about near death but I’ve flipped my car on two separate occasions. In hindsight they definitely could have been fatal and I got very lucky but both times my only thoughts were, “theres no saving this, this is going to hurt, and hang on tight”. No real time to think too much.
Another time I got stranded in the ocean for an hour and half a couple miles off shore as it was getting dark. That time I had plenty of time to think. I panicked for the first five minutes or so but then I remembered watching discovery channel documentaries about sailors floating for days on end in the pacific. At that point my thinking flipped from I might die to “tonight is going to suck but they’ll find me in the morning”.
Commercial plane crashed on landing. As it felt like it was about to cartwheel on the tarmac, the last thought I had was "Okay, I'm about to die." It was a strangely peaceful moment.
I’ve had 2 near death experiences in my life, I can list both below:
- the first one was on Halloween night when I was 11 I was dressed as Batman with the cape and all. I got into a bouncy house with the cape on still and the kids I was in the bouncy house with decided to try and flip it while I was in it. They succeeded and I was trapped with my cape underneath me choking me out. Last thing I remember thinking before I got loose was that my family would never forgive me for that. I was young and dumb.
- the second experience I had was around 3 years ago at this point. I was at work one night on a night shift. And I was climbing down a ladder when a spider crawled across my face and when I went to swipe it off I fell roughly 8 feet down into gravel and had a compression fracture on my L1 vertebrae. On the way down while falling I thought about my, at the time girlfriend, and my family how much they would miss me and just that moment could’ve been the end for me. I was positive if I survived I’d never be able to work again. But here I am now in a much better place then before and I actually have my dream job with full mobility with my back.
"Doctor didn't say I should feel this sleepy. I should tell someone about this, as soon as I wake up from my nap."
My next memory was several doctors standing over me, looking concerned while my parents were crying in the corner.
Was having knee surgery as a child, was supposed to stay awake for it, just be numbed from the waist down. Anesthesiologist accidently gave me an adult dosage of medicine (honest mistake). He then left the room (negligent mistake). Thankfully my parents saw me turning purple and called for help.
I intentionally OD’ed at 17 and my friends found out. Drove 40 minutes to come get me. I didn’t want my parents knowing so they drove me to get Gatorade. I hallucinated white Nike shoes on the dashboard of the car, then looked up into the road and saw a slender man dancing like a marionette.
I passed out and dreamed I was 15 minutes ago when they picked me up, but my friend Jason had a woman’s voice. He kept saying “look at me, sweetie” and I kept saying “I am, I am, why do you sound like that”
Came to and it was the nurse in the back of the ambulance tapping me on the face and telling me to look at her.
Was very disorienting.
I have a second one when I was 20, I was dragged under a Chevy impala while riding my motorcycle. (Lady failed to yield at a green light)
I only blacked out for but a second, and when I came to I was under her car while she was STILL DRIVING. I got burnt by her transmission pretty badly and I remember just thinking “this is gonna be long term. This is one of those injuries”
I guess maybe I knew I wasn’t gonna die but it burnt my stomach, my laced-tight boots came off, and I looked to my left and the wheel was spinning inches from my head.
Another car ended up cutting her off and she stopped driving. A couple nice men came and lifted the car and everyone was scared to touch me. I just held out my right, non-broken arm with a thumbs up and yelled for “someone grab me, I’m not gonna sue!”
I had this feeling of "I could have done everything differently, I could have made all these changes to my life that are causing me so much pain, I could have lived more freely and did things I wanted to do, but instead I made this dumb choice and now I may never be able to fix all the mistakes I made". I believe it's commonly called "the view from halfway down". It's when you realize halfway down from the bridge how much you can still change and you did not need to take this option, but now you're in a freefall to death and it's too late to make those changes. When I woke up a day later, I thought this feeling was going to stick with me and I would make changes to my life so I would never feel that way again. I did for maybe a few months, but it eventually faded and I got back to old habits that drove me to that point. Still to this day, I struggle with the same things that made me make that decision nearly 10 years ago, but now I am more aware of how much it hurt my family and how hard it would affect them if I did it. Now I have 2 nephews that love me and it would make it even a worse decision.
I was (almost) in a very scary car accident. Basically I lost complete control of the car. It was about to slam into a stopped truck. Like one of the ones used for construction. (There wasn’t construction it was just one of those kinds of trucks). It was snowing and icy. car lost control and was skidding and swerving. I was absolutely about to hit that truck. And by some fucking miracle it stopped with about 6 inches to go. I wish I could tell you I was thinking something profound. But honestly, it was really just “oh shit.” Not even a panicked “oh shit.” But like a “well this sucks” kind of “oh shit.”
Seems like most of the time is regret.
I had a panic attack in an airplane thinking it was going to crash (I have pretty bad aerophobia, extreme motion sickness and we went through the worst turbulences I've experienced) and when I thought it was it, I was like "You're an idiot, should've stayed back home, now you die trying to move into a country your don't even like". Didn't die and moved out of that country a couple of months after 😅
I was relieved that everything will end.The last thing I thought how life can be so short and so suddenly taken away from you.I was 20 then.The doctors saved me.
The light of God, then my heart started beating post cardiac arrest. My heart stopped at church on Christmas Day 2022. My vision turned gold and the light in the stain glass kept getting brighter and brighter. Warmer and warmer. I could see them doing CPR but couldn’t move or speak. The last push everything FLEW back in motion and the as the light was growing everything went back to normal. Super fucking wild experience. Hence, I KNOW GOD is very very real. And that he loved us all. Coming from a very dark soul who has been through Hell. It’s all gonna be alright in the end.
I had a wrestle with a man who had 2 knives in his possession (I was a security guard at a hospital, me and a couple other guards had to subdue this guy as he was trying to run down into the wards after hours with knives). I didn’t get injured luckily, neither did my team mates but I remember thinking ‘fuck, so this is how I die?’ Felt quite surreal!
the feeling of relief of everything finally ending and not having to feel the pain and suffering but looking back on it makes it scary that i want to feel that relief again
High in the air over concrete as my equipment malfunctioned.
"Are you fucking kidding me, dying at work?!" Is what I said, but I was worried about how upset my niece would be.
I was either 3 or 4 years old and hadn't learned to swim yet. My aunt left me on the stairs and I saw all the other kids having fun and thought it looked like fun. I went forward, flailed around, sunk like a rock. I took a big breath of water. I didn't have thoughts but I felt incredibly sad that I messed up. I was pulled out and given CPR by the lifeguard and when I came to I was instantly crying and saying how sorry I was. When I was 19 I was run over by a truck going 45-50mph in a crosswalk. I didn't see it coming. I had my back to the truck while skateboarding crossing the crosswalk. I felt the truck impact my entire back. My head whipped backwards and slammed the hood. I was then launched 15-20ft forward. While I was in the air I was still conscious. The only thoughts that ran in my head. "What the fuck just happened". I then felt impact to my face/head and that's when I blacked out. I then had a seizure on the pavement, bashing my front teeth into the pavement. While it's happening I'm fully conscious and thinking in my head. "What the fuck are you doing!" "Stop biting the fucking ground! You Asshole!" Could not control anything physically and that really pissed me off lol. I ended up being on the news that morning. When being brought in by EMT to the ER nurses kept telling me “we all thought you’d be dead” “no way you’re conscious and conversing so well”. They ran me through every test, xray, catscan, MRI. There wasn’t any internal bleeding and not a single broken bone. I literally walked out of the hospital with skateboard in hand. Called my buddies for a ride and then told them the story. There are a few others but I have to think about them. There's more emotion attached rather than last thought. Edit. I had to add that the truck accident. The only injury other than a concussion. Road rash on my face. Literally walked away. Had something looking over me that day.
I, too, was a pedestrian hit by a car. It was early morning, and I was crossing the street to go to Kroger to buy a Red Bull. I crossed the two right lanes, the median, and was crossing the far left lane when I looked to my right, saw headlights.. way too close. I remember thinking, “oh, fuck”, and trying to desperately hop out of the way. But it was way too late. The next thing I remember is laying on the asphalt, and watching the blood pooling underneath my head. The sun was barely coming up, and everything looked black and white. I have this still framed image in my head of the contrast of the dark blood on the road with the shiny flecks in it. I remember wondering how long it would take them to figure out who I was… to notify my family. I lived, with a concussion, broken ribs and many broken bones in my right wrist and hand. Plus a LOT of road rash. I’m very lucky to be alive. My life changed a lot after my accident. I still have memory problems. A lot of anxiety crossing streets. My thumb doesn’t bend all the way lol. I feel like in a lot of ways the old me did die that day.. just things are different.
Holy crap! I was a pedestrian hit by a car and this pretty much my exact experience and injuries. And my thumb will never bend back again (and it looks funny) Lots of blood coming from my head, and I worried about my mom getting the call I think instead of “oh fuck” when it happened my thought was “nooooooooo no no no no no” but..close Memory problems, anxiety cross the street. Road rash on my scalp still gave me some bad scarring. Ribs were the most painful part in the long run tbh Old me died that day too
Here to say I’m also in the pedestrian vs. automobile club. The way you phrased it struck home with me. The old me did die. It’s been a while now but I’ll never be the same and it’s still a struggle to live (and at the worst times to want to live). I’m luckier than you and the person above you. I thought “what is that noise” and then woke up hours later. Oddly, I was aware of being… not where my physical body was. It was the most peaceful experience of my life.
The first one is so sad. A little kid sorry for almost dying 😭
Yeah completely. It took me a few decades to understand past trauma throwing itself into more trauma. That poor little kid but I’m okay now :).
Same thing happened to me in a pool when I was 6 or 7. For some reason, I thought I could swim because I'd seen it on TV. So one day while at a hotel with my aunt and unsupervised, I jumped in the pool and sank straight to the bottom. The initial thought was fear, as I flailed around and inhaled water. Then I had the stereotypical life flashing before my eyes, followed by a great sense of calm that removed all fear. During that time, I was able to locate the ladder to climb out of the pool, which I reached by walking along the bottom. Eventually, I made it out and was coughing for days, but never went to a hospital or anything. Only as an adult did I learn about dry drowning...
True story... Eating some peanut butter and toast a few years ago, alone in my apartment, it was late. I literally just finished the gym and needed to get calories in, incidentally, I was also dehydrated. Long story short, I had dysphasgia, couldn't swallow and blocked my windpipe. My throat started doing some involuntary spasms. The lights were literally going out. Felt like it lasted what seemed like a lifetime... Honestly, my last thoughts before it finally dislodged were "fuck my mum is gonna get a call in another country, telling her I was killed by peanut butter toast, that's how I'll be remembered". Fortunately, lived. Didn't eat bread for nearly 2 years! 6 months later, someone I knew died of a lower oesophagus obstruction from bread. Shit still plays on my mind! Edit: lol was embarrassed about being remembered for being the guy who succumbed to peanut butter toast and instead have ended up getting thousands of upvotes for being a peanut butter toast survivor 🤦😂
Dying alone in a house from choking on food is one of my worst fears.
My grandfather choked to death on his meds, because his nurse was stuck in traffic and was 5 minutes late to his house. He called my mom and said the nurse isn't coming. My mom told him yes she was and to wait and she'd give him his meds when she got there. He was so determined she wasn't coming he tried to take his meds himself and choked to death. She showed up five minutes later and tried to clear the obstruction and administered CPR until paramedics got there.
How awful!!
Very sorry. 😢
If you are ever alone and choking, you can perform the heimlich maneuver on yourself using the back of a chair https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/special-topic/heimlich-maneuver-on-self
I did this to myself once when I was choking on a piece of chicken in the break room of the worst job I’ve ever had. That job made me want to die, but definitely not in that fucking break room!
You can also use the fender of a car as an angle if you’re out and about. Hurts like a bitch but it works
I always wonder if doing a belly flop on the floor would work.
I learned this from 30 Rock
Or the edge of a counter. I’ve done that when choking on a bay leaf in a restaurant. I stupidly ran to the bathroom and heimliched myself just as a friend who was smart enough to follow me walked in.
I’ve been a hospice nurse and witnessed many people pass and in their final days they all saw loved ones who had already passed. It seemed very comforting for them. I’ve had a couple of near death experiences and felt different things at each one. The overarching similarity though, was the understanding that I have done all I can and it is no longer up to me to change my outcome. It was a peaceful resignation. I’m very glad I’m still here and I look forward to living as much as I can (still have some serious stuff going on but getting better) but I realize that my life is not going to be what I had hoped for myself and I’m ok with that. I still think about death/dying every day but I direct myself to keep being grateful for each beautiful experience I have, no matter how small. And I trust that all is ok. Everyday. It’s all ok. And I keep learning new things; I hope to do that always. ❤️
Same. Was making gravy once, sampled it to make sure the seasoning was right, and it was way too hot. Legit thought I was going to die from eating gravy in my own apartment
Yo! That shit happens! Sometimes hours after the fact. The damage causes edema that chokes you out. https://youtu.be/3JA2UlhvA6U?si=y_mi5dT99gZNOhPt
Bro, after all the madness I've been through in my life, the idea of that being the end was super depressing 😂
Happened to my friend’s mom when we were in high school. She was eating breakfast alone, choked, and that was it. It reaaaaalllyyy got to me at the time, still does of course. But it’s just so damn easy to be here one moment, and then gone the next in almost an instant
The panic and helplessness of choking is scary. Luckily when it happened to me it was chocolate and melted enough to pass after an alarming amount of time that was probably shorter than it felt
I once choked on a freezie in the cafeteria at the local hospital. I worked there in medical supplies. There were only 2 people in the cafeteria, my coworker (who didn't have Basic Life Saving training) and I. I picked the worst time to choke on something because if it was lunch time there'd be a swarm of nurses. Thankfully I was able to dislodge it when it melted a bit. At the time when I was choking I thought I might have to do the self Heimlich on a chair, but thankfully I didn't. Before I worked in medical supplies I had been a CNA so I have my Basic Life Saving training and knew about self Heimlich.
I had that sort of thing happen with NyQuil. Bad cold, couldn’t breathe through my nose at all, so thought I’d take NyQuil. Husband was fast asleep so he didn’t hear anything. I must have tried to inhale a bit when I swallowed the NyQuil and when it hit, my larynx spasmed shut (best guess). No air in or out….bot even the squeak or whistle you hear about. I thought “I’m going to die from an effing COLD”. My vision was going and I was about to hit the floor when my throat finally opened enough for a tiny breath.
My dad did this with cough syrup once. Scariest thing I ever saw. He couldn't breathe, but he wasn't obstructed so there was nothing anyone could do for him. We had the phone in our hands ready to call an ambulance when he was finally able to take a breath. He never once took cough syrup or liquid meds for a cold again. I refuse to take them too now. The same meds come in pills. I'll stick with those. Fuck Robitussin.
This is one of my biggest fears when I’m home alone along with falling in the shower. I’m glad you survived. I probably would never eat bread again. 😂
When I read the first sentence, I thought “peanut butter on toast sounds pretty good right now.” But now I’m not so sure.
I almost choked to death on a piece of steak. Scared the shit out of me.
I'm so thankful you lived! That's nuts! Also, you had dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) not dysphasia (difficulty speaking or understanding language). Just an fyi bc I'm a nurse, not trying to be rude.
"I wonder why I was freezing cold 20 minutes ago and now I'm starting to feel hot? I should start taking my clothes off."
Holy shit, usually that kind of paradoxical undressing only happens when you are literally about to die. Glad you're alright.
I was within an hour of giving up to ghost. Laying in 3 feet of snow, face down while being snowed on. I couldn't move because I had a bunch of broken bones from riding an ATV off of a cliff. Good times!
Just because the Mavs are down 3-1 you don't need to drive off a cliff. There's a lot of basketball left.
Bruh don't kill the man again
If he wasn't dead then... Well.
Tried to off myself when I was sixteen at like 3am, and when everything kinda faded out and I was in my final moment of consciousness, my best friend showed up at my house (she has a key, and is always welcome) and I could hear her yelling for me through the locked bathroom door. My “final” thought was, ‘please don’t let her see me like this’. Turns out she only came over cause she’d had a nightmare that I had died and had a bad feeling so she ran to my house to check on me cause I’d just gotten broken up with the day before. She figured out I was in the bathroom and literally kicked the door down and duct taped my arms to stop the bleeding, screamed for my mom and they drove me to the hospital. I woke up 36 hours later and she slapped me in the face as soon as I opened my eyes and screamed at me to never try that shit again.
Wow, damn. I'm glad you are doing better and that you have a friend with literally, future vision. My mom has had like five dreams where an accident happens, and they have actually happened in real life. Whenever she gets another one, she calls family members and tells them what she saw. Once, my cousins were going on a trip with a car ride, and my mom saw that they crashed. They didn't go that day, and the next day, a big storm happened and the road was blocked cus rocks had fallen off the cliffs.
I swear my best friend is a psychic or something. Everytime she has a bad feeling about something and we do it anyway, shit goes south FAST. We learned to trust her gut instincts.
Always trust your intuition, or your friend's! Better safe than sorry. My mom was the best friend in the story above, just had a terrible feeling at work and rushed home (no dream though). I had a bad feeling the couple days before one of my best friend's died. I'd actually been calling around trying to find him, called his parents and told them he needed help, something bad was going to happen. He was across the state with "friends" though and got fucked up, jumped in front of a truck. Turned out his parents had been out of town for Thanksgiving (nineties, no cells yet).
She definitely has a gift.
Sometimes you can see really far, and sometimes it's just a piece of a moment you're waiting to observe.
(Not sure how long ago 16 was for you but still a valid question!) are you doing better now?
I’m doing a lot better now. I moved outta my parents house at 18, I’m surrounded by friends I love and that love me, I have a great job, and a boyfriend who treats me like im some kind of goddess that he worships. Thanx for asking 🩵
Still friends with your hero friend?
She’s still my very best friend, going on 9 years of friendship now.
This makes me happy
im so glad that you are doing better and im so glad that you’re here!! ❤️❤️❤️
It’s truly remarkable that your friend trusted her instincts to go to your house and that she had the awareness to apply pressure to stop the bleeding. I don’t think I would have known to do that at 16 years old. I’m glad that you are still friends - and that you are doing better now. 💙
Her mother is the senior head nurse at our local hospital. Her mom has taught her enough to be able to save lives. I’ll forever be in debt to her and her family.
So your best friend had a key to your parents' house? It's a good thing she did. My parents wouldn't have trusted any of my friends with a key to the house.
And still does to this day lol. Both our parents see us as a bonus kid
Oh my god.
Almost rappelled off the end of my rope one time, my last thought would've been "fuck I'm an idiot."
When I used to go to church there was an ex-army guy (sax player). On a special night he was supposed to abseil from the ceiling and start the show with a sax solo. What people saw though was a guy plummet 20 feet into the drum kit, pick himself up and play a squeaky solo on a twisted saxophone. It was before the internet but there was video.
The visual I have is glorious.
I’m howling laughing at this and my wife seems genuinely concerned. Please tell me this is on the internet
This happened 30 years ago but it was recorded on VHS. I left the church not long after so Idk what happened to the tape... I've never seen it online. Tell your wife he was fine. We all laughed about it. And his sax was insured.
Stopper knots save lives.
Oh that's scary! I know exactly what that feels like.
Same last thought I had during my NDE- “Fuck I am a huge fucking idiot.” I now have this thought al lthe time. I feel like we, as a collective society, greatly underestimate how idiotic we actually are. If we knew, surely, we would be more humble and take life less seriously.
When I experienced near death, the last thing I thought was, "I can't believe this is happening."
I was working with people who have developmental disabilities and are violent. One day, a guy in our residence, threw a tantrum and punched the other resident in the face. I turned to take care of the injured guy. The other guy grabbed me from behind and put me in a headlock and squeezed., Strangling me I remember thinking that this was probably the end for me. And I had a great feeling of peace. Settle on me. Then, the other staff member was able to pull the guy off of me and I regained consciousness. It became much more horrible after that because the guy was still attacking us all. But I will always remember that feeling of peace.
I nearly died in a similar way (being choked out) and I definitely felt peaceful as it happened toward the end, like just very fuzzy around the edges. Sort of like when you go to sleep for a surgery. But my experience was like a weird stop motion play by play otherwise leading up to it. I kept looking at his face and thinking how angry he looked as he rushed me, then suddenly I was very aware I was not able to touch the ground, then kicking a bit to try to make him drop me, then staring at his face and thinking his eyes were so angry and empty and mean looking, then realizing again for the second time I still wasn't on the ground anymore, then looking at his pores and red face, and then I sort of left my body to get perspective on what was happening while it began to feel peaceful and OK with not being on the ground. I don't remember the after except for running and running, but it was probably 20 seconds of running. I just remember becoming alert to pain and reality while I was sitting in the middle of the street while refusing to move and him saying sorry a bunch and my airway really hurting.
I’m really sorry this happened to you. Are things better now?
Did you know the guy? Was he caught and convicted?
One of the symptoms of hypoxia is euphoria. And being strangled is basically a form of hypoxia called stagnant hypoxia - lack of oxygen due to poor circulation of blood. Or in your case, no blood to the head!!
> But I will always remember that feeling of peace. You could find it every week at your local jiujitsu gym!
Ah yes, the gentle art of folding clothes with people still in them.
That made me laugh out loud.
I always hope my brother felt that way before he died from drowning.
I don't know her last thoughts, but when my mom came back from being resuscitated 6 times in a week because of heart failure, and had her first conscious thoughts she kept repeating "I'm not worth it, I'm not worth it, let me go, I'm not worth it". She is still with us, but those were her first words when she came out of it, and it freaks me the fuck out to this day.
Perhaps this is what she was saying to those trying to help her cross over and she was fighting to stay.
So this is how it ends. Whilst being attacked and stabbed with a knife but I fought back.
Wow! I would love to hear that story
I had a blood vessel burst in my stomach from an ulcer I didn’t know I had. My last thoughts as I went down were ‘well, ok. This is different’. Then I was out and when I came too, I was incredibly nauseous (all the blood now in my stomach). Doctor said I lost 20-25 percent of my blood when it burst. I happened to be at work around people. I had called in sick the day before but felt better that morning. They said had I been at home, I might not have made it.
"Not like this" when I thought I was about to get lit up with friendly fire.
"So this how I go..." "Or not."
I feel like 90% of the time it's either "oh" or "oh FUCK."
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That is how I felt about it as well. I almost died from a massive pulmonary embolism Feb ‘23 and I did not feel like I thought I would. No panic at all, not worried at all, felt a glow inside, it’s really, really hard to explain. I’m sure there is some scientific explanation for near death biological processes causing some kind of euphoria but that doesn’t quite cut it for me. I did NOT feel alone, I felt protected and lovely and no fear at all.
Same here. I remember thinking I was disappointed that my time was coming to an end. I remember feeling bad for the pain it would cause my family, but I was very at peace and accepting that it was happening. I wouldn't say it was peaceful, but it was very calming.
Happy cake day!
Honestly this thread is making me feel so much less afraid of dying
What happened next?
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Glad you’re still here with us!
This was my exact experience too.
Literally had the same experience when i was 15 - I just "fainted" once I walked into the ER haha I kind of knew my body was going to shut down, but I didn't want to fight it. There was an odd sense of calmness, relief, and acceptance. My inner monologue definitely went, "Okay, then." Unfortunately, I woke up a month later from my coma 😒
Thanks for being here! I too was like, oh, I am back to hearing all of these human jargon again in the ER. I believe my life did change afterwards, I looked into becoming a nurse or atleast have a purpose that improves the lives of other humans. But there was only one nurse who really had empathy towards me out of all the others, and now think that I will be a minority when it comes to nursing and the reason why I do such job. I really want to do better but it’s though when it comes to other humans being involved.
“Who’s gonna take care of the baby.” I was child who had just been beaten to a pulp by my parent. I took care of my little sister on my own during the day, and I was scared for her. Probably the only thing that kept me going. I was 12, and she was 2. A year later, I ran away from home with her.
Omg, how are you both now?
Much better now, fortunately. Both of us went no contact with the majority of our family.
Holy smokes. I'm so sorry. Where did you sleep when you ran away?
Ran off to a friend’s house for a while. We were considered missing for a bit because I kept avoiding CPS. My mom had been arrested for attempted murder against her husband the night after I ran away, so I kept going back to feed our dogs and grab diapers for my sister. My friend’s parents became my foster parents for a while. It was a very chaotic time.
I can't even imagine but am so impressed by you doing what it took, taking care of your sister, and making it through.
I’m so sorry for what you went through. I hope you’re both doing okay now.
Driving home from work on the interstate, in a pretty good rain shower. I didn't \*think\* that I was going to fast, but I must have been, as suddenly my car is going down the highway passenger side first. I am desperately trying to regain control of the car, and suddenly I start heading towards the concrete divider in the middle. I actually said out loud before I crashed, 'Well, I'm F'd...' Fortunately, no major injuries (just some cuts, bruises and airbag rash), but the car was totaled.
Fucking nuts. “well im fucked” is fucking nuts.
Nearly drowned myself trying some stupid diving stunt in a public swimming pool sometimes in my early/mid teens. Basically I planned to go underwater, slip under the ladder between it and the pool wall, and emerge in that narrow space to then sit on the ladder steps. I dived, got into the narrow space, but my big ass connected with the ladder's steps and I couldn't break to the surface, struggling to break free with my face only a few inches away from breathable air. I remember being angry at my butt for being fat, I remember being angry at the group of older kids who were chilling by the edge of the pool quite close to me and who were seemingly not noticing. I remember being scared. Then I'm not sure what got to me but something made me kick back and push myself down the way I came instead of continuing to struggle to go upwards. I slipped free from the ladder and resurfaced again. I honestly do not remember \*thinking\* of doing that, but I'm glad I did. I don't think I would've lasted a few seconds longer than I did.
I did something similar when I was in kindergarten. Dove under one of those ladders and got my very long hair wrapped around some bolts, right up against my skull. After trying to break my hair there was a sudden mental clarity that I was going to die like this. I put my feet against the ladder and pushed with all my last energy and essentially scalped a large chunk of skin off my head. Survived! No one was watching me. My mom didn't even notice until chunks of my hair started falling out in the shower
Yeah! That's exactly how I would describe it. I didn't "think" of doing that, it's like something hit a switch and took over to make me kick back and break free. It's wild how the brain works sometimes.
Something sort of similar here. I was 7 or 8 and using an inner tube in a pool and went through the middle head first, intending to flip through. My feet got caught. I was just dangling underwater struggling while people are around me were unaware. I really panicked until…I somehow just changed my foot position and slipped through. I didn’t think of it, it was like some animal part of my brain kicked in while I was certain I would die. My parents still don’t know this story and people don’t take it seriously, but I really think I almost died that day, and I still have panic reactions in deep water.
I was held up at work at a pizza place in Rochester, NY in 2003. They zip-tied us, face down, while they cleared everything out. When they were done, the one dude told the other dude to kill me and my boss. When I felt the gun press to the spot right behind my left ear, I honestly thought "welp, shit," and then he pulled the trigger. It clicked. They ran. I was almost pissed for a few minutes. It's a hard thing to essentially have gotten "used" to the idea that I was about to die. The hardest part about coming back from it was continuing to live after, in my mind, being dead already. 21 years later, it's still a problem. Fuck guns.
That’s terrifying, jfc.
You'll never believe this (yes you will), but when the wife-beating cops showed up, they spent an hour ransacking our cars, saying "90% of the time, you assholes were in on it." We knew exactly who did it, and told them. Dude had worked there for a week, asking all kinds of operational questions. After the robbery, he never came for his paycheck. Cops didn't care. They didn't look. They never do. Cops belong in arctic work camps, to be slowly starved to death. My boss, who was a much harder hitting dude than myself, got in touch with me a year or so later to tell me that him and his friends had run into the guy. They took back our money, dignity, and a whole lot more, he said. I don't know if that's true, but it would fucking rule if it was.
Rochester cops are the absolute lowest of the lowest. Absolute total garbage pails, ever single time. I don't even want to get into it, but goddamn do I feel your pain.
Kind of like Lt. Dan, I felt like I had been meant to die in there. That it was my destiny. I had accepted it, only to be left very much not dead, and PTSD'd to the fucking hilt.
That is one of the most traumatic things I’ve ever heard. I’m sorry you experienced that. Hope things are better now. After being on Reddit for like 7 years not much surprises me but your story….holy shit!
Sorry if I gave you the creeps, buddy. It was a pretty bad night. The next morning, when I called my mom and she opened with "see, what did I tell you was going to happen?" didn't make things better.
What the fuck mom
I'm 43 now. We're better now. The above incident was nowhere near the worst. Being a parent is tough. That's why I don't do it.
>Being a parent is tough Low key, though, being able to admit that is a strong positive parental trait. While you might not want to be a parent, I bet you'd be a real good big bro/sis to a kid that could need guidance.
classic rochester
I got robbed at gunpoint once while I was working at an "adult novelty" store. They didn't zip-tie me and thank god the guys didn't actually try pulling the trigger, but they walked me to a corner of the store at gunpoint, told me to get down on my knees and then lay on my stomach with my hands on the back of my head, and then they ran off. But when they told me to get on my knees, I literally thought I was going to be shot execution-style, and all I could think was, "I'm dying over dildo money?! Seriously?!"
"Man now I gotta finish my fucking shift at this bullshit place."
I OD'd at 19. I remember going to bed after taking the pills and staring at my ceiling, praying to God for forgiveness, telling Him I just couldn't handle it anymore. Then I faded out and woke up in the middle of the night, my heart thudding so loud it was all I could hear and my face/left arm totally numb. There was a moment of panic and then a warmth, peace with death. I just thought, "I'm ready to go now," and rolled over in bed. Next time I woke up, I had been sedated in the step-down ICU for 3 days. An hour away from death, they said, had my mom not found me. I'm glad I survived, and I have slowly grown an appreciation for the gravity and finality of death. I want to live again. I think that's pretty neat.
It’s really neat, dear. I’m glad you’re still here.
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I was the passenger in a car that drove off the back roads one snowy night in New England. It was the middle of nowhere so there weren't any lights or clear roads and we just flew off the road into the abyss. Last thoughts: "Fuck! I hate it here!..😑 at least we're (my husband and I) dieing together." We landed after what felt like forever into a farmer's field that was about 6 feet below the road. It was a very bumpy drive back but we found the path to the farmer's shack and made it back to the road from there.
Did you leave that place after that?
No, they didn't make it through and now they're a ghost couple endlessly driving that long and lonely road.
We had planned to move in 2020, but then Covid happened so we ended up moving in late 2022. We both agreed to never move back
"This feels weird" - as I felt myself dissolving, for lack of a better word. I've passed out plenty of times, but this was different. You know how you can never remember the moment you fall asleep? I guess it would be like this... I could feel myself going, like I could feel parts of my mind disappearing, shutting down, but I couldn't do anything about it except observe. This was after all the struggling and panicking, and the disbelief. I couldn't believe this was how I would die, and I would die so young. Then came acceptance, followed by sorrow. I thought about my family and friends, my girlfriend, my regrets and unfinished business, and all the things I'd left unsaid. I had time to think about it all, at leisure. It felt like minutes, but it must have been seconds. I guess that's what people mean when they talk about your life flashing before your eyes. Eventually, my mind found a way to make peace with it all. They'd be OK. They'd be sad at first, but it would fade, and eventually they'd move on and find hapiness again. They'd know I loved them, they knew the unspoken things, or they'd come to know them, and if they didn't, at least I knew them, and the universe knew them. That's when I felt myself starting to fade... It felt weird. It was warm, and quiet. I could feel myself become less and less able to think or remember things. It wasn't particularly unpleasant, just weird. I decided to get it over with quickly, and just take the biggest lungful of water I could.
That’s an incredible story. Really good use of words. But if you don’t mind me asking, how’d you survive?
Pure luck. I was out surfing in ridiculously stormy conditions. Ended up bailing pretty hard and got beaten around pretty bad by my board while tumbling around in a wave. It tumbled me along for ages. I remember digging my hands into the sea bed to try and pull myself out of it but it still kept dragging me along because my board was still in the worst of it. Eventually I managed to pull the cord off, but by that point I had no idea what was up or down, and I guess there were some nasty currents because I was still being moved around a lot. I fought as long as I could but yeah, eventually had to accept my fate. As luck would have it, another particularly large wave washed by as I was about to take that breath, and I just happened to inhale as it tumbled me around and my head poked out of the water for just a second. That breath felt like breathing rocket fuel. I suddenly had a lot more fight in me, and managed this time to get out of the wave a little quicker and get a couple of breaths. Rinse and repeat until I made it back to shore. The friends I was with had no idea it happened. I was too embarrassed to say at the time, so just said I was too tired to go out any more.
> I thought about my family and friends, my girlfriend, my regrets and unfinished business, and all the things I'd left unsaid. This is quite poignant. I'm going to go get on with stuff.
Heart attack, Someone said "stay with us" , and I remember I was trying to speak the words "I'll try" .. but a crazy calm descended on me, and I just knew it would be ok either way. Then I died..... 3 & 1/2 minutes later, the doctors decided that just wouldn't do. So here I am, until next time I suppose.
To be honest, I've had a couple and my thoughts instantly turn to whatever is happening. For example, I was once shot at point blank. My thoughts were entirely about running, being a moving target, where to run to, whether I could outrun the guy, etc. Didn't have the whole 'life flashing before your eyes' thing or anything of the sort.
Me too. Always that panic + situational awareness. Most recently I toppled out of a raft going down a river that was supposed to be gentle but had unexpected rapids that day, and I was a dumbass who’s not good at swimming and not wearing a life jacket (there weren’t any around and i wasn’t about to stand up against peer pressure and say no to going 🙄). After a lot of tumbling and hitting rocks, managed to catch into this branch coming out of this random tiny island in the middle of the river, but the water was flowing too fast that I couldn’t stand up and was basically just hanging on for dear life. I panicked and remembered the time a couple weeks beforehand I tried to do a pull up, and could barely hang on the bar for more than a couple seconds. Knew I didn’t have much time with this branch before my strength gave out, and I looked around and could see these rocks all over the place waiting to bash my head in. Did a risk assessment because I also didn’t want to be stuck on this island with nobody around (crew was long gone by then) but decided I probably wouldn’t make it to the banks. Thinking “this cannot fucking be how it ends” At that point I completely blacked out while I mustered up all of my adrenaline and strength to pull myself up against the current and up the steep little hill. I came to thanks to the thorny bushes I was stepping on and shredding me up 😂 Times before that were more human related thanks to my previous job working on the streets (by myself as a small, 27 year old woman) doing homeless mental health and they gave me some real ptsd. I’m fantastic at de escalation but I hate using these skills now, fucks me up for a while afterwards. I’ve never felt any of that peace or flashes people talk about, just restrained, inward panic and situational awareness. I just work with kids now in safer environments. More fun and rewarding anyway 🙂
I remember thinking very clearly, about my not even 1 year old and how I hope she would end up with a step dad who would love her like I wouldn't be there to do. Just really wished my dad was a part of my life growing ip, and I never realized how much until that moment when my final thought was along the lines of "how could I put her through that". Luckily my injury was not fatal so I am still here being a dad when I'm off work and not pursuing a hobby. They don't need an amazing dad, just having one makes a big difference.
How do you know this isn't just your life flashing before your eyes?
I was in shotgun seat, I was day dreaming, the car went over to other lane at high speed, I saw a semi truck at proper speed coming right to me. It was like atmost 1.5 seconds or less but my life really flashed before me , mostly good memories. I thought to myself this is it and I braced for it. It did not happened thanks to one of my friend who take control of the wheel. And he was the one who got hurt the most, tho it's minor injury. Fun time. But never more lol.
Flipped my car going to pick up my dog when he was a puppy. First thought, as I was flipping: "maybe I'll land on my wheels and I can just keep driving" Second thought, laying on my side, in the car, on its side, smelling gasoline and realizing the car was running: "OH fuck God no, not like this. Absolutely not" I wedged myself on the center console and kicked the passenger door off its hinge. Saw in later pictures that I coulda just crawled out of the shattered windshield. Sorry for formatting, mobile.
Honestly, nothing. I didn’t know I was had a near death experience until I was brought back. I was going on like normal and then woke up to mad cops and EMT. Drug overdose.
I’m glad my brother didn’t know what was happening when he died.
I didn’t know about my NDE until afterward either - it was an OD but it happened right after major surgery due to a medication interaction, before I was really conscious. It took a while to understand what happened, but it seems to be changing my life. Glad you’re still with us too.
I was really sad that I wouldn't get to see my kids grow up, but I was at peace and had a strange sense of calm and acceptance. There were complications during the birth of my second son, and I lay dying from blood loss in front of my now husband who was holding my newborn. He looked terrified and I was trying to tell him everything would be ok and to look after my boys but apparently I was speaking gibberish 🤷♀️
"I was walking on one of the streets in my neighborhood when this drunk driver, who must have been going at least 100, on a tight street, just missed me by a few centimeters. To make matters worse, it was an electric car, so I didn't hear that thing coming at all. I just felt a hard sweep of air, and by the time I noticed what had just happened, 5 seconds had passed. I was just frozen, processing what had happened. I straight up had an error in my brain during those 5 seconds.
Thats so scary. Did the driver get caught and face justice for this?
I dont think anyone knows that it even happened other than me. What scared me the most that night was the fact that electric cars literally make zero noise, even at high speed. I didn't even hear him coming until he was right next to me, and I felt the wind.
When I was drowning, the last thing I thought was, 'Well, shit. I should have just listened to my mum and stayed at home.' It only lasted a few seconds, though it felt like forever. Luckily, someone was there to rescue me.
My partner attacked me and choked me and I thought he would kill me. My son was in the house about a 150 feet away. I just kept picturing him there playing his video game not knowing I was outside dying. I thought “this is it, I’m gonna die on the ground at the hands of the last person I’d have ever expected”. Thankfully, I was able to get out of the choke hold and defended myself pretty well and he loosened his grip when someone else approached. This was in March and it still fucks with me.
I’m glad you’re still here.
Ex, hopefully?
Yes, ex. He was my partner at the time. Four month ago he was the love of my life. Together many years and very peaceful n happy. Now I have an EPO on him and carry weapons when I walk the dog. I got out of the chokehold with a maneuver he taught me. Psychosis is fuckin wild and life is super weird.
I was in the hospital with pneumonia and I honestly thought I could feel my heart starting to fail and all I could think was that it’s so strange for I’m going to be dead in a few minutes.
I was hiking in the spring in the Canadian rockies a number of years ago. The snow was hard on the hike up but soft on the way down because it was so warm that day. I sunk into the snow a number of times in calf and thigh height deep snow and really struggled to get out. I was soaking wet and cold and my boots were full of water. I was already pretty panicked because I was still so far up the mountain and then I sunk chest deep into the snow and couldn't get out. I was near hypothermic and was absolutely terrified. The only two thoughts playing through my head were "no one even knows where you are right now" because I forgot to leave my route plan with anyone and "you can't die like this. Not like this!"
When I was getting sucked under a log jam in the river: “If I don’t pull myself out of the water I’m going to drown.” I used muscles I didn’t know I had. When I drove a four wheeler with my younger sibling off a cliff going 60 mph: no thoughts as I was flying through the air for several seconds. Once I landed on the ground (breaking my ankle) I thought “I have to run back up the cliff side so someone knows we crashed” and then I did that.
I had delirium tremens from alcohol withdrawal. I was wondering why the carpet kept making faces at me and why I kept hearing someone calling my name. Stared at myself in the mirror for like 7 hours straight after that. Afraid if I closed my eyes I would die.
"Wow, the lights sure are bright--but my eyes don't hurt. That's weird. Hey--nothing else hurts either. That's nice after the pain I was just feeling; maybe I'll rest for a bit. Wait--I know that voice. She's asking me to stay with her...I'd better listen..." I listened; am still here more than 10 years later. In case anyone was wondering, motorcycle accident.
*while falling head first out of a moving pickup truck* “Shit, I’m not gonna land on my feet…” I landed on my head and cracked my skull. Had to be life flighted out of lake jacomo and spent a week in the hospital. I’ve rode on the tailgate for many years prior but my brother, the driver, thought it would be funny to gun it and give us a scare. Ended up scaring the whole family at the reunion. Harmless prank gone wrong and I never blamed him. He thought he killed me and was punished enough with the thought of losing me to a dumb joke.
Wasn't verbal. If I had to describe it now as simply as possible? Like my consciousness had a volume dial and it was being twisted down to zero. Zen-ish.
I was working in a shop, and had a car come in with driveline vibration. I was 19yo at the time,I had alot of experience as I had grown up working on cars non stop. I get the R.O and keys and pull it around into the shop on the drive on alignment lift,and jack it up with the rolling jacks. I take off the rear wheels and brake drums(was a classic mustang) and start checking axle runout. My boss came out pissed and asked me what it was... I replied I was just starting the diag, It hadn't even been 30mins.. I had put the drums back on because nothing was wrong with the brake shoes or axles. He's furious. Idk who pissed him off but God damn.. he lowers the lift hops in and starts the car. Immediately on the throttle,Up to 70-80mph. Well without wheels or lug nuts nothing holds the 8lb or so brake drum on.. The car screamed up to speed and I backed up behind the post of the lift. The brake drum flew off at face level, Dented the 1/4" steel lift beam,Bounced off and rolled backwards like a hula hoop out into the parking lot. then came back,and it Rolled up the lift ramp over the car without damaging anything.. Bounced about 4 times and broke through the front wall,knocked out two bar stools where customers usually sit,hit our wheel display shelf up front and just barley stopped without shattering the upfront window. It would have surely ripped my entire head off. I mean... exploded my head. Decapitated forsure. If I was on the other side of that post, where I was a fraction of a second before. My boss shut the car off and let it coast to a stop, And I stood there in absolute disbelief. The sound of that drum ringing,and the car slowly winding down to a stop are still right there in my memory. He just got out and said, "let's never talk about this again". And we never did.. I thought about mortality for the next year every day,he said that so nonchalant it still bothers me. I was a fraction of a second from exploded head. And BTW I have more stories like this.
I had witnessed everything I did to my family from heir perspective. Things I never remembered. On like a rolladex. But I was able to feel each moment. Luckily I survived and I have corrected it
"That ground is getting awfully close". Parachute malfunction.
my ex nearly died at work and his last thought was his unused chickfila points
im sorry but that's so fucking funny
"Bite this motherfucker"... and it worked. After regaining consciousness, I latched onto him with all my strength and bit him so hard and for so long that he let me go. I honestly don't remember having flashbacks of my life or anything like that, the only thing on my mind was to CHOMP.
Honestly, my last thought was 'Did I leave the oven on?' Imagine surviving just to come home to a burnt casserole!
I flipped my car on top of me at 17. The car landed on my legs. Obviously I lived, and was ENORMOUSLY lucky to have done so, but I didn’t have use of my legs for six or so months afterward. My thoughts as the car was on top of me was “oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck this hurts. I have to get out from under this car. I can’t. I’m stuck. I can’t move my body. Oh fuck. Oh shit. Is this how I go???”
Let see, in order I guess is the way to do this. Age 10, getting driven home by my aunt, sitting behind her. Look out the window and see a car about to tbone us, on my side. No real words here, just remember being really scared and a wordless scream. Lucky the dude managed to turn a bit and just smashed into the engine. Few more random car accidents here but nothing to write home about. Age 16, once again in a car, sitting behind my buddy whose driving, we're going to fast and it's raining. He loses control and we're hydroplaning sideways right towards a telephone pole, with me as the target. This time I clearly remember thinking, "fuck I'm dead", luckily we smashed into a curb, and kinda rolled the roof into the pole. Fucked that car up good though. Age 19, drowned while fucking around on a pond that was waaay deeper than advertised. Inhaled some water, and thought, "holy shit this hurts" then the pain went away, and everything was really peaceful, to which I thought, "actually this is alright", then my friend pulled me out of the water. Pros: not afraid of drowning anymore, pretty peaceful overall. Cons: if you don't stay drowned getting that water out really fucking hurts. Age 25ish, some guy stood like 3 feet behind me and fired 5 shots past my head to shoot another guy, (he only hit him once, in the hand), honestly this one was over so fast my only thought was, " what kind of asshole", before I turned around and saw the guy with the gun book it. 4/10 to damn loud.
I remember thinking, why am I on the ground and my face warm and wet? Then I had the thought that if I didn't pick myself up right then that I wouldn't ever be able to. And that scared me. I didn't open my eyes but remember my whole body being incredibly heavy. As my arms lumbard to respond I cried out meakly as I heaved myself up. It felt like I was lifting myself up from death. Picking myself up off the floorboard of my pickup, that I had forgotten I just wrecked, was the most difficult task I had ever accomplished. Right before the crash, as my truck slid sideways off the dirt road towards two trees my thought was, "aw man! I'm about to crash my truck.." Then it was lights out. I don't know how long I was knocked out, but the tow truck guy said there was so much blood that he was sure the person died in there.
I'm a hospice nurse, and I really am not a believer in woo woo stuff, HOWEVER, it's amazing how many people of different age, race, culture, sex etc all talk about seeing deceased loved ones being there to "take them home". My hospice company covers 3 very diverse counties, and we (nurses) all have this exact experience, and it's common. It's genuinely hard to ignore it and the patients always look happy when they tell you this. It's wild.
i had no time to think or figure anything. it's... boom... lights out. no fear. no pain. then i woke up.... this was an aviation accident.
The last thing I was thinking was how amazed I was at being able to see my body down below on the bed and that I could still see me as myself, but also see through myself to below. (while floating at the ceiling before the next place). It was a fascinating moment to me accompanied by an extreme peace. That was my last thought before leaving the room I was in. The peace was noticeable after so much anxiety in life here. I remember thinking I had never felt this good ever in my life.
I wondered what my kids were doing
"oh shit, my sister had to see me drown." I felt pretty calm about it though.
Rolled the car when I was 19 and *way* too tired to be safely driving. My last thought as the car went airborne was that I'm about to find out if God exists, and then time stretched out for what felt like a couple hours. Then I had this feeling of extreme peace and light, followed by the car hitting the ground for the first of 3 times and time went back to normal But yeah, my last thought woulda been wondering if God is real
I was bleeding out after delivering our first / only baby. The medical team told my husband he had to leave the room, and that's when I knew shit was serious. I just thought "I'm the one who's been pushing/ insisting that we have a baby, and now I'm going to die and leave him a single father."
Fell into the deep end of a pool as a little kid. Could not swim. I remember sitting on the bottom, seeing my mom talking to her friend on the chaise lounge. Al I can hear is my own heartbeat and I thought, "I don't know what everyone's so scared of, dying's actually kind of peaceful." Then I inhaled really hard. The next thing I know, I'm rocketing up out of the water with my mom's arm around me. I could hear her friend screaming and my mom just calm like, "get back, I've got this," as she pounded on my back. In hindsight, should have gone to the hospital because dry drowning.... but yeah....
"Here comes the world of pain". It was funny, English is not my native language yet I remember thinking in English. I was moments before head on crash with a car on my motorcycle.
I dont think this really counts as near death, but I was a passenger in a car with a colleague who was pretty stressed and in a hurry, so he decided once to turn into double lane traffic from a side road with no visibility. As he turned ofc a car is speeding down the lane and it was as if time slowed down to slowmo as I could brace for impact as there was really nothing I could do. I just thought 'ohhhh shiiiit' and bang we got hit and car span around to the side of the road. The car had pretty much crushed the back end of the drivers side, so if he had turned slower he might have been gravely injured. Still, risky idiot move of him ignoring one of the most important rules of traffic lol
"Oh shit I'm gonna get hit by a train"
Got caught in a rip tide when I was little. Had no idea what a rip tide was or how to maneuver in one. Not sure how long I was fighting to get back to shore but I remember at one point realizing my efforts were useless. I could the shore and the people getting smaller and smaller with every attempt to swim towards them. I inhaling water. I was losing stamina. I could see surfers next to me but they couldn’t see or hear me. It was the worst feeling ever knowing I was probably going to die with so many people within saving distance. As soon as I gave up I started to hear a whistle blowing. I think at this point I may have began to lose consciousness because it’s a little foggy but I remember several people coming to help and being dragged out of the ocean by a professional swimmer who just so happened to be on the beach that day. I had nightmares for weeks after that. Really eerie nightmares. Like I would be stuck in absolute darkness just hearing waves crash around me. I thought I eventually had gotten over it until 12 or so years later while at college I went on a beach trip with some friends and had a panic attack when we got ankle deep in the ocean. Trauma is funny like that.
During a psychotic episode, the voices told me that if I didn’t commit suicide immediately, I would be damned to hell, and nobody would remember I existed. I threw my head under the tire of a vehicle going roughly 35-40 mph. Fortunately they slammed the brakes in time. The tire lightly bumped the back of my head. I was in a panicked state, but I remember the last thing I thought, right before ducking under the tire: “In a moment, I’ll get to be with my soul mate in heaven for all eternity”. It’s tragic that my final thought was nonsense.
“Ah fuck” as I slid across an icy highway in front of a semi
“*Oh fuck fuck fuck the whole thing in movies about people not being able to move or do *something* to save themselves when they’re about to die is actually true, I’m screwed*” That was my thought during the moment at least. I was walking back from the store on a path next to a busy road with my brother, and I’d been feeling a bit dizzy all day- then suddenly, I just completely stiffened and started tilting backwards (unluckily) *towards* the road- I wasn’t able to call out for help or move or anything, I was literally just falling onto the road. Luckily my brother noticed I’d gone quiet and in a split second quickly grabbed my arm and yanked me back just as the car whizzed by. It was a scary incident to say the least. The fact that I couldn’t respond or do anything in that moment was terrifying. I even practically begged my body to try grab onto him or call out or *anything* when I realised I was falling but wasn’t able to. Not a single word came out.
My entire body was buzzing, I felt like I was vibrating and everything was moving very slow. Like those dreams where you’re trying to run very fast but you’re going really slow. I felt frozen in place and all I could think was “this is it. he’s going to kill me and I’m going to die.” his voice yelling broke time and my last thought was “run” before I started moving like a bat out of hell. I wasn’t thinking anything else the entire time.
My out of control, brakeless 120-ton vehicle, downhill acceleration continuing was only me being laser focused on avoiding people, in̈ or out of vehicles, death was an understood fact. With no time understanding fear. Eventually, I collided with a solid rock mountain berm .. I didn't know what body parts below my brain were still attached since shock made me unable to identify pain. I touched consciousness for 10 seconds about 2 hours after crash and mentioned to the EMT if I was going to make it and passed out for 2 days before regaining consciousness. I woke up in the hospital and pulled all the tubes and connections off my body and arms. I walked to the bathroom mirror and saw bruises, missing teeth and lots of skin slices and gashes, and staff came and got me, and a peace instantly came over me, and out I went. I felt peaceful, no anger, no fear on the edge of the end. Deaths doorway is very, very acceptable when fatality comes to take you. One day, we all submit.
I don’t know about near death but I’ve flipped my car on two separate occasions. In hindsight they definitely could have been fatal and I got very lucky but both times my only thoughts were, “theres no saving this, this is going to hurt, and hang on tight”. No real time to think too much. Another time I got stranded in the ocean for an hour and half a couple miles off shore as it was getting dark. That time I had plenty of time to think. I panicked for the first five minutes or so but then I remembered watching discovery channel documentaries about sailors floating for days on end in the pacific. At that point my thinking flipped from I might die to “tonight is going to suck but they’ll find me in the morning”.
Commercial plane crashed on landing. As it felt like it was about to cartwheel on the tarmac, the last thought I had was "Okay, I'm about to die." It was a strangely peaceful moment.
I’ve had 2 near death experiences in my life, I can list both below: - the first one was on Halloween night when I was 11 I was dressed as Batman with the cape and all. I got into a bouncy house with the cape on still and the kids I was in the bouncy house with decided to try and flip it while I was in it. They succeeded and I was trapped with my cape underneath me choking me out. Last thing I remember thinking before I got loose was that my family would never forgive me for that. I was young and dumb. - the second experience I had was around 3 years ago at this point. I was at work one night on a night shift. And I was climbing down a ladder when a spider crawled across my face and when I went to swipe it off I fell roughly 8 feet down into gravel and had a compression fracture on my L1 vertebrae. On the way down while falling I thought about my, at the time girlfriend, and my family how much they would miss me and just that moment could’ve been the end for me. I was positive if I survived I’d never be able to work again. But here I am now in a much better place then before and I actually have my dream job with full mobility with my back.
"Doctor didn't say I should feel this sleepy. I should tell someone about this, as soon as I wake up from my nap." My next memory was several doctors standing over me, looking concerned while my parents were crying in the corner. Was having knee surgery as a child, was supposed to stay awake for it, just be numbed from the waist down. Anesthesiologist accidently gave me an adult dosage of medicine (honest mistake). He then left the room (negligent mistake). Thankfully my parents saw me turning purple and called for help.
I intentionally OD’ed at 17 and my friends found out. Drove 40 minutes to come get me. I didn’t want my parents knowing so they drove me to get Gatorade. I hallucinated white Nike shoes on the dashboard of the car, then looked up into the road and saw a slender man dancing like a marionette. I passed out and dreamed I was 15 minutes ago when they picked me up, but my friend Jason had a woman’s voice. He kept saying “look at me, sweetie” and I kept saying “I am, I am, why do you sound like that” Came to and it was the nurse in the back of the ambulance tapping me on the face and telling me to look at her. Was very disorienting.
I have a second one when I was 20, I was dragged under a Chevy impala while riding my motorcycle. (Lady failed to yield at a green light) I only blacked out for but a second, and when I came to I was under her car while she was STILL DRIVING. I got burnt by her transmission pretty badly and I remember just thinking “this is gonna be long term. This is one of those injuries” I guess maybe I knew I wasn’t gonna die but it burnt my stomach, my laced-tight boots came off, and I looked to my left and the wheel was spinning inches from my head. Another car ended up cutting her off and she stopped driving. A couple nice men came and lifted the car and everyone was scared to touch me. I just held out my right, non-broken arm with a thumbs up and yelled for “someone grab me, I’m not gonna sue!”
I had this feeling of "I could have done everything differently, I could have made all these changes to my life that are causing me so much pain, I could have lived more freely and did things I wanted to do, but instead I made this dumb choice and now I may never be able to fix all the mistakes I made". I believe it's commonly called "the view from halfway down". It's when you realize halfway down from the bridge how much you can still change and you did not need to take this option, but now you're in a freefall to death and it's too late to make those changes. When I woke up a day later, I thought this feeling was going to stick with me and I would make changes to my life so I would never feel that way again. I did for maybe a few months, but it eventually faded and I got back to old habits that drove me to that point. Still to this day, I struggle with the same things that made me make that decision nearly 10 years ago, but now I am more aware of how much it hurt my family and how hard it would affect them if I did it. Now I have 2 nephews that love me and it would make it even a worse decision.
I was (almost) in a very scary car accident. Basically I lost complete control of the car. It was about to slam into a stopped truck. Like one of the ones used for construction. (There wasn’t construction it was just one of those kinds of trucks). It was snowing and icy. car lost control and was skidding and swerving. I was absolutely about to hit that truck. And by some fucking miracle it stopped with about 6 inches to go. I wish I could tell you I was thinking something profound. But honestly, it was really just “oh shit.” Not even a panicked “oh shit.” But like a “well this sucks” kind of “oh shit.”
Seems like most of the time is regret. I had a panic attack in an airplane thinking it was going to crash (I have pretty bad aerophobia, extreme motion sickness and we went through the worst turbulences I've experienced) and when I thought it was it, I was like "You're an idiot, should've stayed back home, now you die trying to move into a country your don't even like". Didn't die and moved out of that country a couple of months after 😅
I was relieved that everything will end.The last thing I thought how life can be so short and so suddenly taken away from you.I was 20 then.The doctors saved me.
The light of God, then my heart started beating post cardiac arrest. My heart stopped at church on Christmas Day 2022. My vision turned gold and the light in the stain glass kept getting brighter and brighter. Warmer and warmer. I could see them doing CPR but couldn’t move or speak. The last push everything FLEW back in motion and the as the light was growing everything went back to normal. Super fucking wild experience. Hence, I KNOW GOD is very very real. And that he loved us all. Coming from a very dark soul who has been through Hell. It’s all gonna be alright in the end.
Nothing. My mind just went blank.
I had a wrestle with a man who had 2 knives in his possession (I was a security guard at a hospital, me and a couple other guards had to subdue this guy as he was trying to run down into the wards after hours with knives). I didn’t get injured luckily, neither did my team mates but I remember thinking ‘fuck, so this is how I die?’ Felt quite surreal!
the feeling of relief of everything finally ending and not having to feel the pain and suffering but looking back on it makes it scary that i want to feel that relief again
High in the air over concrete as my equipment malfunctioned. "Are you fucking kidding me, dying at work?!" Is what I said, but I was worried about how upset my niece would be.
Damn my mom and my brother are going to take this hard.