These NDE accounts were submitted to our website and are published here anonymously. Minor edits have been made to protect the identity of the experiencer and others who may have been involved with the experience. Note to researchers and authors: IANDS cannot grant permission to publish quotations from these NDE accounts because we have not received permission from the NDE authors to do so. However, we advise authors who wish to use quotations from these accounts to follow the Fair Use Doctrine. See our Copyright PolicyPolicy for more information. We recommend adopting this practice for quotations from our web site before you have written your book or article.
I underwent open heart surgery to have the aortic valve replaced, and when the surgery was over, they had difficulty restarting my heart. I was hooked to a pacer for 4 days until my heart took over. Not sure how long it took them, and I didn't know It was an NDE because I was still unconscious, but the second time I was asystole, I started from a conscious state and was flatlined for 10 seconds, and that was so similar to the first one, I knew that both were caused by the same type of event, complete cardiac inactivity.
My first NDE happened when I was 5, while getting my tonsils removed. That event caused me to be open to spiritual paths outside the teachings of the conservative church/school my family attended. Nevertheless, the severe trauma I experienced in my early childhood due to other events caused me to grow into a state of complex PTSD that took the form of suicidal ideation and actions for most of my life.
I have never ever told anyone this before, but 30 years ago I did once have an experience where I thought that I had died and woke up in reality, but it wasn’t exactly like others I’ve heard.
It was very quick. I had been outside in the grass and I was feeling like nobody cared about me. I was quite upset.
I had passed out for quite a few hours, I think, outside in the dark and cold. I had taken a lot of something psychedelic, as I did a lot back then, maybe mushrooms I picked myself. I was about 21.
I am not even sure it was an NDE, but it was a strange experience.
I was in a wreck as a young teenager. I was knocked out, but I had the sensation of tumbling through a wheat field that I could clearly visualize, with a bright white light pushing me from behind. It was a peaceful experience; no fear.
Prior to my suicide attempt I wrote a book as my suicide letter to my loved ones that compiled my journal entries over the past three years capturing the events that led me to that point.
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