When did your world go quiet?

[PalominoOrGreyOrChestnutOrBay]

inspired by a tiktok trend recently, just thought it might be an interesting thread. I’m a regular poster not a journalist or anything like that (MNHQ can verify!).

When did your world go quiet? Basically, what was a time you got a fright and time seemed to stop or go quiet?

mine was I was on my horse and he decided to rear up, over concrete ground, and I felt him wobble back. As soon as I felt that first tilt backwards everything sort of went quiet and it was like an out of body experience (not a good one!). I couldn’t hear anyone around. I just remember the last thing I thought was along the lines of this is it im about to die and it was like everything was in slow motion. Luckily it was all ok but that split second was easily the scariest moment of my life and my world completely stopped.

So, when did your world go quiet?

Two of the time I was sexually assaulted. Time slowed right down. I think it's due to a change in blood pressure for me.

When my daughter was born and did not cry for 30-60 seconds. I swear it felt like 15 minutes.

When Spanish drs were telling me they’d switched my dads life support off without allowing me to see him or say goodbye. They already had him in a body bag when I was allowed in and hurried me out of the room for porters to take him to the morgue less than 5 minutes later. The most traumatic experience made to be even more hellish by unsympathetic arseholes… my world collapsed and I couldn’t hear what anyone was saying to me…

When I went for my scan at 9+6 weeks and the gynecologist started with 'oh I don't like the look of this...'

I had had a MMC. No indication whatsoever. Everything seems to freeze. It was such a bizarre experience.

When the foreman of the jury stood up to give the verdict in the trial of the man I knew had stabbed my sibling to death. I knew he was speaking but didn’t hear a word. My parents both burst into tears, I still had no idea what was said.

It wasn’t till I registered my cousin next to me chanting thankgodthankgod that I knew he’d got what he deserved.

Much love to all reliving grief on here.

When I was younger and after a night out with friends I got a taxi back to my boyfriends house. I’d shared with my friend but I was the last stop so I was then alone. The taxi driver randomly stopped down a country-like road and completely turned around and just looked at me in silence. Honestly I thought I was about to be murdered. I quickly said are you lost I’ll call my bf for directions and phoned him. And he just turned back and carried on driving.
I can still see his face now and that sinking feeling when I think about it.

Twice in my life - first one was when a car pulled out right in front of my motorcycle and there was no way on earth I could avoid it. Everything seemed to move incredibly slowly and in painstaking detail as I braked, screamed, felt the collision, left the bike, hit the ground, slid and rolled. I remember very clearly thinking 'This is going to hurt, but how much?'
Second time was driving myself into hospital for a life changing operation, and out of my mind with fear. I was watching myself do everything, a surreal experience, I really was 'beside myself'.

When my 5 year old daughter went missing on a beach.

When my very premature baby stopped breathing when I was holding him in intensive care. The neonatal nurse washed her hands before coming over to take him and put him on a ventilator etc. It felt like she washed her hands for a whole day snd more when it was probably 3 seconds. I felt like screaming at her to hurry up.

I'm a nursery nurse and we had a baby stop breathing. We genuinely thought she was dead. I was on the phone to the ambulance and watching the chaos around me, everything looked like slow motion. The ambulance got to us really quickly but if felt like we waited hours. (She was fine! It was due to an undiagnosed medical condition.)

Listening to my mum die in a house fire and being able to do nothing. Not sure what was worse, the sound of that scream or the silence when it stopped.

Thank you so much. I do. Lots of therapy with a very amazing therapist for the last ten years. I’ve moved far away from my home town. I have a husband and three children. I have chickens and land and life is altogether lovely. But it’s also very difficult trying to live beyond it all.

so many stories here that I can barely bring myself to read. Humans are amazing. Women are amazing. We don’t have any choice but to continue.

Was it in Brighton?

I found a little girl on bust Brighton beach, walking along sobbing, everyone ignoring her. I took her and we walked up and down the beach, searching for her parents.

I gave her water to drink, she was hot.

In the end I had to carry her as she was exhausted.

I was just about to call the police and a man was shouting and she heard him, that little one jumped from my arms straight into her daddy's arms. I don't know who cried more, me, the little girl or her daddy.

That’s interesting. The blood pressure thing.
Also, so sorry for you horrible experiences b

Finding DH slumped on the floor after a major stroke. I thought he was dead. Luckily he had only been there ten minutes or so and the ambulance was with us within another ten.

Oh @Chipsahoy bless you and your now life.

I had major surgery and my heart stopped. Everything was still, I was hovering and I could see everyone panicking and rushing around me. Yet it was eerily quiet. Then my aunt who had recently passed told me to go back and it wasn’t my time.

In between my twins being born. I know it was 17 minutes but felt like a life time. 1st one arrived very quickly then all hell broke loose. 2nd one arrived (in a fairly traumatic fashion) then I was bleeding too much. I’ve no idea what happened in the 4 hours between the 2nd one arriving and me going up to the NICU to see them both. Completely lost most of the memories other than the midwife showing me pictures of the twins in the NICU.

When I was 8 I went for a family walk around a local lake, slipped and fell into the water. I remember sinking down to the bottom and trying to reach the surface but I couldn't. I then saw a light, like a torchlight shining up from the bottom of the lake and pulling me towards it but I wasn't afraid. It felt warm and quiet. I then remember waking up on the side of the lake and a dog walker had jumped in and got me.

Going for a scan and having my ectopic pregnancy confirmed. Couldn't hear a word after “I’m so sorry” and had to have it explained again later in the little room with the tissues and the chairs which many of us will know 😢

Watching my Grandad die. A good life, very long and well lived, and a peaceful slipping away surrounded by family, but the reality of having watched someone take their last breath was a much bigger feeling than I’d expected.

On my honeymoon in Florida. I had no money growing up and my dream was always to take my family to Disneyland. We’d saved for three years, then came all the COVID shite rearranged our wedding twice, my DH had been made redundant, and we were finally there! We took my DSD (7) to Volcano Bay and the volcano went off and she turned around in the water in the sun giggling and shouted to me “my smile is too big for my face.” 🥹 So was mine. Until I cried! With happiness though!

Time in stressful situations is strange, and notoriously difficult to estimate. That's why in situations such as resuscitation someone should be given the job of timing events, recording what happened when, and keeping the rest of the team reminded of the time and when particular interventions are due.
I've had numerous experiences of going in to work in the middle of the night to see a sick patient and then suddenly realising that it's daylight and the night staff have been replaced by the day staff but I didn't notice, and it feels like I've only been there an hour or two. I think when you are hyper focused on something your brain just shuts out other stimuli which it sees as unimportant. I imagine the same thing happens in personal traumas. People's recollection of timing of traumatic events is often way off and it's definitely not because they weren't concentrating.
Warm thoughts to everyone who has posted on this thread. Therr are so many heartbreaking stories but also a multitude of incredible strong women.

I live in the US - I got an automatic text from my DS's school to say there was an active shooter and they were in lockdown.
I genuinely think I blacked out with terror for a split second before I threw myself in the car and started driving to school.
We got an update within a couple of minutes and it turned out to be a false alarm, there was an armed robbery in a bank next to the campus (no one was hurt) but I still get overwhelmed when I think about it.

I'm so sorry this is so heartbreaking.

When I realised my late husband was going to die. He had collapsed suddenly with breathing difficulties and was placed on a ventilator after being rushed to hospital. I had no idea what was wrong until they did a CT scan and the specialist took me aside. He said they had found a large inoperable tumour in his lung and asked me for permission to end life support as there was no hope of recovery. Time seemed to slow down as I tried to focus on the unthinkable.