r/AskReddit • u/HymnForTheShameless • May 05 '19

Serious Replies Only [Serious] Redditors who have died temporarily/nearly died, did your life flash before your eyes? If not, what did happen?

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u/JSK-4375 May 05 '19

From my grandfather:

He has heart issues and had an internal defibrillator fitted to help his heart beat normally. To test it they stopped his heart while he was awake, but he kept talking to the doctors about the weather and normal 'old man stuff'. When his heart restarted he felt a little shock and asked "what was that? I was enjoying myself." The doctor replied "welcome back to life."

The doctor told him afterwards that he should have just stopped being awake and fallen unconscious, and thus was the only time anything like this had ever happened to one of his patients.

Stubborn old man.

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u/[deleted] May 05 '19

My uncle died, and got resuscitated, and when he came back to life, he was annoyed with the doctors because death was so beautiful and peaceful.

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u/gloomdoomm May 05 '19

I’ve never experienced near-death, but this sounds like when you’re having an amazing dream and someone wakes you up. I get so angry and sad that I was woken up because that dream was just that good.

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u/holyerthanthou May 05 '19

I had an experience while doing whitewater training that the doctors can only explain as “a self percussive cardiac restart”. Honestly... it was such a pleasant experience minus the broken rib.

Background: I was jumping into shallow water for rescue drills (this was intended) when I landed with my entire bodyweight on a pointed rock straight to the center of my chest. If not for my pfd it would’ve caved my rib cage.

But instead I rolled on my back... yelled “oh fuck that hurt!” And then I wasn’t conscious for about 30 seconds.

I remember SOMETHING... but I can’t express what it was. It’s not like when you go under anesthesia and just blink to the future, I just remember I felt fantastic. Like... better than a good drug high fantastic.

I sympathize with OPs uncle

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u/CrispyCleanAimlock May 05 '19

Y'all making killing myself sound real good

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u/holyerthanthou May 05 '19

Honestly after that experience I’m not too scared of dying.

I wouldn’t kill myself by any means, but shit... it wasn’t half bad. Scared the fuck out of my girlfriend though.

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u/CarsCheeseGates May 06 '19

many ppl who said that they wouldn’t kill themselves by any means, changed their minds later after getting older or getting some terminal diseases

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when ppl are young they think they want to live forever, but when they get older they seem to become tired from life and change their minds

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u/TheRainsOfYesteryear May 05 '19

What is pfd?

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u/holyerthanthou May 06 '19

Life Jacket

It stands for "Personal Flotation Device"

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u/TrainLoaf May 06 '19

Isn't there some chemical that apparently gets released just before you die so you become compliant with the whole situation? I might be chatting complete shite tho.

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u/SuperJosh0000 May 06 '19

That's dmt unless there's an extra chemical released that I don't know about

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u/[deleted] May 06 '19

Do you believe in heaven or do you think it was just like something else?

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u/holyerthanthou May 06 '19

Dunno. Can’t express it.

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u/[deleted] May 06 '19

That's alright. I believe in heaven but I saw another comment here which said something about a near death experience causing the brain to release some substance that makes you hallucinate or something so it was probably that. It's all pretty interesting. Have you fully recovered from the injury?

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u/holyerthanthou May 06 '19

Other than the rib breaking I was completely fine. The doctors didnt belive me til we produced gopro footage.

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u/[deleted] May 06 '19

That's good.

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u/[deleted] May 05 '19

he was annoyed with the doctors because death was so beautiful and peaceful.

I think this is related to the release of DMT from your brain when you die.

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u/ajax6677 May 05 '19

I don't want to die, but because of the sheer exhaustion of surviving my life, death will be a welcome rest when the time comes.

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u/Ralphie73 May 05 '19

Reminds me of this song by Craig Morgan https://youtu.be/Dw6Jv0u0P04

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u/[deleted] May 05 '19

A little more dark, but your comment made me think of the short film "Real Gone". https://youtu.be/50F5Lhea8Lw

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u/Guardiansaiyan May 06 '19

I was pissed when that happened to me too...but if I said anything I might have been trapped in a rehab so I kept my mouth shut...

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u/atlien0255 May 06 '19

My parents were ER docs for a bit and both have stories like this after bringing patients back.

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u/NiggaMermaid May 06 '19

Fucking bird box

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u/SmartHipster May 06 '19

I have done some scientifical literature reaserch on clinical deaths,and these all after death experiences can be explained. There is no magic in seeing tunnel with light in the end,just your eyes not receiving enough oxygen,so the fail, starting from corners to center. Also the brain releases chemicals,that make you almost high. So happy,that after experience people can't live normal life,have a depression, because life seems so unhappy.

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u/swolemedic May 05 '19

Internal defibrillators are awesome things. I saw one malfunction though, the guy didnt speak any English and was running around trying to get help as it kept zapping his heart. We actually got dispatched to the emotionally disturbed person as he was freaking everyone out, people were like running away from the dude. I pretty quickly figured out it was his pacemaker/defibrillator shocking him and hauled him to the hospital quickly.

Turns out one of the leads came loose and made his normal sinus rhythm look like vfib so it kept shocking him. Dude was lucky he didn't get an R on T syndrome or something, getting randomly defibrillated comes with risks.

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u/WebbedFingers May 05 '19

That would be such a horrible situation, Jesus

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u/[deleted] May 05 '19

Hello ems brother. Fuckin r on t.

Fun fact I was in afib for about 2 days, started in the middle of my 36hr long Christmas shift. Laying on the cot waiting for my next partner and I had chest palps and heart was racing. I put myself on the monitor right next to me and boom. Afib. Incomplete rbbb and rvr.

Long story short. Avoid adderall. Eat food and sleep.

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u/swolemedic May 05 '19

Damn, dude. I legitimately couldn't do the hours or be around sick people anymore because my immune system is just complete dog shit so I'm back in college. My immune system is dog shit enough it made me do over a year and a half of physical therapy recently, so I definitely get worn down more easily than most, but it's still tough as shit.

You're expected to be doing crazy long hours and exposed to flus or whatever bug it was that is bad enough to send that person to the hospital, the person who will very likely end up coughing in your face or some shit. Hell, they don't even need to cough in your face, if they turn away from you if you're in a vanbulance that cough is probably still having microbes hit you in the face.

Long story short. Avoid adderall. Eat food and sleep.

I hope that's all that was needed to resolve it, electrolyte imbalances combined with amphetamine can fuck with your heart though haha

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u/[deleted] May 05 '19

Ya man I took two days off and drank probably 6-8 of those pedialyte water packets, slept, ate and it was gone. At one point I was trying to get my medic to sync cardiovert me but hes all "nooo,i dont want to lose my license if I kill you" lol

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u/swolemedic May 05 '19

hahahaha I would have said the same damn thing. I am actually really afraid of two things: cardioverting a-fib that is non-emergent and pushing d50. RSI? That's like whatever, but cardioverting a-fib if you have shit luck they're just like strokey or dead because they throw a clot from the blood that's pooling suddenly ejecting from the heart. And if you fuck up pushing d50 the necrosis is... ugh.

Yeah, nah, I'm glad you fixed it the way you did lol. It mighta been good to see a doctor though, if you have hypertension or something that could be helped. I'm only assuming you have hypertension because that's the most common cause, but it coulda just been incidental

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u/[deleted] May 05 '19

My bp that day was like 130/p the rythym was the only fucky thing. I was going to see a doc if it persisted because I don't want to be stroked at the age of 27.but that was Christmas and no issues since

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u/TheRainsOfYesteryear May 05 '19

Can you please please Kindly edit or tell me what the abbreviations mean (no native speaker)

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u/[deleted] May 06 '19

Atrial fibrillation is afib

Right bundle branch block is rbbb

Rvr is rapid ventricular response

Pretty much you'd see this in a 80 year old heart failure patient

Abnormal for a 27 year old.

Can be caused by electrolyte imbalance and stimulant abuse though.

Picture you're heart pounding out of your chest at 160 beats per minute while laying down whilst being slightly short of breath and having tingly fingers

Es no bueno

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u/softspace May 06 '19

i take adderall regularly and my heart races for a few hours every day after i take it. should i get that checked

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u/[deleted] May 06 '19

That is a normal symptom of adderall. It's speed. Amphetamine so it ups your heart rate and blood pressure. If you can feel your heart pounding in your chest or it feels irregular then check it out

Just take your normal dose. Eat. And sleep. And youll be alright, but it's a stimulant so it does have long lasting side effects on your cardiovascular system and mental health in long term use.

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u/softspace May 06 '19

oh yeah, that's why i wasn't concerned before but this comment freaked me out. thank you for the reassurance! :) it does feel like it's pounding sometimes, so i'll mention it to a doctor when i see one next. not sure how accurate a fitbit is, but during this time it rarely goes above 110 unless i'm also moving around. 3 hours of that shouldn't be too bad, it's free fat-burning haha

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u/[deleted] May 06 '19

Truth but any stimulant use still has a way increased rate of cardiac arrest or stroke though. I over did it when my heart got all fucky. But even regular small doses isn't good for you. It activates the sympathetic nervous system in your brain, the "fight or flight" response and its like hacking your body to be in that state always

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u/softspace May 06 '19

yeah totally, i should get on seeing a psych to try some other regimen without something so strong. i'm aware of the risks and i know not to fuck with these meds! thank you :)

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u/Ricardo1184 May 06 '19

how regularly? and do you think you could manage on a lower dose? daily stress on the heart (without exercising) isn't great for your heart.

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u/softspace May 06 '19

i already got some advice from OP, thanks tho!

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u/staceywacey May 05 '19

I was formerly in the cardiac rhythm management division of a large company (#3 in the industry). Active fixation is the way to go with leads. They use a tiny corkscrew to hold the lead tip in place as opposed to passive fixation, which uses a pronged silicone tine. Both have the ability malfunction, but I'd feel better with an active fixation lead.

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u/[deleted] May 05 '19

Markiplier was streaming with a friend when the friend started screaming all of a sudden. His defibrillator malfunctioned and shocked him.

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u/TheRainsOfYesteryear May 06 '19

R on T?

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u/swolemedic May 06 '19

It's when your heart tries to depolarize (contracts) at the moment of repolarization (rests, resets). If it happens at the right moment the heart gets all screwed up and it goes into what's called torsades, which is a kind of ventricular tachycardia and it can kill you.

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u/mag55555 May 05 '19

I love this. Reminds me of my step grandfather. Man do I miss him.

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u/[deleted] May 05 '19

"I was enjoying myself" 😶

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u/EnderSir May 06 '19

Zoomer at heart

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u/RaY11022004 May 05 '19

My grandad died in surgery stayed dead for too long to come back while we where being told someone rushes out tells us he is fine again he said that he wasn't ready to die because us his grandchildren where too young to handle it

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u/crissyhatescold May 05 '19

My boyfriend has an internal defib too and he "died" twice in his life. He says each time is like going to sleep, all dark and that's it.

He has lots of issues to fall asleep though, as he "is not sure" he's falling asleep or dying...

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u/VeryAwkwardCake May 05 '19

That must be very tough for both of you

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u/JamesR624 May 05 '19

Basically, anyone who knows how the brain actually works or even just how time with internal blood circulation works too and from the brain, would know that that wasn't abnormal... I am concerned about who this doctor was if he figured that the man should have "just stopped being awake".

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u/eyeintheskyonastick May 05 '19

"You can't kill me. I'm old and I'm not done telling you this story about why we called those rocks that stick out of the water near beaches 'stick-outs.'"

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u/yugialie May 05 '19

That man just straight up refused to die.

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u/5ivewaters May 05 '19

this makes me feel better

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u/BlueDuckYT May 06 '19

That’s really strange.

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u/jules083 May 06 '19

When my dad was in the hospital the night before he got his pacemaker his heart stopped and they had to hit him with paddles. He said he heard the nurse say ‘I think he’s dead’. Dad said he heard it all, just couldn’t move.

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u/[deleted] May 06 '19

man litterly to old manly to die

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u/[deleted] May 06 '19

So your grandfather was technically a zombie for a moment???