The term “clinical death” usually describes the moment when the two criteria necessary to sustain human life stop: the beating of the heart and breathing.
However, death is a process, and with the invention of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), defibrillation, epinephrine injection, and other treatments, we now have the possibility to reverse it — at least temporarily.
So let’s take a look at a discussion on Reddit where people who have been clinically dead and revived describe what the state between this world and the other felt like.
#1
My wife and I discussed this at length. 4 years ago, she died twice in 3 months, needing full resuscitation both times. Both were lengthy rescues (one resuscitation was off-and-on for nearly 40 minutes).
I asked her later when she had recovered if she remembered anything at all during the times she was clinically dead. She remembered nothing. Blackness. No light. No relatives and former pets waiting for her. Just…black. Thankfully, also no pain.
She finally passed 18 months ago, and I hope she felt no pain or worry the final time.
{EDIT TO ADD}
It started with two spontaneous brain bleeds (technically, it started with her having Lupus).
The 1st brain bleed lead to her passing, but they did a craniotomy, revived her, then a re-bleed.
The trauma from all that caused her lupus to set fire, which lead to complete kidney failure and another cardiac arrest (passing and recovery), which lead to two strokes.
She recovered enough to be home and mostly independent, but having to go to dialysis 3 times a week for 3 years.
She passed the final test to get on the kidney transplant list on Wednesday, and had a massive cardiac/respiratory event at dialysis on Friday where she passed again, but was kept alive on life support. I waited a week hoping for recovery, but we disconnected life support per her wishes (a topic we had talked about many times).
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#2
I coded after surgery. I remember being able to see and hear everything and understand what was happening, but I couldn’t physically feel anything. It was deeply unsettling.
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#3
A friend of mine described death (she was technically dead twice) as being surrounded by darkness and floating with some sort of warm gel-like substance covering her. She never wanted to leave that state.
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#4
I died twice after I got MRSA into my heart area after a major surgery. I don’t remember much of anything when I was out (cliché as it was I saw a light) but that year sucked.
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#5
When I was 15 I was scheduled to do a tilt table test (they lean you up at an angle on a table) because I was consistently experiencing dizziness and fainting spells. After about 20 minutes the doctor tilted the table back and I could feel myself passing out. I got severe tunnel vision and lost like 95% of my eyesight, like looking through a straw and then I blacked out. I remember hearing the dr call the code and my father cussing at the dr that he “k****d” me. I remember hearing alot of slamming and banging around, which I assumed was the crash cart and nurses shoving into this small testing room. I felt a pressure on my chest, like when you have someone stand on your back to crack it, which I found out later was the nurses doing CPR. I saw an array of vivid colors kind of dancing around forming objects in the dark. The scariest thing was how peaceful it felt, just pure 100% peace. No panic, no pain, no sadness, nothing just bliss. I coded for just under two minutes and as soon as I came too and opened my eyes, I felt seriously angry and hostile, I started ripping off whatever I could get my hands on and yelling at the dr to get me off the table.
#6
I was electrocuted by about 13,800 volts. The doctors say it’s likely the first hit stopped my heart and the second one started it (before I was pulled like a lifeless corpse to safety).
I remember experiencing the darkest dark and the most silent silence. I ceased to care that I was dying; time seemed to change, it could have been hours it seemed. It was only about 30 seconds.
I felt as though I was floating and floated toward something that I eventually realized was my body and reality. Upon joining with whatever it was I was floating towards, I became self aware in my body and heard the electricity making horrible noises and knew I was in danger.
From there it was a horribly painful experience where I lost most of my toes due to tissue death and had severe electrical burns on all four limbs. More surgeries than I care to count and seeing the round bone ends of my toes that were freshly amputated still haunts me a little.
Image source: Mr-TeaBag-UT_PE, Eman Genatilan
#7
I know 3 people that have been clinically dead and have come back. What they described is something much different than what people are talking about here.
They all said, if you paraphrase, that if feels as if you’re passing out. Someone compared it to OD’ing on whippits (Nitrious oxide) – a feeling of your conscience slowly getting focused into one point in the exact middle of your head, while your limbs lose feeling in a tingling, pleasant way and then you lose consciousness.
One girl said that when she came back into conscience she was hallucinating because she had no idea what was going on and that she started dreaming of something ‘safe’ – i.e her mother hugging her in a warm bed.
Image source: anon, Rafa Barros
#8
Former co-worker of mine died during heart surgery. I think she was out for 90 seconds or close to it. She wasn’t religious or anything. She said that she remembered being in the room and seeing her dead uncle and cousin standing at the far end of the room watching everything going on.
Edit: oh now my inbox is having an NDE.
Fun fact: she shared this information during an icebreaker “give us a fun fact about yourself”. She didn’t remember seeing a light or anything, just seeing her dead relatives at the end of the room.
Image source: anon, cottonbro studio
#9
Not mine but the head of my program was in a horrible car accident. She was dead for a few minutes on the scene while paramedics worked on her. She said it was the most amazing feeling she’s ever experienced. It was blank black nothing, but that was perfectly fine, and she felt a comfort she can’t even explain.
She remembers being angry at the man working on her when she finally came back to her body because she wanted to stay there. She told us she can’t wait to experience it again when it’s really her turn.
Edit: I’m really pleased this resonated so strongly with so many of you! I wanted to add some detail about her. She’s not religious in the slightest, and she actively quashes our ghost stories and s**t (mortuary students) because she only believes in tangible things, so she fully turned me into a believer.
Felt its important I make a distinction she was very adamant about when telling us this story- she’s not advocating s*****e. She stressed that she isn’t telling us she’s trying to reach this place again but that when it was her time she was going to be comfortable embracing it.
Image source: foxykittenn, Diana
#10
Friend of mine described it as deeply relaxing and that she could feel herself drifting away, but was brought back just as she was ready to “leave”.
After that, she embraced life and death. She said she doesn’t fear death anymore since it was so relaxing to experience.
#11
My girlfriend is anaphylactic, and it is triggered by a chemical called salicylate (found in pretty much every food). When she was in high school she had her first big reaction, and the school nurses refused to administer her epipen (adrenaline shot) until the ambulance got there. Now obviously, having an anaphylactic reaction doesn’t give you a lot of ‘waiting time’, so by the time the ambulance got to her school she was in pretty bad shape and barely conscious. The paramedics immediately administered one of her epipens, called the nurses “f*****g twats” and loaded her into the ambulance as her mother arrived. She continued to fade, so they gave her a direct injection of adrenaline this time, still nothing. They give her a second direct injection of adrenaline and this time it hits her about 30 seconds later all at once, and her heart fails. She stops breathing, no pulse, nothing. Dead to the world. For about 2 minutes and 46 seconds she was clinically dead. And the scariest thing is, she saw nothing. She tells me that when you are losing consciousness you can’t tell the difference between waves of drowsiness and when your body actually shuts down. All she saw was the darkness of her eyelids, and it felt like going into an extremely calm sleep where she couldn’t hear or feel anything, and she didn’t mind it. All despite the fact her mother and the paramedics were screaming at her to keep her eyes open and the ambulance was flying towards the hospital. She miraculously just came back to life almost 3 minutes later as they were giving her chest compressions, and the cardiologist that assessed her later stated that all the adrenaline in her body was enough to not only stop her heart, but to also restart it with the little help from the paramedic pumping it around. But still do this day, she can’t differentiate falling asleep after a long day, and dying.
#12
Awesome, everyone seems to be in agreement that death was awesome and euphoric. That is comforting to hear, thanks everyone.
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#13
Overdosed. Flatlined. Didn’t see a d**n thing. When they hit me with narcan, I woke up really mad ripping IV’s out of my arms, cursing out the poor, amazing staff who saved my life. Good times! 6 years ago now with all that s**t behind me luckily.
Image source: daddydollars74, cottonbro studio
#14
This happened well before my gf and I got together but she intentionally overdosed on methadone and was clinically dead briefly at the hospital.
She said she could see the doctors and her husband in the room from above and then she found herself in a meadow with her first boyfriend just talking like nothing had happened.
Then she felt herself getting pulled out of there abruptly and suddenly sprang up with her eyes wide open and she was back to life.
Image source: tallardschranit, cottonbro studio
#15
I was dead for 6 minutes . I was laying on the gurney and I was getting colder . Somewhere my body started warming up and everything became really calm and peaceful . I was not longer in pain . All the noise from ER just went away . Itwas really enjoyable .. I was thinking about my daughter and I was remembering all the things we had done . Slowly it was just black and nothign . There was no knowledge of anything . I explain it as it was like before I was born . Then the worst thing in the world is being revived . I starting hearing loud noises , I felt this massive pain . Then there was the nastiest stench ever . The smell was like every dead animal had crawled in my nose . The smell was so bad I started vommiting . I remember the Dr’s turning me on my side and watching my vomit spray on a nurse . Dying was the most pleasant thing I have ever experienced and being revived the worse.
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#16
Not me personally but my grandmother after giving birth to my uncle was clinically dead for a bit. She told me that she felt herself rising out of her body and she ended up in the top corner of the room with a view over her bed and the doctor. It was then that she willed herself back to her body and was alive again
Edit: After looking through this thread, it seems as though this has happened to a lot of people. I always just thought she was a bit crazy, as this was the story she told me for her justification for believing that there is a God/afterlife, but I guess there is truth in her story.
Image source: Spanner_25, cottonbro studio
#17
One of my old frat brothers was clinically dead for like 40 seconds because of xanax. He said that he saw himself floating above his body in the hospital room. He said that he could see doctors and nurses working on him and family in the room. He said he slowly floated above the hospital and towards a light. He said the most peaceful feeling he has ever experienced washed over him. This is a person who has done mdma and coke in college. He said its almost impossible to describe the feeling with our vocabulary. He said it feels like a weight was lifted off you. He said he saw some long gone family in the light but they told him it wasn’t his time. He said he was angry because he felt so good but floated back down to his body. I have no idea if he is telling the truth but he is a trustworthy friend. He never used d***s again.
Image source: DownvoteDaemon, Nathan Cowley
#18
I was on *loads* of morphine so it’s still really hazy and the fact it happened almost 6 years ago doesn’t help the memory, but I’ll try to recollect, as accurately I can, what happened and what I experienced.
I had appendicitis and my foster parents at the time didn’t take me to the hospital until 2, almost 3 days after it had burst. I should’ve been dead well before they took me, even the doctors called it a miracle. Well, I died while waiting for surgery. I had to wait for a pediatric surgeon to come in because no one else felt comfortable performing the surgery on a case this bad with a child this size (dumbasses took me to the adult hospital, not the pediatrics which was 40 mins away. I was 14, 5’3 and weighed 75 pounds soaking wet). So while I was waiting for the surgeon I was in a room with me, the doctor, my two foster parents and my grandmother who is an RN. Like I said, I was really d*****d up and couldn’t really focus on much and couldn’t really do anything. The monitor I was hooked up to would beep really loudly from time to time and the intervals between beeps started to decrease rapidly. Turns out I wasn’t breathing. I was conscious for the most part, I just kept forgetting to breathe. Doctors had to keep nudging me so I wouldn’t sleep. I just remember being pissed at this loud beeping that kept me from enjoying a nice slumber. The doctor had to step out for a second and my grandmother assured him she could look after me for a second. Unfortunately for her, she was out of her mind with rage at my foster parents. She didn’t hold anything back. My grandma is a sweet, Mormon Utahn without a rude bone in her body. Well, I heard quite a few f**k you’s, pieces of s**t, etc. My point is she didn’t notice I had passed out until the monitor signaled I had flat lined.
This is the bit where I died and is by far the most vivid part of the experience. I remember being capable of thought but no thoughts were in my head. I can only describe it as being conscious of my spirit but without a body for my thoughts to be processed in. I just kind of existed without feeling, thinking or being anything. I was floating. Honestly at the time it was a great feeling. I don’t remember any visions of people, family, places or anything like that. But I felt *something* wrap around me and comfort me. Without talking I was assured I was ok, that there was nothing to be worried about, and at that point my thoughts returned. I knew at that moment, without knowing how long I’d be able to keep thinking, that I had to go back. I didn’t want to, but knowing that the last thing I’d see before I left mortal life was these two pieces of human trash who had a****d me, neglected me, and treated me like a stain that they didn’t want to bother trying to clean up, that did it. I wanted to get back to my body, fix my f*****g life so I could go back and live with my biological parents and feel loved again. In that moment that’s all I cared about. And then I sort of willed myself back. Doctors had tried to resuscitate me but had failed. Everyone was shocked when I opened my eyes and seeing the tears in my grandma’s eyes after thinking she’d lost me, that did it. I fixed my life, I reinvented myself and threw out all my anger, depression, rage and everything else that put me in Brent and Karen’s home.
Honestly, the only anger I felt (the burning hatred kind that makes you want to do anything possible to release it) in the last 5ish years since I moved from their home is when I think about them and how they’re still fostering youth in custody and probably pulling the same s**t with those kids. I live about an hour away from where they are now and I have to restrain myself from driving up there, kidnapping those kids and taking them to the authorities with an explanation of why. The only reason I haven’t done that is because I’ve tried telling the authorities what kind of people they are. I guess the words of a juvenile f**k up don’t stack up against the lies from people who have practiced this s**t for years.
Anyways, sorry for the rant at the end. I know that wasn’t entirely what you’d asked, but it felt good to type out. Thanks OP for asking this question. It’s been surprisingly therapeutic talking about this.
Image source: Heja_BVB_11, Tima Miroshnichenko
#19
I had this same thing during a bad car accident I was in about 20 years ago! What happened was I heard a really calm, kind, and androgynous voice behind me say, ‘Time to go to sleep,’ and I closed my eyes. I experienced this ‘bubble.’ I couldn’t see anything, and I had no sense of my body existing, but I was completely at peace. For me, though, I felt the presence of two beings near me. I say ‘beings’ cause they didn’t feel human. More…knowledgeable, wise, and/or ancient, maybe?
They were just sitting with me, waiting with me, with an extreme calm and kindness about them. Didn’t see anyone or anything — total darkness — but I KNEW they were there with me. Right before I came to, the same calm androgynous voice from behind me said, ‘Time to wake up,’ and I opened my eyes just as the voice was finished. I was dangling in the seatbelt with broken glass all around (the car had rolled over more than once). Super disorienting cause I had no sense I was ever in danger.
Image source: IHatedHerSoMuch, TH Team
#20
I was dead for a very short period of time, like 30 seconds to a minute. There’s a big misconception about it. It’s not like sleeping at all. I’ll try to explain. There’s always a sort of white noise in the back of my mind. It quiets down when I sleep but it’s still there. I never noticed it before I died, but I do now. I don’t want to romanticize death, but when I was out, it was like this perfect nothingness. And nothingness is so hard to imagine normally, but once you “experience” it, and they bring you back, part of you wishes you could have stayed. There’s no positive feelings there, obviously, but it takes away everything bad too. All your stress, the nightmares, the troubles. All gone. Just nothing exists. It’s beautiful in a way. I’m not s******l at all, and hope to live the rest of a long and happy life. But I’m very much looking forward to a lack of conciousness when I do eventually pass again, and I can honestly say I don’t fear death anymore.
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#21
Not really sure what happened and it still freaks me out to this day. May daughter was 4 and developed pneumonia. Her breathing would stop in her sleep so we took her in to the emergency room. She was there for a total of 5 days. For the first 3 days her health kept deteriorating. And on the 3rd day my girlfriend got a call that her mother had collapsed and was taken to the hospital. She was without oxygen for 20 minutes and was declared brain dead. That night my daughter woke up and asked about grandma. No one had said anything to her or in the room with her. We asked her what did she mean. She told us that grandma came to her in a dream and said it’s not your time yet. I’ll go for you. Immediately the next day she was almost 100 percent better.
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#22
I was 6-7 years old and one day I got rushed to the hospital by my parents because they heard me breathing really loud and hard. The last thing I remembered were faces of the doctors and nurses above me while I was lying on my back. Then I flatlined.
The weirdest, unexplainable thing happened then and there – I suddenly could see the whole scene as a spectator, like I was a floating spirit in that room. I could see myself getting revived, saw my mom crying and my dad comforting her. Then, I saw a white entity shaped like my body, falling through the ceiling and slowly, like a leaf on the wind, falling down to eventually land inside my body. That’s when that experience ended.
I was put in a medically induced coma, and I woke up after some days, I don’t remember. I had stuff plugged into me, an IV, red glowing elastic ring on my finger etc. Anyway, I later mentioned to the doctors that I saw it all, I saw them using the defibrillators, my parents etc. No one really believed me and told me that I was probably dreaming and biasing my memories due to watching tv, but I know what I saw!
Edit: Okay, so this blew up and after reading some comments I need to clear some confusion.
I don’t really recall what was the exact cause of my hospitalization, but I know that it started with an asthma attack, alongside with a heart failure. My memories from that time are a mess and I spent a lot of time in hospitals, and I’ve taken heart meds and steroids till I was in my mid teens. Wish I knew/remembered more, but I never really had it explained to me, I just went along with the doctors, my parents and medicines.
As for the defibrillators part some of you mentioned, I’m really confused right now. I could have sworn that I saw them preparing the defibrillators, just after they did CPR on me for some time. Maybe they used them after I got my pulse back? Sorry if it all sounds like a mess, maybe I was actually just hallucinating like some of you imply.
Edit 2: I just recalled one thing, I remember that while I was in the “spectator mode” I saw a nurse handing a paper to my mom, for her to sign. I later asked her what did she sign that night, and she was like “how do you know I signed anything? You were unconcious”. It turned out it was some insurance stuff.
Also, I have a heart defect since birth. I don’t know the exact name but it has to do with something in my heart not opening/closing properly, which caused me insane stabbing pains in heart area once in a while. They’re gone now so I’m off meds.
Image source: Mostuu, David Duky
#23
Anaphylaxis, wasn’t breathing, I considered all the hallucinations I experienced likely due to hypoxic episode until I told my Mom what I saw. A middle aged man who wasnt in scrubs standing still at the end of my bed while all staff were running around and doing their business. I was having a non-verbal conversation with him and he was telling me to calm down, focus on breathing. He wore a tropical style button down shirt, one of those old school news boys hats and had a very pleasant demeanor. Mom showed me a photo of my grampa that I never had seen before, and it was the guy at the foot of my bed, and he died before I was even born.
* Edit; Didn’t know this would comfort so many people, just remember not to worry too much about death and remember to enjoy your life while you have it.
Image source: anon, Nima Motaghian Nejad
#24
A black void. Then waking up in ER surrounded by people running around like crazy. I was cold af , but in reality, just room temp.
* had to add and say that it was relatively peaceful. Like being wrapped in a big warm blanket.
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#25
I’m going to have to speak for my Dad here… he passed away a few years back. I wrote this out while back actually… but maybe this will be a relevant place for it to be also.
Dad was fearful in his last days. He had been to the hospital many times and every single time he came close to death, what he remembered didn’t reconcile with what most people report when having a near death experience. He, in fact, had a lot of bad experiences. One in particular where he relived a day 3 times in a row where doctors sedated him but he was still fully aware of what was happening to him. He could hear the conversations, feel the pain, feel the choking and suffocation. When I saw him the next day he had tears in his eyes as he tried to communicate a question on how many days he was out. When I told him 1 day he was confused and it took him a while to wrap his head around it. He thought he went to hell and this was his eternal punishment. He pondered for a long time on what he could have done to deserve that as a punishment. He did not ever want to be in the hospital, he hated them his whole life and that experience made him hate hospitals even more.
Dad’s last trip via ambulance, he actually walked out to the ambulance and it wasn’t because of the usual shortness of breath, it was because of chest pains. I was sure this was going to be a short stay and he’d be back soon.
During his last stay, he experienced more sedation, more hallucinations and more disorientation. I went to visit him every single day to get an update on his status. One night in particular they had trouble getting his heart rate down. It was steadily beating at about 160 and would calm to 120 or so before going back up to 160. It wasn’t good for him.
Then, the next time he was up, I walked in right around his dinner time. He couldn’t wait to talk to me but he could barely talk. It took all of his effort and energy, but he had some things to say.
Dad: Son… I know without a doubt that there is an afterlife.
Me: Really?
Dad: *nods*
Me: How are you so sure? You’ve been seeing guns on the ceiling and all kinds of hallucinations…
Dad: That wasn’t me, I wasn’t here.
Me: You weren’t here?
Dad: I was there.
Me: Okay well…. did you see anyone you knew?
Dad: *shaking his head no*
It’s not like that…
you can see souls being born into life and its the most beautiful thing you can see. Everyone has their own color and they’re trying to get to white.
Me: trying to get to white?
Dad: *nods yes*
Time doesn’t exist there. Time is here because of us and we’re here because of time. Ohhh, I should have done more.
*looks at his hands* I could have been another Jimmy Page (he’s referring to his skill as a guitarist) I could have done more.
Me: But you were the greatest Dad and…
Dad: *smirking a little to indicate that isn’t what he meant* Do more, do everything you can…
Me: So… like carpe diem? Like seize the day?
Dad: *brightens* yes! Do everything you can. Don’t worry about the consequences. Everyone finds their way. People worry to much about the consequences… just do good and do as much as you can. Everyone eventually gets there. Tell the family…
Me: Can I tell everyone?
Dad: Yes, tell everyone…
Me: okay Dad… I’ll tell everybody
Dad: *nods in agreement*
I can tell he’s tired by this time…
Me: I love you Dad.
Dad: I love you too Son.
This was the last conversation that I had with him. I miss him terribly and have been trying real hard to find myself again after his passing. It’s been a long time and I’ve been able to cope with it enough to finally write this all out.
I hope this finds someone that needs to hear it.
With Love
Edit: I just wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful, heartfelt and deeply personal comments and messages that have been sent my way. I also want to thank the wonderful person that gilded this… I am truly overwhelmed by all of your kindness.
Image source: InfusingChaos, cottonbro studio
#26
I don’t share it much but I’ve had 4 heart surgeries, and in my first and third one I coded. You had to be conscious for these surgeries to get your heart to react appropriately.
The first time it was just nothingness. Black. Just nothing. I can’t even explain how long it felt like nothingness. And then I remember waking up with them over me saying we lost you for a second there, are you okay?
The second time is the hard one to share. I woke up in a type of subway feeling thing but everything was white. The subway, the tunnel walls we were speeding through.
I didn’t have a body per say, it felt like I was the subway at times, and the. At times it was like i was just looking out a window at the tunnel wall.
It came to a stop and it was just black nothingness again. And then I heard a voice of a much older man.
He said “Are you ready to go?”
And I just had nothing. Like I didn’t know how to speak.
“We’re going now if you’re ready…”
And something inside me felt so ready to go. Like I was a magnet to it… this unknown destination in the black nothingness ahead.
I remember finally saying “o..ok”.
He said another time with a slightly different tone.
“We’ll be leaving here. You are ready to go?”
And finally something in me snapped, and I remembered I had a life, and people I’d leave behind. And my first thought was “I can’t leave my girlfriend. I couldn’t do that. And my Mom and Dad. My puppies. I can’t leave any of them. My family, my friends..”
And I made a decision I couldn’t leave. I didn’t even have to say it. Once I decided I couldn’t leave and I was for sure staying I woke up and came to consciousness with the medical team all around me.
Image source: silverstars13, Inzmam Khan
#27
I don’t know if this counts, as I don’t think I flat lined, but I had a huge post-partum haemorrhage after my second (and last) child was born. I lost 2.3 ltrs of blood, which I think is about half of all my blood, and considered the highest classification of blood loss before death occurs. I was given general anaesthetic before I passed out on my own, but leading up to that was such a surreal experience.
As someone has previously mentioned, there is this sense of acceptance, of laying back and going with it. When I first started bleeding I was scared, and panicking. By the time I was being wheeled into theatre, I was smiling at the midwife and telling her it was going to be ok. I was delerious and euphoric and not scared at all. My vision started to go, at first it was coloured spots then everything had a grey hue, as tunnel vision set in. Sound became muffled, like putting my hands over my ears. The whole time, the general feeling of indifference and no urge to fight it was there. It was so calm I don’t think I’ve ever computed just how lucky I am to be here. So a near death experience by blood loss, can confirm, not bad.
The recovery though, I felt like s**t for f*****g weeks and had PTSD. I was so physically weak that I could barely take care of the baby and had to inject myself with anti clotting meds for 6 weeks every day.
Image source: anon, Getty Images
#28
So many people describing this floating feeling and seeing the hospital room from above and seeing themselves… interesting.
Image source: Mielinen, Juan Pablo Serrano
#29
This is a great and interesting question, I hope more people answer. (I haven’t experienced this btw.) Upvoting for visibility.
Image source: scumfuckfIowerboy, Felipe Cespedes
#30
Overdosed on caffeine (have a weak heartbeat). Before it actually happened, I was hallucinating/dreaming and couldn’t see clearly. All my fear faded away in an instant. Then s**t all just went black, and it felt like I was asleep but I didn’t remember when I actually fell down and blacked out. Woke up when my heart restarted wanting to stay in that sleepy state.
Image source: thejunkiephilosopher, Eren Li
#31
There are some researchers who have been collecting and quantifying the data of Near Death Experiences (NDEs) for years now. They have created 6 categories/stages of NDEs that generally sum up most experiences.
1. The hellish experience. It can be either a mildly uncomfortable experience, a cold, dark, damp, loveless experience, or the traditional flames and devil experience. Sometimes say they are drawn out of this realm by an indescribable love. Very few people recount experiencing this.
2. There is another type of experience where one has an out-of-body perspective, and can travel freely. Often times this happens in an operation room where one’s heart has stopped and the doctors are working to revive the patient. The individual many be able to go to other rooms in the hospital, or travel across the country. If they remain in the hospital room, they do not always recognize their own bodies on the table, and can feel confused. (quick note: there have been a surge in NDEs since the 1960s when resuscitation techniques became more advanced.)
3. Much like many of the other redditor’s comments, there is another experience of blissful, warm darkness that just feels comfortable. It is indescribable nothingness, often without memory or any inkling of consciousness at all.
4. The next experience is similar to the last, but with an additional light that is usually far away, that emanates warmth and love and forgiveness. The individual is either attracted to this light and goes toward it (or the light itself comes to the person.) It allegedly gets better and better the closer one draws to the light, and so they continue. (Obviously this is where the phrase “go/don’t go to the light” likely comes from.
5. This experience continues where the last leaves off, where the person has broken through the light (to the other side). They now are experiencing a love/compassion/forgiveness/state of consciousness that is unlike anything they can put into words. Sometimes they encounter a sort of guide (this could be a loving anonymous being, or a religious figure (if they experience this, it is sometimes linked to their beliefs on Earth, but not always.)) This experience is sometimes accompanied by the most beautiful music. This being may present them to loved ones, or show them a life review (this is a very common experience of those who have had NDEs.) It may be at this point where the NDEer decides, or is told to return to their body (there is sometimes a choice) because they have “work left to accomplish in their lives.” And I put that last part in quotes because of how many people cite that as their reasons on coming back.
6. The final experience goes beyond the previous state of love and consciousness and is experienced only by a relatively few people compared to the previous others. They say that they experience a becoming one with the universe/universal energy that unites everything/God. They have stated that they understand everything; that knowledge is known just by thinking of a topic.
(Disclaimer: people have different words to describe all these experiences, but what they typically agree on is that words themselves can not come close to explaining their encounter, for all of the aforementioned NDEs.) Most experiences are overwhelmingly pleasant, they lose fear of death, and they cannot wait to return to this state. However they know they must wait.
The NDE’s that I’ve looked into pretty much all fall into these categories, so I’d like to hear any others that might not. As you can tell, this interests me greatly!
I want to end this by saying that if you wind up researching NDEs, come to your own conclusions about them. Is there a reason for someone to be pushing a certain belief on you? I have confidence that what people say about their NDE’s, they themselves wholly believe to be true. Whether or not you do is up to your own judgement. There are people who make videos and give talks about NDEs they supposedly experience, but to me some seem to be fake and over rehearsed. Take what you want from my spiel, and if you have any questions about this, I’ve done a fair share of looking into the topic, and would love to discuss further. If you want any directions on where to look first into gaining your own knowledge of NDE’s, I can definitely help you find something. Your NDE plug, out.
Image source: mofuda
#32
This actually happened to me Monday.. Tuesday morning actually. Was going thru a lot of money issues and thought I was going to lose everything. Hung myself in the closet. Fiance found me cut me down called 911. I was blue, dead in her arms and I pissed in my pants. Toungue is still swollen have no idea how that happened. The emt’s brought me back. I was dead and they brought me back. I’m still at the hospital now and don’t see me leaving anytime soon.
Anyway I saw nothing. Just darkness. No sounds. No white light . Nothing. Black. Next thing I know I woke up in an ambulance.
S*****e s***s guys don’t even try it. People love you.
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#33
Coded after attempting s*****e with Ativan (which is stupid.) My son had passed away three years before, and I remember going to a place without time and watching him grow up without the neonatal Marfan syndrome and hydrocephalus that k****d him. I should point out that I lost consciousness before code was called, so I don’t remember rising out of my body. I do remember slamming back into it after being shocked, though. That was no fun.
My life changed completely afterwards. I left my wife, who wasn’t helping me in my own struggles with Marfan syndrome, got the guts to come out as trans and found a great woman who supports me and is totally in love with me. I don’t worry about anything but love and taking care of the people around me-life is too short for anything else. A visit with my son sorted it all out.
Image source: ShellaStorm
#34
I saw my grandpa. We talked for a while and he said I could go back with him, or stay. I looked down and saw myself in that hospital bed with my brother holding my hand. He felt it turn cold and I never saw him cry that way before. Went back into my body and felt more pain than I knew in my life.
Been a year of recovery and I lost most of my memory but I’m happy.
(Skull fracture/traumatic brain injury from heat exhaustion)
Image source: Signifikantotter, Fellipe Ditadi
#35
Not necessarily”clinically dead” but I was pronounced dead two times in the same night after a car accident I was in when I was 16. My great grandma pulled me out of the car and we walked through this really peaceful field of flowers. When I woke up two weeks later she was sitting on the edge of my bed and told me to tell my mom that everything was going to be okay.
My great grandma died when I was 10 and before that she had been bedridden after a stroke. I never saw her walk or heard her talk in my entire life. It was amazing and beautiful.
Image source: hopefulhusband, Ruxanda Photography
#36
My mother experienced a long corridor with arched door ways, one was open and she said she refused to go in.
She suffered a massive stroke at 27 to from a spinal tap done a week earlier.
Image source: amh93, Paul Bill
#37
I think about death a lot. Like, an insane, worrying amount. I cry about it a lot too. I’m terrified to die, I’m terrified of what comes after, and I’m terrified of losing people I love. This thread has actually made me feel a bit better about it, so thank you OP. I lost my mom last year and I remember her telling me when I was little (because I would say it first) that she was scared to die. Im glad to know that it isn’t as bad as we both thought.
Image source: goodenoughgatsby, Karola G
#38
Not me, but right before my great grandma passed she kept trying to explain these vivd colors and smells. She kept saying how beautiful things were and she was saying its unlike anything she ever saw. She was an extremely religious woman. A little while after the “colors and smells” she told us “He” said we have to say its okay for her to go. I mean my whole family was standing around saying goodbye. I vivdly remember this even though I was only 9. Once we all said it was okay, she passed on.
Also the night before, she was talking to herself. We asked her whats going on and she pointed at the chair across the room and said “Please don’t be rude. Im having a conversation with her” and we were confused and asked about what and she said the woman was explaining what we were going to do with our futures.
So strange and I’ll never know if it was real or what was happening. But its kinda cool to think its real.
Image source: ravenyvonne, Kampus Production
#39
This is my mother’s story. I was privileged to be there when she talked to her doctor the next day and to witness his reaction. She had been afraid to die. After this experience she was no longer afraid and started enjoying life more…seizing the day, if you will.
My mother was in the hospital being treated for a reaction to arthritis medication. This was more than 30 years go, so procedures have changed. She was in a bed far from the nurse’s station because she was stable and in no danger.
For some reason her heart stopped – they never found out why. The nurse found her without a pulse and called a code. My mother, meanwhile, had left her body and was floating up by the ceiling. She said she felt no fear, only wonder at what was happening and pity for the poor body laying on the bed because it was so sick and damaged (she had a lot wrong with her.)
As the team was working on her without success and the attending physician went down the hall to the nurse’s desk. My mom was curious about what he was going to say, so she followed him and listened to him. He was upset and basically saying he had no idea why her heart stopped, why it wasn’t starting again and to call her personal doctor. He returned to her room and she followed him back.
They were working away and she said she found that she had no feeling of fear or regret. She’s been physically disabled for some time and was enjoying the freedom of movement and lack of pain. She said she saw “the light” (but wasn’t hugely bright and more a feeling of peace and safety) and she felt that her parents were near but, mom being mom, was more interested in what was happening to her and her body. I mean if you are dead, it would be good to know why.
The attending physician finally did something that worked to start her heart and she said she was “sucked” back in. She was really pissed off because she knew she was about to start a wonderful adventure and the doctor spoiled it. She said she didn’t want to be in that fat handicapped body! She struggled to get back out but was held back and then the d***s they gave her worked and she became unconscious.
My sister and I were sitting with her the next day. She was in a lot of pain from them pounding on her chest and pretty ticked off that she didn’t get to go on her “adventure.” Hobbit jokes were ensuing when the attending physician came in to check on her. She asked him why they didn’t know what happened and why she died. He didn’t know what to say. She told him she’d left her body and had seen what happened. He patronized her and started to tell her about hallucinating and her brain being deprived of oxygen. She shut him off and demanded to know how she could have known what he said at the nurse’s station (at the end of the hall) if she hadn’t been there. She proceeded proceeded to repeat his conversation with the nurse! The doctor looked like he’d seen a ghost. His face went white and he spun on his heel and bolted for the door. He actually bounced off both sides of the door before he was able to get out, that’s how fast he was going. (She said later that she never saw him again.)
My mother was never religious and didn’t start now. Instead she became more spiritual, something she had previously had no interest in. She just felt more at peace with herself and her condition and started to pay more attention to the little things that people ignore in their rush, like sunsets and butterflies. She was buying all kinds of things, typical of people who don’t want to admit that they are very ill. It’s a way of staying connected with life. She stopped this behavior and said she didn’t need “things” where she was going. This was always said with a smile.
She asked that I share her story so that people know that there really is something after death. It’s interesting and not at all scary. It has NOTHING to do with religion. What happens afterwards just seemed to be a fact like gravity is. She said she was surprised that she wasn’t surprised.
She died for real about a year later and I’m sure since she had an inquisitive mind that she’s enjoying herself.
On a slightly different note, I’ve had several dogs who returned after they passed. The only ones who came back had huge personalities and felt real ownership of the house. The best story is about Joe, a little black dachshund/beagle who ruled the house for 10 years.
The night after she passed, my ex heard her at the door. There was no mistaking her scratch and bark. I heard her too, as did the other dogs. He didn’t believe in ghosts but opened the door and called to her. Honey our doberman, was lounging in “Joe’s chair” and she got out of like she was shot. The other two dogs milled around as if they were greeting someone. I couldn’t see her but I talked to her as if she was there and explained what had happened and that she was to go on over the Rainbow Bridge. I’d join her when I could. The next morning when I came downstairs, Honey was in Joe’s chair and made it clear that it was now her’s. I think Joe gave it to her. She always was a beneficent queen.
Image source: irishspice
#40
So this is second hand from my dad but he was always a little shaken up when he told this story. Years before I came along my dad was cruising around on his motorcycle when a little dog ran into the road straight at him barking. He swerved so he wouldn’t hit the poor pupper and a car in opposing traffic did as well. My dad got clipped and thrown off his bike. It was on a hill so he slide pretty far until his body hit a parked car. Now the weird part, he always got this sort of haunted look when he talked about it which wasn’t very often, he says he remembers plain as day standing at the bottom of the street on the corner watching as a man got hit off his bike and tumbled through the air and down the hill. He says he remembers thinking “that guy is definitely going to die”. He woke up the next day in the hospital with a nurse picking gravel out of his back. He had reconstruction surgery on his hand and arm which consists mostly of metal pins now. Remember kids if on a motorcycle always wear your leathers and helmet. Without them my dad would have died and I wouldn’t be around.
Image source: corsair1617
#41
When I was a really young kid, I had a serious case of epiglottitis, which left me clinically dead for a moment. It felt like a dream where I was in the sky, kinda like an angel/cupid looking down at myself in the hospital, with doctors and nurses surrounding me, my mother crying. I didn’t seem to care very much, but I remember thinking that I want to go back. I was very young (maybe 3), but I still remember this quite vividly, it seemed like an out-of-body experience. For sure this was influenced by the fact that my parents are catholic and I enjoyed looking at cupids in paintings, because they looked a bit like me when I was young. That’s at least what I tell myself.
Image source: JAnomalism
#42
True story. I had a clinical chief (senior surgeon) during training always ask the same question after a heroic resuscitation that involved open heart massage to regain a beat in the trauma bay (aka a left lateral thoracotomy). Hospitals were different then, large wards with six patients that we would round on with medical students, residents, fellows, and attending. Maybe 20 people. So he would ask, “do you remember anything?” And the gang bangers would inevitably say it was a scary experience and they were frightened by demons or some nightmare scenario. And the victim of a random act of violence like a getting stabbed during a mugging would say, “I saw a white light. It wasn’t scary.” Or, “It was beautiful.” Im not particularly religious and reasoned this away as the mental state of the victim, but it would give me chills to hear some of the answers.
Image source: anon
#43
I have two stories. When I was 9 I used to have fainting spells. One time I fell down the stairs and lost consciousness. My mom said I went as stiff as a board. I remember, as if floating near the ceiling, watching my mom run to the phone and calling 911. I could see my dad start to do CPR on me. Then I looked behind me and saw a bright light and heard a voice say “it’s not your time”. Then I went back into my body as I heard my dad yell “come on, d**n it!” I was really scared when I came to, and it took me a while, like years, to figure out what I had experienced. I can’t explain what happened. I felt calm though while I was out. I don’t know if I was really dead or just unconscious and my mind made it all up. The other story I have I know was real.
6 years ago my brother died from adrenal cancer. His wife and I slept in his hospital room that night. His friends and the two of us sat around his bed as he lay unconscious and told stories about my brother and laughed about all the great times we had with him. At 3 am I woke from a dream I was having of seeing him walking down a large tunnel that had a bright light at the end of it. He was healthy looking again and he turned around to look at me, smiled and waved, then walked into the light. When I woke up I rolled over to look at him. He had stopped breathing. I touched him and he was still warm and his skin was still soft, as if he had just passed away a moment before. It was like he hung on until he knew we would be ok and then waited to pass until we were sleeping so we didn’t have to watch him take his last breaths. I loved my brother, he was my best friend, my biggest champion, and he encouraged me and built me up when I had no confidence in myself. God I miss him, but I’m relieved that he’s not in pain and suffering anymore.
Image source: monkeynose08
#44
I had a similar experience. .remember medics banging on my chest telling me not to give up, I remember hearing everything everyone was saying. .I even remember thinking dude stop hitting my chest. I remember being put in the ambulance and being in the emergency room. When I told my mom later that I heard all of them and remember everything, she told me there was no way I could have because I was completely unresponsive when they found me..it definitely had a profound effect on me. It’s made me actually more afraid of death because I personally believe your brain lives long after after your body stops. Which is extremely terrifying.
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#45
Before we met, my now wife went into septic shock died for a couple of minutes. She told me that all she saw was darkness. She felt nothing but she did hear someone saying her son’s name. And she felt herself float towards the voice and then woke up in the ICU.
Image source: mysteryingredients
#46
Okay, so this will get buried for sure, but here we go! When I was 15, I was “dead” for a short while during an ambulance ride. I have no idea how long it was, tbh. My therapist after suggested I find out the details to know how close I came to permanent death, but that’s too much for me.
ANYWAYS, on to my experience. I was in so much pain and anxiety leading up to it, you have no idea. I wanted it to end. And then, everything faded away, first to black, and then to something I can only describe as seeing and feeling existence itself. I just… I don’t even know how to describe this. It’s the only way I can describe what it was, because it was soooo beyond normal perception. Mind you, I’m not a religious person, so that was definitely strange. All my pain was gone, and I felt great. Like I was getting a warm hug from the Universe, and everything was truly awesome. Coming back was fairly sudden, first hearing voices and then a fading back in to where I was. This was definitely the most unpleasant part.
The closest thing I can compare the “fading in/out” to visually would be when a movie does a slow fade between scenes, and the feeling is similar to laying down in bed, that last second before you fall asleep and are totally relaxed and not thinking, just experiencing your being.
All this said, I fear death more than anything else. Yes, it was pleasant, but I never want to have that experience again. I’m actually on the verge of tears just thinking about it right now. Maybe it’s my atheism showing, but death as a permanent thing just terrifies me. So there’s my story, make of it what you will.
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#47
Long story short, I had a bad reaction to a bunch of medication after a C-section and died for a short period of time. I never got to hold my son. I remember hearing people talking calmly but stearn and a lot of beeping. Then it was quite a bit like others described, calm, black, and then just nothing. I heard someone (probably a nurse) say that it was time to be a mommy and meet my boy. I faded in and out until eventually I “woke up.” It sounds cheesey, but if it wasn’t for my son, I probably would have never come back.
Image source: Princess4getme
#48
My grandmother when she was a kid was walking her dog when she got hit by a car. She and her dog hit a fire hydrant and at that instant she rose up from the city block she was at with her dog (the dog survived).
She reached the top of somewhere and a voice told her “Look at your mother [who was crying], you can’t go. And you have a lot to do,”
So she came to in the hospital and tried to close her eyes and go back and was crying because it was so peaceful.
Image source: Hockeyjockey58
#49
Not me but my grandfather. Went into surgery for a triple bypass and his vitals tanked. He said during it he suddenly was laying in his bed at home. His friends and family members who had passed away in the past were waving him over and saying to come home. He told them not yet and then went back.
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#50
I wasn’t dead, but I was dying. I passed out on the floor on my back and puked while on the ground. I remember being surrounded by nothingness then all of a sudden this loud terrible static that overwhelmed me completely. Everything started beating and in retrospect, this was my heart beat. Suddenly, the static and noise began fading inwards until it became a small speck and I felt air rushing into me. My vision came back and an EMT was bagging me. I felt terribly weak and groggy, but all there. All in all, terrible experience. I think it was me coming back to life. Idk.
Image source: Usernametaken112
#51
These descriptions are disturbing me because I’ve had something similar happen. I became very I’ll and was at the airport for a flight. I was ha ing extreme body aches and coughing fairly violently. I decided I was too sick to fly and went to a hotel to get some rest. At that time I was very against going to the hospital and believed I could tough it out. Anyway all night I feel terrible, and get no sleep for ever until I suddenly pass out. My body felt extremely heavy. I wasnt moving but it felt like every cell was 1000lbs. After a few seconds I feel a wave of what I can remember being physical light wash over me and I was lighter than air and suddenly over my body. I somehow knew I could leave if I wanted but didn’t. I remember feeling like I didn’t want to leave yet. I dont remember how I got back in my body but I do remember that when I woke up I was the most refreshed I had been in a long time. And I suddenly wasnt sick at all.
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#52
I overdosed twice. I’ve been clean for 6 years now.
The first time, I felt nothing at first. I just remember falling down. I was by myself in my room and my brother was in the living room. He had no idea. I couldn’t really move and i tried to text my mom whom was luckily on her way home from work. Text didn’t make sense, so the first thing she did when she got home was find me. I don’t remember, but the next thing I DO remember is feeling like lava was being injected into my brain and like I just wanted to get up and GO. No life flashing before my eyes, nothing like that. Just lava. in the brain. The second time I had no idea it even happened, but my best friend saved my life. I know its kinda morbid, but that’s definitely the way I’d be down to go out. It was just like I fell asleep.
I’m glad I didn’t die, though. I never thought things could get as good as they are if I just used my head and did what I knew I was supposed to. Got help. got clean. getting married.
Edit: to brighten up the subject in a sick way, we have an inside joke between myself, fiancée, best friend and my recently deceased other best friend. We yell “GET THE SHOT!!” Because the whole ordeal was similar to the scene in Pulp Fiction where Uma Thurman overdosed and John Travolta revived her with the adrenaline shot. Kinda funny in a sick way.
Image source: Hollywizzle311
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