You see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's glow calls, beckons, for you to come towards it. It'll be easy, you might think, to simply walk into it. But suddenly, your metal-loving neighbor yanks you up, gives you the Heimlich, and forces you to spit out the candy lodged in your throat.
Near-death experiences are unique for everyone unfortunate enough to experience them, but thankfully, that's what we have the internet for.
Reddit user, u/th0nx, wanted to know what it was like when they asked:
When was your "Oh sh-t I'm going to die" moment but you didn't actually die?
Not. The. Bees.
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I'm alergic to bees.
One time I got stung while sitting at a red light. It was a rental and I forgot my bag. No epipen. I turned into a car dealership and yelled to them to call 911. Within 4 minutes (which felt like an eternity) my throat completely closed. Last thing I remember is the guy who was with me yelling that I was blue. I don't know how long I was out, but as soon as the EMTs pushed the epinephrine I sprung back to life. Thank goodness they got there so quickly.
The next day I brought the dealership and the EMTs baskets with cookies.
Seeing The Point Of Impact
It happened when I was a teenager. Two of my cousins, my mother, and I were on the way to San Francisco. I was sitting in the backseat playing on my Nintendo DS. As my cousin was making a left turn (light was green), from my peripheral vision I could see a SUV speeding towards our vehicle. I'm not sure if SUV was running a red light, the driver was distracted, or if just hitting another car for some reason was the driver's intent.
It really felt like time slowed down in the few seconds prior to the accident. I remember thinking I would feel the biggest impact and would probably die because of it since it was coming directly towards my side of the vehicle.
I braced myself, said a quick prayer, thought of my father and grandmother and everyone else we would leave behind. I remember glancing up at the point of impact and watching my DS fall from my hands. The SUV sped away.
Thankfully none of us were injured, just very shocked. Hearing my mom wailing out my name thinking I was hurt or dead right after we got hit was the worst.
Bad Puppy
Mauled by a dog.
I have no memory of most of the bites, but at one point the dog lunged & latched on to my abdomen, a bit up & to the left of my belly button. It was so terrifying & excruciatingly painful I was convinced that the dog was going to rip my guts out. When it was over & I was being escorted to the ambulance I kept my hand pressed over the bite on my gut because I thought I must be bleeding out. The funny thing was that bite was actually nbd & pretty shallow, it was the bites I didn't feel that were severe & caused lasting damage.
Never Trust A Lake
I had a stupid tradition where I'd swim to an island by a camp site I go to every year, it's about a 40 minute swim. I'm a good swimmer and never really bothered taking a life jacket or floating device. One year, I got a massive leg cramp in my left leg when I was 15 minutes from shore. I thought I was done but luckily it went away.
When Death Is Better Than The Alternative
I had the flu pretty bad. It got to the point that I couldn't keep anything down and I could barely walk into the urgent care. It kept up nearly a week, I felt like I was drunk the whole time. I'd wake up and think "if I died, that'd be fine." I didn't want to, but I thought if I did, it would be preferable.
Dangerous Undercurrents
When I was little my family went to Mexico for a holiday vacation. I was playing in the ocean when I felt myself being pulled out to sea. My parents were distracted, but I remember looking up at my sister screaming just as my head went under the water. I'm not sure how long i was underwater, but two guys came out of nowhere, dragged me out of the water, and as quickly as they appeared they were gone.
My parents looked all over the beach and never found them.
See? This Is Why We Have Life Alert.
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Heart attack.
Alone.
Out of town on business.
Hotel booked for a week.
Do Not Disturb on the door.
Passed out from pain and exhaustion.
As I blacked out, I thought 'this is it.'
I wished I could tell my wife, I love her.
Woke up the next day...
Was truly surprised I was alive.
Roughly Uber'ed to hospital, ASAP.
Out of work on leave for 3 months.
Completely changed lifestyle and food.
Doing better, right arm, 50% numb.
Just glad to be here.
🙂👌🏻
A Slippery Slide Of Doom
Okay so, about 2 years ago I was on my way to a friends birthday party, and keep in mind it was the middle of winter in Michigan. On the way there my mom hit some black ice, sliding off the road and the car hit some dirt, making it standing standing on both right tires.
Almost flipped and while it was I said "oh sh-t" but then the car flipped back onto all four. I still joke about it with my mom every winter. Good times.
Irresponsible Choices
After a party one night I made the 45 minute drive back to my house at around 4 or 5 in the morning, may have been less than sober, and when I got home I realized that I had driven with my knees the whole time and was sitting with my arms crossed.
I thought "wow, I should've died"
By The Skin Of Your Neck
This happened when I was about 18/19. Coworker shot a power washer at my neck from point blank range. In that split instant, I thought "I'm dead."
It had only recently been turned off (we were stripping paint from a large barn/shed) and although it hurt on impact, when I reached up to my neck, there was no blood. The relief I felt didn't counteract the feeling of nearly dying. I took off from work that day and cried on the lawn for like an hour, just trying to calm down.
There's A Pun In That Name...
According to my mom, when I was 2 years old I got a candy stuck in my throat. Thankfully my mom was a doctor so she poked her finger inside my throat and fished it out.
I now rarely eat candy other than life savers.
A Water Park...OF DOOM
Back in the day, there was what I considered to be the best water park in the US - Six Flags Atlantis in Hollywood, FL. They had once of the best wave pools in the country. I was 6 at the time - my parents recently divorced. I was with my father in the wave pool. It was so crowded that I lost him and I didn't think he could see me. I barely knew how to swim. On top of that, even at the age of 6, I thought I was pretty smart. I thought my father was just taking me to the water park because that's what father's do - not out of love (turns out I was right and this was the case as 2 years later he completely gave up his own visitation rights).
So here I am, drowning in the wave pool and thinking the only person who's looking for me is a dude that doesn't even really want to be with me (but needs to because it's court mandated). So, my thought process was: what incentive does he have to go bat shit crazy and look for me instead of just casually looking for me? I was under water for a good 30 seconds and couldn't hold on any longer. JUST as I needed a breathe, my father drags me to the surface and saves me. I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. On the drive home, it hit me: if I would have died, my mother would have murdered my father...so his incentive to save me was pretty fucking big.
Car. Surfing.
When I was 16 I was the dumbest kid you've ever met. I was trying to "surf" my car while my friend drove it down a back road, and after a few minutes I tried to crawl back in. I was drinking, and I couldn't quite get in the small windows, so my dumbass put my foot down trying to jump into it and it pulled me down.
Had some pretty serious road rash and cracked my head open. Probably would have died if my friend wasnt terrified that I was doing it and slowed down when I tried to climb in.
Stairway To Death
I was being stupid, and I fell down a flight of stairs, hit my head on the hard wall, and if I wasn't lucky, a ladder would've fallen on me. Lucky me though, I walked out with a sprained elbow, could have been worse, but when I was falling, it felt like my life was flashing right before my eyes.
You've Reached Your Final Destination
I was driving home from my girlfriends place in the city. I was driving home on the highway and out of no way a large pvc pipe comes rolling out in front of my car and I'm doing 70mph. It rolled to the point it seemed it was gonna strike my two left tires and somehow I turned just enough to avoid it. Needless to say a heart attack almost occurred.
Slowly Fading
Stepped on a stingray at the beach and the stinger went almost all the way through my foot like stepping on a nail. I got out and laid down near my family (last day of family vacation) and got my foot wrapped tight in a towel. It only took a few minutes for the poison to set in and my whole leg felt like it was on fire. Everything in my body started going numb, I had a hard time breathing, my fingers and toes curled up and my lips were tightening up. I told my wife I loved her and thought that might be it.
One of my brothers was bawling like crazy thinking I was done for. Somehow I pulled out of it and was able to get to ER and get treated. Hot hot water is the only thing that neutralizes stingray venom/poison. Worst pain I ever felt in my life but so glad I pulled through. Only time I've ever been convinced I wasn't going to make it. And it was a couple months after Steve Irwin's death.
LPT: do the stingray shuffle whenever you are in the water at the beach. Shuffle your feet so you are never taking a big up/down step with your foot. This scares away the stingrays and they don't sting you this way.
When You Want Something To Happen, But It Doesn't
This is gross, but about a year ago I woke up in the middle of the night with stomach pain. This isn't unusual since I have colitis, so I got up, grabbed a Calvin and Hobbes anthology, and prepared to spend some time in the bathroom. Normally the pain comes and goes and I can handle it. Unfortunately, this particular night I was horrifically backed up from nausea medication and couldn't go. I'd never had this happen before and suddenly the pain went from a manageable if unpleasant 5 to 'oh sh-t I might actually be calling 911.'
Unable to force anything out that way, I started vomiting uncontrollably. It honestly felt like my guts were being crushed by something. The only pain I can compare it to is like a Charley horse but in your entire colon. I've got a high pain tolerance but at one point the pain kept getting worse and worse until I was pouring sweat and I had a real moment where I thought my guts might rupture or something.
I panicked and things got real weird for a few minutes. My vision started going and I got really shocky. Dry mouth, more vomiting. I almost passed out in the tub when the spasms got worse because I couldn't keep myself upright. I couldn't push to get my guts moving because even the slightest amount of force was enough to make me shriek in pain. Eventually, with a concentrated effort, I was able to get things moving and I unleashed hell on our toilet. It sounds ridiculous, but I have NEVER been in that much pain. I was absolutely terrified, and that is the closest I have ever come to being like "man, I might die here."
What's the closest you've come to dying? Share it with us!
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