To ask if you've ever had a near death experience and what went through your mind?

Wow, what happened OP? Did you actually drown before you were brought around?

As a young teen I would climb everything and once on a beach holiday I climbed up a steep folly like castle keep structure that was partly submerged in the sea. Having climbed up it I suddenly looked down, realised it was going to be v hard to get down and that if I slipped then it could be lethal. I just thought 'oh, this is how I die', matter of factly.
Obviously I managed to get back out ok.

Thank you, OP, for this discussion.

I've lost too many people in the last few years, one to a horrific suicide, and I'm finding this oddly comforting reading about people's calm, happy and peaceful last moments.

Yes, almost drowned in a swimming pool when I was 6, I remember it very clearly. Once I realised I was dying and there was nothing I could do, I felt quite relaxed and peaceful.

I’m so sorry this happened to you, but also your last line made me laugh out loud 😂

My brother died last year and reading these experiences are giving me comfort that he felt peaceful at the end. Thank you.

C sec last year, nearly had a cardiac arrest. I remember feeling funny and the anesthetist calling out my name. I couldn't answer him or move my head and my heart had slowed right down I could feel my self going. I couldn't answer anyone but I could hear everything. The concerned faces looking down at me and then a consultant anaesthetist came in saying has she arrested but I was just coming back after being injected with something in my cannula. I've had spinal but nothing like this. I was on my way out, but I guess it wasn't my time.

Yes, I was in a near fatal car crash so it wasn't really a calm environment but I have a few memories - my first was utter panic that the car would catch on fire (I was stuck inside) and so I just kept asking the paramedics if it was going to blow up. The second was a bit more 'out of body' ish - I couldn't be sure if the crash was real, and I kept thinking 'but I have plans tonight, this can't be right, must be a dream' (starting to lose rationality).

That was about it until they put me under but I woke up briefly when they got me out of the helicopter at hospital and I was just conscious enough to ask if I was going to lose my legs. This was probably when I was closest to death because I had lost many pints of blood at this point and was on my way to the operating theatre. Nothing too mystical or anything, just a lot of confusion, panic and nonsense.

I remember a woman who was passing and very kindly stopped to help, she was talking to me while the ambulance was on its way and trying to keep me conscious. She kept asking me if I had any pets and I was getting so confused and annoyed with her (unreasonably!) I was just like - 'no I don't have any pets thanks for asking, do you know if this car is going to burst into flames?!! 😂

@Daz57, so sorry for the loss of your daughter.

Another car crash one. I can remember thinking that this was real, not a dream as the car was spinning, but like so many others it was actually a wonderful experience and I tried very hard to hold onto the feeling when it was over. Sadly I lost it within a few days but Im not scared of dying any more. It was just so peaceful and calm, the opposite of what I’d have thought.

Car drifted into my lane on the motorway and hit my back wheel. Thought I was going to die. I screamed and immediately thought of my boys, shouting out their names in my head. I can still hear it. It was awful and terrifying, that momentary belief of me losing them and them losing me.

Thanks so much everyone for sharing your experiences & i’m so sorry to hear about what some of you have been through. I have an advanced cancer so I think about dying a lot & this thread has comforted me.

@Meatymeatytimetoeaty Probably outing but I live near there.
I hope you are alright, that sounds horrible x

I'm so sorry that so many women here have been strangled by men, just awful 💔

Meningitis. Felt the exact same calmness you did, along with I'd not really missed much in life.

Glad I lived though. Does change your perception slightly.

As a child as I had encephalitis but I hardly remember, I had a brain op to relieve pressure on the brain but I cannot stand my head being touched at all. It caused seizures for three years and I would pass out and my Mother found me not breathing a couple of times.

I had a haemorrhage when I had a PG loss, was scary as anything and I went in to some sort of shock, that affected me for quite a few years.

I had a hemorrhage and lost a lot of blood. Everything went fuzzy and then I woke up in hospital after several blood transfusions. I don't remember any calmness, just nothing. Exactly the same feeling as going under for surgery.

Every post I've read about having a bleed has pretty much been the same as yours - my own experience included. Weirdly calm.

I feel the same. I lost my precious daughter 5 years ago when she was 42 and these posts have have helped me so much … the thought that her last moments here were calm means so much to me. Thank you everyone x

I had very severe PE with my son, who had to be born at 28 weeks due to this.

I had no symptoms at all, and it was only after I'd been discharged from HDU that they told me I'd had HELLP syndrome too.

I remember waking up in hospital & being all disorientated about where I was, as there'd been talk of transferring me to other hospitals due to bed shortages.

When I got out of hospital I went to buy an expensive handbag I'd seen before going in. Life's short!

That’s reminded me of hearing ‘breathe for me, darling’ and receiving the ‘sternal rub’ several times. It was bloody painful, I remember feeling so pissed off.

I had a massive bleed at home; I had a whipples procedure to remove a fist sized lump of pancreatic cancer in 2017, and when I got home pancreatic juices leaked and burned through my femoral artery. Cue massive bleed at home - doctors still don't know how I made it to the hospital. I went on to have 6 transfusions - for every bag of blood they were putting into me, I was vomiting more back out. I was like a little play doh esque bleeding machine 🤦🏻‍♀️

My husband found me on the bed with my eyes open and I just remember feeling weirdly calm. I even remember thinking "I'm talking so calm it's going to freak everyone out" BUT I also had this weird sense that I wasn't going to die even though I knew I was probably close to fully bleeding out.

It made me believe in something else although I don't know what - a lot of weird things happened that day for example, I was on blood thinners and for some reason didn't inject it that morning; this saved my life as my blood semi clotted and stemmed the bleed. My husband was at his brothers just walking through his front door for a cuppa and said he just had this gut feeling he needed to get home to me - when he got home I was on the bed passed out.

I felt 'something' around me - safety, serenity - I can't explain it. But something.

Thank you to everyone sharing your stories. This is such a fascinating thread. One thing that stands out is the fact that everyone's experiences were so calm except the ones involving choking on food. I guess there's a natural instinct to try and remove the blockage so that might explain the fight and panic. Absolutely terrifying.

What went through my mind? Absolutely nothing, no conscious passing of time. I went to sleep (twice) and woke up days later in ICU having been on life support both times.