Has Anyone On This Board Ever Had a Near Death Experience?

by Rapunzel 30 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Rapunzel

  I was wondering if anyone had ever experienced a N.D.E. If not, does know anyone else who has had one? Has anyone ever felt that they were visited by a family member/loved one who had passed on?

  I have read that some scientists theorize that N.D.E.'s are nothing supernatural, rather that they are brought on by chemical stimuli in the brain, and to changes in cerebral oxidization. Moreover, the phenomenon of N.D.E.'s are said to be culturally specific and culturally determined. That is to say that an Asian person who is Buddhist witl have a different kind of experience than a Christian European, or North/South American.

  The reason why I ask is that about four years ago, I went into full cardiac arrest. I was officially pronounced "D.O.A." - dead on arrival at a hospital. The nurse who was with me in the ambulance performed C.P.R.

  The thing is that I had no N.D.E., and yet I had been pronounced D.O.A.

  I remember somehow driving myself on a motorcycle to the local hospital while literally taking what should have been my last dying gasps. I was on the verge of full cardiac arrest. I remember half stumbling, half crawling into the E.R. of the local hospital. I remember that strangely enough, the doctor gave me some kind of medication to stabalize and regulate my breathing. But I also remember being very, very tired despite having my breathing calmed.

  I remember the doctor having me have a chest X-ray. The first one was not clear at all, so the doctor asked me to do a second. I told him that I was too tired, and asked him if I could do it the following day. He said: "Okay"

  My last conscious thought was looking down at that little hospital gurney and saying to myself: "You are certainly going to sleep well tonight." In my eyes, that little, uncomfortable gurney seemed like a king-sized, quilted bed.

  The next thing that I remember is waking up and seeing faces with hospital masks looking down at me. I had no idea where I was, for all I knew, it was hell. It turns out that I was in the I.C.U. of a different hospital, in a different city. Despite there being an I.C.U. in the first hospital, the decision had been made to transfer me via ambulance to another hospital about 30 or 40 minutes away.

  I know for a fact that I was labelled DOA, because it says so in my records. I also know that for a period of time I was in a coma.

  I "came to" or regained consciousness at the second hospital. They obviously had a way of knowing that I was on the brink of consciousness because there were four or five nurses looking down at me. It was quite a shock, let me say. Although covered by a blanket, I soon discovered that, under the blanket, I was totally naked. It seems that they have special scissors that can cut a person's clothes away in a few seconds. I never got those clothes back again.

  The thing is this: It was "lights out" for me at one hopital, and "lights on" at totally different one. I know that there was a hospital tranfer via ambuance, and I know I had been in coma, but I don't know if it was a matter of hours or a matter of days. I don't think that it was more than a week, but I just not sure. Because I remember nothing from the period in between. I remember nothing of the ambulance transfer, nothing at all. My last conscious thought at that fiirst hospital was my idea that I was in for a nice sleep because I felt so damn tired.

  I guess my question is: Why did I have no N.D.E.? Does anyone know of any "theories" regarding this? How "dead" does one have to be? Does full cardiac arrest qualify? Or do you have be in even worse shape?

  I suppose that my case can be viewed as a good news/bad news one. The bad news is that I saw no tunnel of light. I did not feel the "warmth" of cosmic/divine love. I did not see loved ones who had passed.

  The good news that I was offered no vision of lost souls doomed to Hell.

  What I experienced was oblivion, nothingness, total lack of any cosciousness, a deep and dreamless sleep.

  Does anyone have any ideas? Could it be that I did indeed have a "taste" of my ultimate fate? Could it be that certain people enter into oblivion. If that's the case, then I suppose that there is nothing to fear. After all, nothngness is nothing. It truly does not matter if a person spends five minutes or five aeons in such a condition of total uncosciousness. I mean, I would have preferred to see a tunnel of light, or even a prmrose path. But I guess that, as a "second prize" oblivion aint all that bad. It sure beats hell.

  Speaking of hell, that is precisely the word to describe my stay in that hospital's I.C.U. Has anyone here ever been "intubated." In my case, after the heart attack, my lungs were only functioning at 65%-70%. That's not enough. So, they stuck one end of tube into a respirator, and they stuck the other end of the tube deep down into my throat, way past the "gag" reflex. It's really uncomfortable and no fun at all.
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  MeneMene

  Your experience is interesting. I am reading the book 'Closer To The Light' by Melvin Morse, MD. He did a study on children in Seattle about 25 years ago.

  He says his study proved that a person must be on the brink of death to have symptoms of an NDE: "My findings eliminated the theory that NDEs are the result of drugs or sleep deprivation or that they are merely bad dreams or the subconscious awareness of surgery." ... "Of the 121 patients we interviewed who had survided a serious illness but were not near death, 118 had no exerience at all. The remaining three had dreams of white-coated monsters and the like."

  "Meanwhile, eight of the twelve survivors of heart attacks had visions of leaving their bodies and traveling to other realism. That is almost seventy percent, a percentage so high it eliminates the element of chance or statistical error."

  The 12 in the study were children that had actually 'died' and were brought back. Not every one of them experienced something - but a high percentage did.

  I wish you had experienced more - it would be an interesting story to tell. Oblivion, nothingness, total lack of any consciousness, a deep and dreamless sleep is better than a fiery hell. That's one good thing about being raised a JW - no fear of burning in hell.

  Dr. Morse tells the details of the experiences his patients had. Very interesting book. It's making me think about the possibilities.
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  dawg

  I'm so interested in this right now, I've quit believing in the Bible God years ago, yet have an open mind as to there being a higher being... if we go somewhere else after death, then there's probably a being we've given the moniker "God".... an after life to me proves higher life beings.
  
  Thanks for bringing this up....
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  cameo-d

  Do you have any memory at all of what happened while you "were away"?

  Do you remember anything in the very beginning...like a buzzing in the ears? A feeling of nausea? Do you recall anyone asking you questions only to realize you were answering them back with your mind and you actually had "no connection" with a speaking voice?

  Do you recall "seeing" and being able to describe people in your room and what they were doing...and yet it was at a time you were "unconscious"?

  Have you asked to see your hospital records? (Sometimes there will be "pages missing")

  Was your coma less than 3 days?

  You do know that this is why people have wakes, don't you? There have been stories of people who were buried alive. That was one of my fears after my NDE experience. I could not understand what had happened to me. I was not familiar with the term NDE. It drove me nuts for awhile trying to understand what had happened. I read a story about a child buried in mausoleum who crawled out of her coffin. Years later when the mausoleum was opened to entomb another family member they found the girl at the door and scratch marks on the inside of the door. Also, they now make special coffins with bells and whistles for people who fear being buried alive. Don't think it would be too much help if they drain your blood for embalming.

  I did see in records that I flatlined. Don't know how long I was gone. I was "brought back" with just an instant of eye fluttering and then slipped into coma.

  I do have vivid recall of all that I experienced "beyond". I was in a place of darkness (would not call it a tunnel because I would have been claustrophobic.) It was vast dark openess. I was weightless, like when you float on water. No sensation of hot or cold. Very quiet.

  I saw small light on horizon. As I drifted closer it burst into rays..brilliant blue-white light. I was called back...someone at bedside kept calling my name.
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  zeroday

  When I was in elementary school in the 2 grade I was playing in the baseball field by my self and climbing on the back stop...being raised a Catholic I had a religious medal around my neck and as I was hanging with both hands on the backstop I let go expecting to fall to the ground only about 3 feet...when I let go my medal cord caught on the wire and I was hanging there on the backstop by the neck right before I passed out or died I was able to pull myself up and unhook it...I have never told my mother about this...
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  Rapunzel

  I thank everyone for their responses.

  Cameo-d: I experienced nothing of what you describe. This happened, in March of the year 2003, while I was living in Taiwan. As I said, it was "lights out" in a local hospital named "Chi-Shan." And it was "lights on" at another hospital in the southern city of Kaohsiung. The hospital's name is "Chou-Chung He."

  As I said, I know that I was transported via ambulance from the first to the second. I imagine that, as they say, it must have been "one hell of a ride." But I remember absolutely nothing of the ride. I know from having consulted records, and having spoken with doctors, that I was declared DOA at Chou-Chung He and that there was CPR performed on me, which obviously "brought me back" [I subsequently learned that the survival rate with CPR technique is a mere 5%. I realize that by accounts, by any estimation, I really should not have survived that episode. There has been no doctor who could really explain or theorize how someone in my condition could have hopped on a motorcycle and driven themselves to the E.R. of the first hospital.]

  I do remember one very odd thing that happened, or rather kept on happening, before I hopped on my motorcycle. It was my telephone that kept on ringing and ringing. It was so strange that anyone would call me at that hour of the night [It was after 11 p.m.] It is very hard for me to describe my physical condition. It is really almost impossibe unless someone has experienced cardiac arrest. I just remember gasping and gasping. The slightest body movement on my part would only worsen the gasping. I was sitting in bed, gasping for air, as if I had just sprinted full speed up a very steep hill. That's why I did not answer the phone; I could not speak. I could barely breathe. I am usually not one to ignore an incoming call, but unless someone has been in that condition, it is impossible to know how it feels.

  In any case, it was odd about the phone. It would ring. I would ignore it and say to myself: "I'll go to the hospital later, when I feel better. It's late. Why bother the folks in the E.R. at this hour? I'll wait until 7:00 or 8:00 a.m., a more "reasonable" hour [Of course, looking back, I realize how f***** up this "thinking" of mine was. The truth is that I did not have that much more time to wait.]

  Well, I will never know just who it was that kept on calling and calling. But I will also never forget it. either. But at that moment, it was pysically impossible for me to speak. And what would have I said, if I had picked up the phone?

  But, to reiterate, I neither saw nor heard anything whatsoever until my eyes opened at the second hospital. I saw no visions or lights. I heard no voices. As I said, just before losing consciousness at the first hospital, I felt an overwhelming sense of fatigue, but no nausea.

  Years later, I asked a doctor to read and translate the entry for what happened that night. The nurses reported me speaking in a strange, babbling voice. They did not speak English so well, but they said that my speech deslayed "disorientation." They stated that what I said made no sense. I have absolutely no recollection or awareness of this. Like I said, my last coscious thought, the last thought that I remember in that E.R. that night was: "That gurney looks mighty comfortable. I'll sleep well tonight." And, sure enough, I did sleep well. In fact, I almost slept forever.
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  Hortensia

  not that kind of experience. Had a crisis late one night, my pulse went up to 220. I felt very strange. I said, I guess I'm going to die and I went in and sat in the living room. Seemed very curious, like I was wondering mildly what would happen next. Eventually I thought I ought to call 911. I called 911 and said I was dying and then went and sat back down. Then I thought I might want to let my husband know the ambulance was coming. He was really pissed at me, why didn't I wake him up first? I was in some other space, heart beating madly, but feeling very peaceful. Told him I guessed I was going to die. Freaked him out!
  
  Later I was rather grateful for the peaceful feeling. I've always been afraid of being afraid at the time of death. Now I see that maybe I won't be afraid. I certainly wasn't then. So no tunnel, no light, no out of body experience, just on the edge of death and very peaceful. The ambulance folks had a time of it, they had a hard time convincing me I ought to go to the hospital. I know this isn't really what you were asking. Just my closest experience of the subject.
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  Mulan

  I did while giving birth to our second child. I was given a drug, inhaled type, and went on a nice little "trip". I floated above myself and watched the birth. I was totally out, consciously, but I saw the whole thing. Very weird.
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  aniron

  Has Anyone On This Board Ever Had a Near Death Experience?

  Yes ...... Its called a District Convention.
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  dawna

  never had that, but on the flip side my family has a "gift" as they call it. some of them see and communicate with the spirits of the dead, others get a feeling of what's to come. now my mother was baptized a jw when i was 1, my father was a non practicing catholic. my entire childhood was a series of sleepless nights, the reason is that i saw "them" as i called it. now at the age of 4 no child i know of can understand death much less life after death. so i asked my mother to say a prayer for me every night, but it never seemed to help. so i just kept my mouth shut about it so as not to attract the attention of the elders. when i was 10 my grandmother who lived down stairs from us, was diagnosed with cancer and given just months to live. well she managed to live 3 years. most people will say that their grandmothers knew everything even when nothing was said. however my grandmother really knew everything, 1 year before she was diagnosed she purchased a few turbins and a wig. now tell me how if she wasn't diagnosed she would do and hide such a thing. also the docs gave her months, if she knew of the cancer and bought those items she must have known that she would go thru the chemo and radiation. so any way, the night she passed was very strange for me, i didn't see any people. i then attempted to ask the elders what might be going on. they gave me an article about mental illness. so i did my best to ignore what had been happening me my entire life. so as i over heard my family talking about how inhabited the house was, it got me thinking. i moved out in my early 20's when i left the jws. i didn't see any of "them" the entire time i was out of my fathers home. recently due to cercumstances i had to move back in. the minute i did, i felt it. an extream energy, it feels kind of like being in a wind tunnel with lots of static electricity. i still don't see "them" but i feel them and their emotions.

  so as for a N.D.E i've never had one myself, but i do believe that there is an after life for some. i have a lot more experiences. if you or anyone has any questions just ask.