It was like turning off a TV. One second things were working and the next im waking up surrounded by doctors and nurses with my feet in the air and a unit of blood being shot into me at high speed.
“Heeeyyyyy budddyyyy…how ya feeling? We uh..lost you for a minute there.” — TheBawlrus
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I was 15, had been through about 3-4 months of chemotherapy. I’d had a nosebleed on and off throughout the day and then after I went to bed it just kept on going. I couldn’t sleep, just had to keep lying there, mopping my nose and sneezing out these rubbery little bloodclots. At about 2am I started to feel sick so I reached for the container (I always had one by my bed because the meds I was on gave me really bad morning sickness) and threw up. It was a thick, dark red.
After that I only remember what happened in short bursts. I think my mum had got up to go the bathroom and I managed to hit the wall loud enough for her to hear, she came in and there was blood everywhere, coming out my nose and mouth, all over the bed and on the walls. Real horror show. Then I remember a paramedic being there, trying to help me out of the bed. I must’ve collapsed against the wall after that because next time I came round I was strapped to a stretcher and they were taking me downstairs.
Then I was in the hospital, surrounded by about 6 doctors with these huge lights pointed right at me. It was to try and keep me warm because I’d lost so much blood. I could feel myself sweating but I was still cold, it was a weird feeling.
One of the doctors cauterized my nose and I definitely felt that, it hurt like a motherfucker even compared to my insides tearing themselves apart with sepsis and C. Difficile. The doctor who did it was so nervous that he pushed the white-hot material they use for cauterization right through my septum, I still have the hole today.
The worst part of it all, looking back, is how peaceful it can seem. When I started vomiting blood, I went into shock. Hitting the wall to get my mums attention was a subconscious thing, the rest of me just… stopped caring. When the doctors were trying to save my life, I just wanted to black out again. I didn’t want the lights to hurt my eyes and the doctors to hurt the rest of me any more, the unconsciousness seemed easier. And that’s how it felt when I was in the ICU for a few weeks after that, doped up on ketamine and slipping in and out of life. Being asleep was easy, being awake meant more pain and less dignity.
So if you want to know what it’s like to be that close to death, it’s tempting. It’s like wanting to hit the snooze button on your alarm at 7am. And maybe you do hit it once or twice but then you remember that you have work or school and that sleep can wait because you’ve still got shit to do. — TheDeadManWalks
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I got sepsis from tools used over at a dentist.
I went to the dentist feeling fine. Happy that I finally got the work done that I needed. I went out shopping with my mom and had a lovely time.
Around 7PM I started feeling dizzy. I had just flown in from Japan, so I assumed it was jetlag and fell asleep.
I woke up in the middle of the night with a 42 celcius fever and I couldn’t lift my head high enough to puke on the floor, so I puked all over myself, the bed and my lovely concerned dog.
I tried to yell out to my mother but I didn’t even have the strength to do that. Luckily, the sounds of me vomiting was enough to wake her up.
I vomited so much I was vomiting the lining of my stomach as I had no more food left in me. My mother carried me to the car and drove me to the emergency room.
Once arrived at the hospital I was put on the most uncomfortable bed ever and drifted off. I couldn’t stay awake.
That’s when I saw nurses and doctors around me injecting me with things and shouting. I remember thinking that it must be serious if a doctor was shouting, as they usually don’t show panic.
I was lucid enough to laugh internally thinking “Wow.. I must be really sick if I don’t even freak out over all of these injections”
and then it happened, I saw my mom crying and I thought “Holy shit.. this must be for real.”
and as soon as I thought that, I fell asleep. I say asleep, but I died. for exactly 2 minutes. It really feels like falling asleep, but.. for me it was beyond peaceful.
It felt like you didn’t really have to worry about anything anymore and obviously in my case – I didn’t feel sick anymore.
As someone that was once suicidal – this was actually a horribly dangerous feeling as for the first time I got confirmation that dying wasn’t all that scary.
I woke up seven days later in the hospital. It took me another seven to start eating and they told me that I more than likely got sepsis from infected tools at the dentist.
The scariest part was after that happened – I no longer feared dying. So I consciously try to pull myself out of a depression whenever I feel it coming.
But – for whoever is scared that their loved one felt pain in death, I can honestly say – it’s a very peaceful feeling. — Axesta
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Had a heart attack last year and my heart stopped 3 times in the ER. Apparently, each time they shocked me back I “woke up” (how it felt) and told the staff a different knock-knock joke each time.
No lights or whatever, just felt like sleep. — altburger69
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I was 16 years old and encountered tachycardia for the first time. Went to the ER with my mom, not really thinking it was a big deal (hardly any symptoms aside from high heart rate). I didn’t realize how intense the situation was until two cardiologists and several nurses rushed me to what looked like an operating room of sorts.
Again, I didn’t really know the full extent of what was happening, I felt pretty normal and never had a history of heart issues up until then. However, my mom worked in the medical field for several decades and I could see the utter fear and concern on her face.
Fast forward to the doctors trying to slow my heart down but couldn’t. Last resort is some drug that essentially stops your heart and resets it at a normal beat. Right as they’re giving me the drug, they warn me I might feel a heavy weight on my chest.
What a fucking understatement. Felt like someone was bit by bit, squeezing all the air and life out of me. Eventually the room went black and a feeling of peace came over me, like I was going to sleep. I didn’t see anything good or bad, just emptiness.
When I awoke, I assumed only a few seconds had passed. Instead, the drug caused my heart to stop for 10 minutes or so and the doctors were trying to revive me, assuming I was dead given the flat line.
I’m 27 now and two years ago I had a second episode happen. Luckily, when they gave me the drug I didn’t pass out, yet I was forcing myself to stay awake, I didn’t want to die again. — minusthelela
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I got stung by a fucking nest of wasps right next door to my home. They stung me all over my head, neck, behind my ears. 39 stings the doctor counted.
It was insane. I ran away as fast as I could, the nest was on the door of a garage I had just come out of and bumped. I got home and was like… ok… I’m ok. I’m cool. Told my mom I got stung by some bees but I thought I was ok.
She didn’t seem too worried. I decided to go take a shower.
In the shower I began feeling dizzy and my back started hurting.
I quickly turned the shower off and got my clothes on and began feeling dizzier and dizzier. Then when I came out of the bathroom my mom looked at me and had a look of horror. Told me to get in the car immediately. My face and head had swollen hugely. We lived just around the corner from the hospital, so she just drove me.
Between my house and the hospital I started losing consciousness. Everything I saw had a yellowy tinge and I suddenly felt very heavy and tired. My breathing got very labored, but I sort of of didn’t care. I felt like I was slipping away into sleep
You know old TVs, when they were turned off the screen would be basically engulfed in black and the light shrank down into a pinpoint before disappearing? My vision slowly started feeling like it was doing that.
I remember arriving at the hospital and they didn’t even bother with registration, they threw my ass on a gurney and started pushing me back. As I was going back I remember closing my eyes and thinking “I guess whatever happens…” And then nothing. Just like going to sleep when you’re SUPER exhausted. I felt kind of peaceful and wasn’t really thinking about anything much at all and the lights just went out.
Some minutes later I opened my eyes and a very large man was staring at me, smiling and said “Well bad news, you’re gonna feel completely fine within a couple of hours, you probably won’t even get out of going to school tomorrow.”
He was right. — CDC_
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Two months ago I was OD’d on anesthesia in an oral surgeons office. Coded in the ER and was dead for under a minute, but fuck it, it counts.
Between me going out and me waking up in the ICU there is nothing. No black void, lost loved ones, messages from the other side. Nothing. Processing it since then, I don’t know if there’s nothingness is comforting or terrifying. — Hobojesse
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When I was 14 and at a party, I drank way too fucking much. (I was sort of an alcoholic even at that age, due to easy access to alcohol at the time. Also a family full of alcoholics who didn’t give a fuck.)
Woke up on the bathroom floor vomiting my guts out, in and out of consciousness. I could faintly hear my brother in the background, calling for an ambulance.
Woke up in a hospital bed where the doctor said I had been dead for 2 minutes, but they managed to revive me. My BAC was 0.56.
In my experience, being dead was like being asleep. Absolutely no difference. No flashbacks, no afterlife that I could recall… It was exactly like sleeping. Very peaceful.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, I continued to drink heavily for YEARS after that incident because I hadn’t learned my fucking lesson apparently. I eventually sought out help after another scare, but that’s a story for another day.
18 months sober. — z91x
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Well, nothing official and I hope this is okay, mostly for the head trip it occasionally gives me: I almost drowned in a pool when I was 5. I remember looking up and seeing my mother dismissing the lifeguard because I was “only playing” and his legs starting to break through the water because he knew better, before blacking out.
There was nothing between that moment and throwing up water after he pulled me out of the pool. Though I can remember with absolute clarity how the water made everything shimmer as I was looking up, and sometimes I see that swimming shimmer as I’m walking around outside or if the light is really bright. And I can’t help but wonder in those moments if my entire life, all my failures, successes, falling in love with a woman and having two children with her, the love of my life cheating on me, if everything for the last 30 years is just all inside my head during the last few moments before I die, still in that pool. — SonOfDavor
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It was a really bad car accident where I went through the windshield and became trapped between the two vehicles. I was fading in and out and heard the scene get more and more chaotic as EMT’s and cops showed up. Then everything started sounding far away and I felt like I was disappearing. I had this montage of regrets (really cliche i know) blast through my mind. Probably hundreds but only a few really stick out now. Then I “woke up” in the ambulance. Kind of a turning point for me. — calgarykid
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I was in a serious car accident (hit by a drunk driver) a week before my high school graduation. Without going into all the gory details, I lost so much blood that they declared me dead. Although I do not remember much, between the rescue workers extracting me from my car and a tree and waking up three weeks later, I do remember feeling very warm and seeing lights. I’ve always believed it was due to medications and moving between areas with different lighting, but I’m open to otherworldly suggestions. — deag_bullet
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I was in a motorcycle accident; I passed out while cruising along at about 50mph (they still have no concrete idea why) and I was thrown into a light pole.
I only have two clear memories of that event. The first is being upside down and wondering idly why the opposite road was passing by inverted. The second is hitting the pole and stopping. It hurt, a lot. I cannot accurately describe how badly that hurt but suffice it to say I’m a person with a high pain tolerance to begin with and if I had been in my right state of mind I would have wept like a child.
I just remember being on the pavement and things slowly going black and quiet, which honestly was a relief because it made the pain feel more distant instead of the crushing immediacy it had before.
The only reason I didn’t fall asleep was a bizarre moment where I heard someone yelling “Ranger up you candy fuck! Come on man, get up. Get up. GET UP!” and then someone slapping my helmet (which was basically smushed really hard onto my head; the faceplate was bent up into my face and a good chunk was more or less shaved off). When I opened my eyes I saw my brother squatting on the pavement next me to. This was odd because my brother has been dead from an OD for several years. I couldn’t really gather the presence of mind to speak so I just looked at him. The only other thing I remember is him glancing at his watch and saying something like “They’ll be here soon” and then walking away…that and the ambulance ride to intensive care where I was pronounced dead and then opened my eyes a few minutes later and told them I wanted a Big Mac.
Pretty serious WTF moment. I wish I could give more detail but I honestly don’t remember much of the incident and still have trouble with my memory as a result of the accident. — Schneida7
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Via Reddit
