Near Death Experiences

[InbetweenDreams]

I've not had a near death experience and likewise have no idea what dying is like and well none of us do since, well, we're all alive. However, there are two things thing resonate with me. One is something Carl Sagan said in an interview shortly before his death, that death is like a dreamless sleep. The second thing is this is what I experienced when I had an upper GI about 5 years ago. The anesthesia they use to put you to sleep, it is a very different kind of sleep. Even when I sleep all night long I am well aware that I have slept, that time has passed....the anesthesia however, very different. It felt like only moments passed, not 4 hours. I honestly don't know how long I was under. I've thought about it a few times and I wonder if being under anesthesia is similar to what death would be like. Anyway, there will be a 2nd part to my post later this evening...

[CellarDweller]

I have never had a near-death experience. I hope it stays that way.

I do believe in life after death, but once read somewhere that the white light people talk about seeing is your brain's reaction to being deprived of oxygen. Those people who report seeing loved ones, the same site explained it as a trick of the brain. I think that would be a nice trick, your brain comforting you like that as you pass.

Morbid topic though. LOL

[Bhp91126]

Not sure it qualifies, but when I keeled over in March and then came to, there was nothing there, no sense of time passing, just nothing. I knocked my head falling, so maybe I had a concussion, which erased the memory of fainting, but I got nothing for you.

[InbetweenDreams]

I have never had a near-death experience.  I hope it stays that way.

I do believe in life after death, but once read somewhere that the white light people talk about seeing is your brain's reaction to being deprived of oxygen.  Those people who report seeing loved ones, the same site explained it as a trick of the brain.  I think that would be a nice trick, your brain comforting you like that as you pass.

Morbid topic though.  LOL

I really don't know if anesthesia really could count as a near death experience, but I do know they have people watching your heart rate and blood pressure because it all basically tanks while you're under. Yes, this is a morbid topic... Can't really argue with that.

I have heard that about your brain doing those tricks, comes the phrase "life flashing before your eyes." I do also wonder if there is more to it than just the scientific explanation. Aside from comfort, not sure that there is a biological purpose for it, perhaps there is and I just don't know. Does make me more inclined to think that yes there is some sort of "life" or existence that we have after death. Of course going down that rabbit hole kind of comes full circle to my previous threads about Paganism, religion and death....so I won't rehash all that.

Definitely not trying to drag anyone down talking about this stuff.

Not sure it qualifies, but when I keeled over in March and then came to, there was nothing there, no sense of time passing, just nothing. I knocked my head falling, so maybe I had a concussion, which erased the memory of fainting, but I got nothing for you.

That is pretty much like my experience with anesthesia....it was like 5 minutes had passed when I was out for I guess a couple hours. Not sure how long they take but it was very odd. It was like highway hypnosis except I wasn't driving.

Highway hypnosis is where you're on a long road trip and you suddenly realize you've been driving for 2 hours but it doesn't seem that hardly any time had passed. I have in a way experienced that as well.

[Chase]

I've never had an NDE in the sense that I temporarily lost my vital signs and was resuscitated. I have had an experience where I was 100% convinced I was going to die from a mass shooter. Being convinced you're about to die is unimaginably uncomfortable. All I was filled with were regrets.

[LJay]

Three New Years back roomie and I were to go to his mom's for dinner. I got up before he did and decided to take a bath--nice soak in the claw foot tub. Bad move. Roomie found me out cold in the tub and said he slapped me hard several times to rouse me with no effect. He called the rescue squad and I woke up in the hospital. Blood sugar had dropped to about 20. Not good for a diabetic (or anyone else.) [The obvious lesson here is to eat your oatmeal and blueberries before you head for the tub.] I have no recollection at all of the time between when I got into the tub and when I woke up in the ER. I hear that the paramedics had a great time getting me out of the bath and onto a stretcher and also careening through my cluttered house before knocking a door off its hinges and taking me down seven steps to the ambulance. Then they played with their sirens and lights. Roomie said it was quite a show. I was completely unaware. Sorry. No bright lights or long tunnels. Nothing.

Have since gotten my Do Not Resuscitate papers in order. I'm convinced that when it does happen it won't be a big deal.













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[Tjemka88]

There was a time when I nearly drowned as a teenager. For a while, it's an excruciating experience because you cannot breathe, yet you're still alive at the same time. Then all I remember is peace. Nothing else but an extremely peaceful, floating sensation as if I was freed from all the troubles. And I can say it's true you see your life passing in front of your eyes when you're close to death. I saw the most important things I lived through flashing before me like movie stills. Since then, I'm no longer afraid of death. If it's like this, then there's nothing to be scared of.

To this day I don't know who pulled me out of the water but I'm forever grateful to that person.

[andy]

Luckily I've not had a NDE either but do strongly believe in the afterlife etc.

@InbetweenDreams and @Bhp91126 I can corroborate that feeling of no sense of time passing while under anaesthesia for a few hours when I was in hospital a few years ago... it was like the deepest sleep/dream state!  I think that when we sleep normally at night we mostly enter into light sleep and only occasionally fall into deep sleep so that might be the difference.

Thanks for sharing guys... really interesting and to others reading - please share your experiences too!