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Comment by c3534l | Hacker News Reader

I've heard a few stories where a person seemed to suddenly acknowledge that they were about to die. Granted, my grandmother repeatedly claimed she was going to die that night and the one time it was true the family lore became that she somehow knew. But to stop what you're doing like that, I wonder what it is they're actually feeling in the moment. Did he know he was going to die? Did he just feel dizzy? What do people feel in these moments just before death?

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I can’t speak for others but I had appendicitis about 10 years ago and ended up spending almost 8 hours in the ER waiting room suffering immensely. I distinctly remember towards the latter half of my wait that I began to feel a strange sensation of impending doom. I can’t describe it exactly but I feared that I might actually die if I wasn’t called back soon. I later heard that this sensation is supposedly one of the symptoms of appendicitis.

In case anybody was wondering, I was eventually taken into the ER. They started me on morphine and was in surgery a few hours later.

Considering that a bad trip on magic mushrooms can also be pretty effective at the impending doom thing, it seems to me more a question of particular chemistry production than the setting.

Feelings of impending doom are also a symptom of adenosine injection. [1] Interestingly, caffeine is an adenosine receptor antagonist.

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine#Side_effects

Had it done to me twice, 2 of the worst experiences in my life. They did the first one and did not push enough. The doc said do you want the good news or the bad news. I choose the good, apparently there is a significant portion of people who's heart does not restart after adenosine, and they have to use the paddles to get it started again. The good news was that mine restarted so it will always restart when given the medicine. The bad news was they did not push enough to stop the SVT so they had to do it again. That was bad news it's a horrible experience. All of the symptoms of a heart attack with the exception of the pain. Can't breath, tingling, darkening vision. You think you are going to die when you feel you heart stop.

I've never really considered it a feeling of doom. It only lasts a partial second or two and you don't really have time to feel anything.

I mean, it literally can take your heart going 400 beats a minute, stop it, and instantly start going 72. It feels fucking crazy but I never have time to feel "doom" specifically.

I do know that the paramedics love administering it though haha.

A sense of impending doom is listed in first aid books as a potential sign of a heart attack.

Absolutely. As a paramedic, in a good instance of the number of SCDs I have attended where the family have said "y'know they said they just really didn't feel right/had a sense of something dark/impending doom, all day long".

In the setting of chest or upper abdominal pain or pressure, especially over 35 years, any pain that radiates to shoulder or jaw, especially that cannot be relieved and doesn't appear exertion-related (but even then) should be considered something serious until shown otherwise, in general, and coupled with the above.

When my grandmother died, she sent her husband out to the store, took off her rings (which she never removed), and was dead when he returned.

She had been in failing health, was around 90 years old, had recently gone through a rough fight with cancer, a broken leg from a fall, and had just been in a nursing home temporarily. She fought with everyone to be allowed to go home and die, she didn't want to die in the nursing home. She went home and died a few days later.

She very clearly knew.

Till death do us part. Wow.

Seems like she has reached a particularly high level of spiritual development (which can be more rationally defined as self-minfulness). Great Tibetan Buddhist masters use to die the same way - they would tell everybody in advance and prepare themselves.

Supposedly, a panic attack is subjectively similar in some ways to actually having a major medical emergency, especially a heart attack.

"Impending sense of doom" is a symptom of a heart attack.

Fun fact: a lot of the symptoms of a panic attack are the same as the symptoms of a heart attack. This comes in especially inconvenient if the focus of your panic attack is fear of a heart attack. It's basically a self-confirming incorrect diagnosis.

> inconvenient if the focus of your panic attack is fear of a heart attack

This is called Cardiophobia.

This happened to me once, the second time I ever had a panic attack (the first being when I was a toddler). My heart started racing and I hyper focused on it; took my blood pressure and it was a high so I called the advice nurse who told me to have someone take me to the ER. Basically the only way the situation could have been worse is if I’d actually been having a heart attack. I was preparing to accept death at age 20.

What made it worse was the doc in the ER did an ultrasound on my heart as I was coming down from my freak-out. I was thinking “wow, that’s amazing! That’s my heart inside of me!” Then the doctor says, “this side of your heart looks a little thick but otherwise it looks fine” and never followed up. I try not to think about that too much.

One of the most frightening experiences of my life at the time, but it was super interesting in retrospect.

Something very similar happened to me (20, m) recently, I drank too much coffee, felt my heart racing and had an impending sense of doom being worried to the point where I was also (trying to) accept my oncoming death. This was also happening while being on an intercontinental flight which I don't recommend.

In retrospect I also have kind of similar feelings about it, although I'm afraid the experience actually caused me being worried a lot more about some minor health issues in the last year.

We called an ambulance once for my ex expecting a heart attack that turned out to be a panic attack. The ambulance crew that responded were very clearly very used to people confusing the two, and stressed it was better to call again than not if she was not sure.

Yep, I went to the ER for what I was sure was a heart attack, and it turned out to be a panic attack. It was weird, I did not feel particularly anxious other than my reaction to the constricting pain radiating from the left side of my chest.

I think it's more likely he just felt suddenly unwell and wanted to pause to catch his breath or rest a little bit.

My grandmother passed away a few years ago and it’s a similar story. She has been very frail and sickly, and decided to come home to be with her family. At home, she sat down on the bed, called over the care taker — took her hand and said “thank you” and sort of just fell asleep and never woke up. Everyone one in the family was relieved she didn’t suffer in her last moment.

My grandmother had a small fall but she was frail, when she was discharged by the hospital she asked my uncle who she lived with if he would mind living alone, she passed away in her sleep that night.

It's actually a real thing -- people being able to very clearly sense when they're about to die:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angor_animi

Apparently, you have to take these signs seriously when it's not a fear of death, but actually saying, "I'm dying".

Look on reddit for "when people know they're dying"...

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