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People Who Have Actually Killed Someone Break Down What Happened

People Who Have Actually Killed Someone Break Down What Happened
Photo by Lacie Slezak on Unsplash

To know you are responsible for the death of another person can leave irreparable scars on your psyche.

"There's never a time, even when I'm laughing at a party, when I'm not thinking about it," Pam Uhr, a woman who was responsible for the deaths of two boys in a car accident, toldThe Guardian in 2018.

How would you expect your life to change after such a devastating event? How would you even go on?

After Redditor mfmisor asked the online community, "Redditors who have accidentally killed someone: How has it impacted your life?" people shared their stories.

Warning: Some sensitive material ahead.


"It was such a violent crash..."

It was a cold Friday morning on March 14 , 1997. My senior year in high school was coming to an end and all was right with my world. I was driving my 1988 Ford Bronco to my friend's house to pick him up before school. About a mile before his house a 70 year old woman and her 93 year old mother riding shotgun turned left in front of me from an unprotected green light. There was no chance to brake at all and I T-boned their Toyota Camry going 50 mph. The older woman died instantly the police said. It was such a violent crash that it sent their vehicle off the road and collided with a power pole. The driver suffered major injuries and sadly she died 3 days later.

After all the rumors and gossip which lasted until I graduated I was cleared of all wrong doing. The police determined that the driver was cited 2 times recently for driving without a DL. From what I understand her eyesight was quite poor and she must have not seen my truck. Thankfully I was wearing my seatbelt and only suffered a broken collarbone and bruises. Still very sad about what happened and it sometimes still haunts me to this day almost 25 years later.

le_emperor

"The day after I graduated..."

I got into an accident in high school when I was 17. T-boned a woman crossing a main road, she wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the car. She died three days later in the hospital.

I was charged for negligent homicide with a motor vehicle and reckless driving (calculations showed I was doing 20 mph over the speed limit) . The day after I graduated high school I spent a month in prison. It's been 9 years and I still haven't bounced back completely.

please-be-nicee

"I have no regrets."

I guess technically I've helped to kill about 5 old ladies. It's kind of an unspoken agreement amongst the nursing staff that if someone hasn't moved, eaten, or had a drink in 4 days and their feet are mottled.....well......we make them comfortable. Morphine is always prescribed by then and we collectively ensure our patient is in as little pain as possible.

I have no regrets. I've even had a family member thank me for helping her mom.

Good_nuff

"After the accident..."

When I was 16 I was going home from work late at night and needed to swing by the gas station. I was getting ready to make a left turn into the station and waited for a few motorcycles to pass and i looked down the road to clear the turn and saw a single light from a motorcycle about a mile away so I went ahead and made the turn. About halfway through the turn I saw the light getting brighter and noticed the guy was maybe 3 feet away from my car. That's when time began to slow down as I stomped on the gas to try to get out of the way. It was unfortunately too late as his body hit the side of my car completely shoving to the side. I got out and he just layed crushed in the street.

The gas station was very busy so a crowd immediately formed around the man and cops and ambulance came. He died a few hours later in the hospital.

After the accident I just sat on the side of the road thinking well im going to prison I just killed a dude, very much in shock and a bystander came up to me and said "do you see what you did!!? Go see what you did!" I wasn't really responsive at this time. After detectives came and talked to people i found out the guy was going well over 150mph on a bike trying to catch up to his friends and when I pulled out he didn't slow down but apparently ditched his bike and only his body hit my car. Turns out if he stayed on his bike he would have missed me completely. I was bothered for some time but have come to accept that this kind of crazy sh!t happens, just have to carry on.

TheManWhoBothers

"I used to be an airline pilot..."

I used to be an airline pilot for a relatively large regional airline. Because I didn't make much money doing it, I worked as a flight instructor on my days off from the airline.

One day a student of mine and I were up practicing some maneuvers over an area with a lot of trees.

As we were finishing up and about to go back to the airport, our engine started acting weird. It was a bit rough and we lost RPM. No big deal, I thought, I figured we were just running the mixture too lean, so I enriched it and had no improvement.

I started heading towards a field we passed a couple miles back. It wasn't big but it was our best shot if things got worse as the airport was something like 15 miles away.

The engine only got worse. I was having trouble maintaining altitude and I radioed in a mayday call with our position.

Eventually, the engine died completely. I tried a restart but nothing worked. As we were lining up our final approach, we made sure the airplane was secured and all that.

Turns out the field was a lot smaller than I thought. We touched down and it was extremely rough. I had a lot of pressure on the breaks, trying to not lock them. The trees were coming up very fast and I decided we weren't going to stop so I tried to get the airplane back on it's front wheels and slam on the breaks to make it flip so we could at least stop.

I thought about it too late and we smashed straight into a big tree. I can't remember very clearly getting out but I do remember seeing my student in the front seat slouched over with his head to the side. I tried to yell for him to get out and realized his eyes were open. The local police arrived within minutes of us touching down and later they said they saw us coming in.

They got my student out and took me to a hospital to be looked at and X-Ray'd because I had bad pain in my neck and back. They pronounced my student dead at the scene. His neck snapped on impact.

I didn't have any legal action taken against me or anything, the NTSB and FAA said that I did the right thing in the situation. I just wish I could've gotten the plane flipped over. I feel guilty. His wife blamed me and tried suing me.

I have extreme anxiety and don't fly anymore. I wish I could bring myself to do it because I truly loved it.

I work construction now because I have always loved building stuff and fixing up the house. I'm 36 years old now and have it on my bucket list to fly one last time.

throwaway87559

"I think about it a lot..."

It wasn't my fault, but when I used to drive a wheelchair transport van, a bracket that holds the wheelchairs down failed. The guy tipped over enough to hit his head on a cross brace when I turned a corner. He had a degenerative disease, and had fragile bones. He ended up in the hospital, and never recovered. Passed a few days later.

The last I heard, the company that made the brackets ended up changing their design because the accident unveiled a flaw in their design.

I think about it a lot, because a person died who was in my care. I don't feel guilty about it or anything, There was nothing I could have done differently; something just broke. It's still a bummer when I think about it though.

Skittlebrau46

"He blamed me for the accident..."

Not killed immediately, but turned into a quadriplegic, which is a death sentence for a 19 year old.

I was also 19 years old, driving a friend of mine around my hometown because he hadn't been there in years. He had moved out of state many years before. Was on a narrow country road, very hilly and windy. I am cresting the top of one hill, going a little faster than the speed limit, and a van comes up driving right down the center of that road. There's a steep embankment to the left, and a deep ditch to the right. I swerved to miss the van, realized I was going into a ditch, and swerved back. I ended up swerving completely around this van, and hit the embankment on the left. My car flipped down that hill seven times. I was wearing my seatbelt, but he wasn't. My side of the car was practically crushed, his barely had a dent. But because I was wearing my seatbelt, I just got glass embedded in my face and scalp, and messed up my left eye, shoulder and hip. Because he was not wearing his seatbelt, he broke his neck.

He blamed me for the accident, and for everything that happened to him, so I have not heard from him since it happened. I can only assume he's dead now, as the life expectancy of full quadriplegics is pretty low.

It's been 15 years, but no one gets in a vehicle that I am in without a seatbelt. Period.

sundaybann

"Not a lot has changed..."

Several years ago, I was driving on the interstate and a guy ahead of me's tire blew out, he panicked and spun out into my lane. I slammed into the passenger door and his teenage daughter was killed on impact. The other driver was deemed at fault, but I felt guilty. It took quite a bit of time and therapy, but I realize now that there's nothing I could have done-- it was just an accident.

Not a lot has changed, but I now give extra space whenever possible while driving.

boatsbeaton

I believe I've found..."

I believe I've found as much peace that I personally can find from the situation but there will always be lasting effects that I just need to learn how to work with.

Ballistic_Biscuit

"They'd be justified."

My best friend was a heroin addict. She kept begging me for money to "pay bills" or "court fees". Deep down inside I knew what it was for, and I felt bad saying no to her, even though I knew what it was doing to her.

I literally would lie awake at night every time I gave her money wondering if she would die that night.

One night I gave her money and a ride to the ghetto to buy. She bought more than she needed, sold to someone else, and they both died of an overdose that night.


As for how it's affected me, I'm a wreck. I still have nightmares. I went catatonic after it happened. I stopped eating, stopped leaving my house, had issues getting out of bed. I don't remember much from that time. Just darkness and despair.

Very few people know what actually happened that night. Some tell me that if it wasn't that night, it would have been another when I wasn't there. Others have told me that it's my fault she's dead.

I was diagnosed as having PTSD as a result of her death. That has not been easy to deal with.

Some days I wish someone would hurt me. Beat me within an inch of my life, maim me, kill me, anything. They'd be justified.

OlenDeryu

"Towards the end..."

I'm not sure if I'm responsible but I think I contributed to a family member dying.

8 years ago I was 22 and my mom asked me to stay with my grandpa and grandma for a few weeks to help watch them. My grandpa had just gotten out of the hospital and got the green light that his cancer was still gone.

However, as a precaution I was to help him walk around the house even with his cane that they gave him.

He was watching tv or something and had to get out of chair to get a drink. I told him I'd get it, and he insisted he could get it instead. I told him I was supposed to help him walk to the sink.

He denied he needed help, adamantly, and just told me to walk next to him. I was waiting by the couch maybe 6.5/7ft away. He was near me and stumbled/dropped his cane. He caught himself on the side of the couch and slowly lowered himself onto the floor.

My mom saw it and told him that he had to go to the hospital, per doctor's orders. He got into an argument about it, but it was too late, my mom had already called 9-1-1.

He was carted off to the hospital, fully aware and talking with the paramedics as easily as you talk with friends. The doctors took x-rays and noticed something in one of his lungs. They weren't sure so they wanted to figure out what it was, and ran some tests.

The tests were negative for anything that it could possibly be. He slowly got worse, they tried all sorts of medication and nothing stopped it, his lungs slowly faded over six or so weeks, the meds didn't even slow it down,

Every day for six weeks, my entire family including cousins, aunts, and uncles spent the day in the hospital. A few of my cousins couldn't bear to even go visit him because it was so heartbreaking to them.

Towards the end he couldn't even speak. When he was first admitted he was fine and optimistic, slowly though the realization of what was happening dawned on him. He didn't deny it, but rather accepted it. He said his final words to each of his children and grandchildren. Told his kids how wonderful they were and all his favorite moments with them.

His wife, my grandma, and his kids sat with him after the doctors told them they need to prepare for his death because it was very close.

I'd like to say he went peacefully and quietly, but he didn't. There was a death rattle which my mom said was "indescribable" his body lurched and his head rolled to the side, mouth agape.

I don't know if me helping him to get a drink would've made a difference. I was supposed to do a job for someone I loved, I didn't and now they're dead.

[deleted]

Before my career change I worked as a pharmacy technician through college. It was a good job for me, and since our pharmacy was only for nursing homes and mental institutions I didn't have to get a public facing job.

If anyone reading knows much about medication, you might recognize that Warfarin is A. A blood thinner B. Usually prescribed in very minute, exact dosages. Glove changes after handling were enforced pretty heavily. It really isn't one to play with.

So pretty typical day. I'm filling cassettes for I think 7 days and apparently misread one of my fill stickers. I didn't see that I was supposed to split 2 5mg tabs in half. (Before anyone makes the obvious point about 2 half tabs being the same as one full, I know. Some insurances will only pay for halves since it's cheaper. Silly, right?)

So by the nature of these weekly cassettes, you typically fill them over the course of the week along with other homes cassettes, and they all leave sometimes up to 4 days later. A day after that particular mistake went out the door, we have got a floor wide meeting with the owner of the pharmacy. A bit more exposition, but he was a very serious, very hotheaded man. We didn't get along well, all things considered. He's the only boss that ever openly threatened my job prior.

The meeting is as expected, very serious and informing of the mistake. He called a 'critical failure.' The tech responsible for the fill missed it, the pharmacist in charge of checking it missed it. The nurse in charge of administering missed it. He said the patient was rushed to the hospital, but it could've been alot worse and used this opportunity to make it clear that this type of mistake wouldn't be tolerated in the future. The rest of us were looking around, unsure about who the tech and pharmacist was.

As I was heading out to grab lunch, bossman grabs me and tells me we need to talk. The 'oh s***' alarm was going off pretty hard at this point. I step into his office and soon have a pharmacist sitting next to me.

Now for as aggressively angry as I've seen this man get, he was very calm and spoke very clearly. He explained that we were the 2 who made the mistakes. We messed up and he didn't want to single us out in front of everyone, which would have been a nicer sentiment if it hadn't been followed up with the patient dying in the hospital. It felt like a brick came off my chest and was replaced by a cinderblock. I didn't know the patient, never talked to him, didn't know was his conditions were, but I played apart in his death.

The coming days I tried to shake it off, but I couldn't be there long before I would think about it again. And again. And again. I ended up taking a few lunches with that pharmacist over the next couple weeks. He seemed to take it better than me, but it clearly affected him too. We both worked considerably slower, double checked ourselves constantly. It sucked. Work wasn't even close to enjoyable anymore and I'd end up hating myself as the days when I went home.

As this was happening I had some changes in my own life. Some I chose and some that just happened. Bad timing for sure, but it helped to push me out of pharmacy work for good, into a more hands on, bluecollar job. I still think of it from time to time, and it doesn't cut me like it used to, but I'd say the event helped me with an attention to detail on important matters. I oversee a mechanical shop, so I'm a bit of an ass when it comes to safety, but it comes from this experience.

29S9L6ED7245s1WCLS

I was the court appointed guardian for an old lady who lived on the top floor of a four story walk up after she had gotten drunk and left her water running until the fire department broke her door down to wake her up. All the people in her building wanted her out and I fought with them for about three years to keep her there, but I knew she should move since she could not walk up and down the stairs.

I managed to get her an apartment in a building with an elevator, but it was smaller and she hated it. No one wanted to rent to her so it had been very difficult to find a new place, but I promised her that we would keep looking and she could move when we found something better.

After about four months in the new apartment, I got a call from the hospital. She had fallen asleep while smoking a cigarette and it lit her blanket on fire. She was in the hospital unconscious with burns over 90% of her body and smoke inhalation. A friend of hers mentioned that because she had lived in and was used to her old apartment she would not have had the same problem. I've really felt like it was my fault ever since. If I had her moved into a hospital, or a nursing home she wouldn't have died.

[deleted]

"Not a single day goes by..."

I was in a car accident 12 years ago that killed a friend of mine. Not a single day goes by that I don't think about it. I have nightmares almost every night reliving it. It was just an accident, according to the police report I hydroplaned into an oncoming car. My friend was killed instantly. I had to move away from my hometown because of the harassment. I got death threats on an almost daily basis, as if I went out that night with the intention to kill someone. The "anniversary" was 4/28 and it was a rough one.

hopefulhusband

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.