Near Death Experience

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Have you had one? Do you know someone who did? There are some great books on the subject. Some Doctors/scientists say that when the brain loses oxygen, there is an endorphin rush that causes people to feel really peaceful and happy, and have hallucinations. But if you talk to anyone who has had one, they swear that they were in heaven.

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My mother had one back in the 70s before NDEs were much in the public eye.

Dr. Raymond Moody has written some very good books researching NDEs. He started his research in the late 60s when he was in medical school. He also reasearched NDEs from a historical perspective.

There's another Dr. who has researched NDEs in children. I can't remember his name, but it was something like Stevenson.

After talking with my mother, and reading some of the research, I truly believe it's more than endorphins. Many of the people who have experienced this have too much detail of what happens during their resus and what happened outside the room at the time of their near death.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
Have you had one? Do you know someone who did? There are some great books on the subject. Some Doctors/scientists say that when the brain loses oxygen, there is an endorphin rush that causes people to feel really peaceful and happy, and have hallucinations. But if you talk to anyone who has had one, they swear that they were in heaven.

Or--yes, it is possible--the person's soul really IS in heaven? :)

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i had a friend , he was in car accident, he told me a bout his

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Specializes in Nothing but ER.

I believe that these NDE are real, but I don't think the individual is in heaven. I don't think we can go to heaven and come back. I think death is a journey and these NDE, people experience are maybe the the begining of it. I have no idea. I think they help validate the fact that we Christians already know. Death is not the end. Eternity is real. Recently a patient who was having a cardiac workup told me about her NDE she had experienced a few days prior. She cryed as she related it.It was a real event to her. She didn't think she went to heaven. She just saw this bright light that she felt had/was a supernatural presence. Call it what you want, endorphins whatever. I think she really did see what she thinks she saw. Sometimes one has to simply believe. There doesn't always need to be a scientific explaination behind everything. Don't mind me too much. I just one of those ignorant Christians, who was never quite naive enough to swallow Darwins THEORY of evolution. No offense intended

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They accidentally gave me my mother's Valium before my kidney transplant, and I had no time to tell the OR crew about it before they slapped the anesthesia mask on me-- so I got an overdose. They couldn't wake me up post-op, and my vital signs were getting weaker.

I remember that I was reclining in an armchair made out of blue-gray clouds, which was itself floating in a blue-gray room, with a warm breeze flowing over me. I was wearing white pajamas and I was barefoot, and SOOOO comfortable!

And then-- I woke up to find a nurse with her finger in my eye, yelling my name, and suddenly EVERYTHING hurt! It's a good thing I woke up when I did, because they already had out the big heart needle! My nurse yelled, "We don't need that!" and another nurse put the big needle away.

I had no tunnel or white light in my NDE, just a comfy place where I was recovering before returning to a VERY painful situation. (Incidentally, I was wearing a regular hospital johnny and some slipper-socks post-op-- no idea why I saw myself in white pjs and barefoot!)

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Specializes in Transplant, homecare, hospice.
Have you had one? Do you know someone who did? There are some great books on the subject. Some Doctors/scientists say that when the brain loses oxygen, there is an endorphin rush that causes people to feel really peaceful and happy, and have hallucinations. But if you talk to anyone who has had one, they swear that they were in heaven.

After my mom had her lung transplant, she had some complications. Once she was out of the woods, she woke up and told me that she remembers being in a row boat (this was a dream she had when she was in a coma)...she said that there was a large black hole that she was trying to paddle away from. She said that she knew if she let the hole take her that she would leave and she didn't want to do that so she paddled harder.

She lived less than a year and died of an infection, but I thought the story was interesting.

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They say LSD can cause a person to have an experience similar to a NDE.I wonder if maybe LSD trips can be real? Maybe they aren't just hallucenogenic, maybe they really do take you to that other dimension.

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They say LSD can cause a person to have an experience similar to a NDE.I wonder if maybe LSD trips can be real? Maybe they aren't just hallucenogenic, maybe they really do take you to that other dimension.

Interesting thought. It's said those cultures who have shamans and similar community members use mind-altering drugs to experience out of body experiences. I had always thought they were hallucinations, but then maybe not since so many people rely on those folks for direction.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

My son related a memory from an NDE he had when he was not yet six years old. He had a significant stroke following a liver transplant; only a short time before the stroke he had been sitting up talking to me and pleading to be allowed to take a nap. When his lunch arrived I was unable to arouse him. What followed was a series of progressively more urgent exams and interventions that are the stuff of nightmares. The outcome was that he survived but suffered profound brain damage. He had to relearn everything, even how to hold up his head.

A couple of years later, I broke the news to him that an acquaintance of ours had died. When I asked him if he understood what that meant, he indicated that he did, that Paul was in Heaven. I reminded him that we wouldn't see Paul again. He said, "Yes we will, when he comes back," and I told him that people don't come back from Heaven. "Well, I did," he said and proceeded to tell me that he'd seen Jesus and Jesus told him, "That's not the way it's supposed to be, Son. You have to go back." He described the events happening in his room as if he had been a spectator, including how sad he felt when I started packing up his get-well cards and toys. The detail he used, this almost mute son of mine, made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. When I asked him if he'd still have come back if he'd known what he was coming back to (months in hospital followed by months of rigorous rehab, depression, the absence of who he had been), he very solemnly said simply, "No."

I believe.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
My son related a memory from an NDE he had when he was not yet six years old. He had a significant stroke following a liver transplant; only a short time before the stroke he had been sitting up talking to me and pleading to be allowed to take a nap. When his lunch arrived I was unable to arouse him. What followed was a series of progressively more urgent exams and interventions that are the stuff of nightmares. The outcome was that he survived but suffered profound brain damage. He had to relearn everything, even how to hold up his head.

A couple of years later, I broke the news to him that an acquaintance of ours had died. When I asked him if he understood what that meant, he indicated that he did, that Paul was in Heaven. I reminded him that we wouldn't see Paul again. He said, "Yes we will, when he comes back," and I told him that people don't come back from Heaven. "Well, I did," he said and proceeded to tell me that he'd seen Jesus and Jesus told him, "That's not the way it's supposed to be, Son. You have to go back." He described the events happening in his room as if he had been a spectator, including how sad he felt when I started packing up his get-well cards and toys. The detail he used, this almost mute son of mine, made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. When I asked him if he'd still have come back if he'd known what he was coming back to (months in hospital followed by months of rigorous rehab, depression, the absence of who he had been), he very solemnly said simply, "No."

I believe.

I am in tears, reading this. THANK YOU for sharing. Bless you and your son.
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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

I, too, am in tears, janfrn. That was so be moving.:icon_hug:

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