Have you ever gotten so sick you thought you were dying?

No.

Yes. The damn doctors never did find out what it was. The pain was worse than childbirth.

No, but when you take the strongest meds for staph, the side effects feel like it.

Yes, but it wasn't just me thinking that. I had viral pneumonia & the doctor said if we had waited just a few more days, I would have died since my lungs were almost completely filled with fluid. I still have scars on my lungs from that illness.

No.

No, not quite. Almost to that point though. I had a terrible flu and was so weak I couldn't get out of bed for days except to go to the bathroom.

Where was the pain?

At first I was afraid I would die, then I was afraid I wouldn't die.

No, but one time the side effects of some medicine made me afraid to fall asleep because it felt like my body was shutting itself off.

Actually, I was dying.

Maybe in the past where I thought I was going to get lead poisoning from being accidentally stabbed with a sharp pencil in the knee. I still have a mark there, very small and dark bluish.

Yes, and it was embarrassing.

Yeah, a few times. One time whole I was doing surveying deep in the virgin woods of a large Indian reservation when I noticed that I was exhibiting the signs of heat exhaustion and hyponatremia. I tried to rehydrate and found that I could no longer ingest fluids and was fast becoming delirious.

I was with another military fellow but he was scared and freaking out as I as the medical guy and we were out of cell & radio range. Of the two of us, I was the only one who never got lost, we were supposed to be close to the end of our trek and the only way he knew how to get out was the much longer way that we got to this point. I tried to calm the man down and talk him through what I needed and despite his brief efforts he couldn’t deal with the responsibility and sight of blood.

Feeling worse and realizing if I didn't do something, and fast, I was going to die. I set up and, with unusually great effort; I started an IV on myself and put myself in Trendelenburg position to try to maintain consciousness. It was when I was struggling with the IV insertion that I really faced death as I realized I HAD to get it in, or else parish. I finally got it in and slowly somewhat recovered.

Once I had taken in all the IV fluids I had on me (three bags) we finished our mission and got out of there. While the Seabee I was with was blown away with my ‘hardness’ I was disgusted with him for not stepping up and helping me when I needed it. As a result I refused any further offers for help from him on our way out and carried all my own gear, even though it was much more than what he had carried the whole trip. In later years he always marveled to others about how ‘hard’ I was and slightly exaggerated about how heavy my load was.

Yeah, when I was having a miscarraige & I didn't know I was having one. I bled for 3 weeks before finally going to the hospital. The doctor scolded me & said that if I would've wanted any longer I would've died. They had to give me a blood transfusion right there in the emergency room. I was in the hospital for a week.

No, I've been pretty sick, but didn't feel I was going to die. I've probably felt like I wanted to do a couple times, though.

Yes I have been so very sick I thought I would die for sure and had my close calls

Yes, I have been so sick I thought I was dying. And I have been so sick I knew I was dying. And I was so very sick, I didn't care whether I was dying or not.

Had pneumonia and was so sick, death would have been an upgrade... I had to crawl to bathroom. Finally went to hospital and they gave me 4 big bags of fluid because I was so dehydrated. Kept me in there for a while..

No, but when I have been really sick, I have said it as a means of conveying how really sick I feel

Yeah, a few times.

No I am not a man.

I have a female co-worker who acts as though she's on death's door every time she catches a cold.

No, but I've sure felt like it in my life.

> Where was the pain?

In my abdomen. The pain came in waves. After the initial couple of times (I thought it was just something I ate that I could ride out) I noticed they were getting more frequent so I started to time the lapses. The pain was absolutely unbearable, it doubled me over, I couldn't breath and it put me in an instant sweat. They got closer and closer together until it was almost constant and I couldn't stand it any longer so I got someone to take me to the hospital. They started prepping to take my appendix out
They gave me a shot in the intestine with something that did no good at all. Then they tried to give me pills without even knowing what was wrong with me. The doctor said: "Usually when something like this happens, people wait until it gets really bad before they go to the hospital. It's often the apex of the pain and it subsides from that point"
So they sent me home saying it could be a number of things but obviously it's run it's course and don't worry about it.

Oh my god! That sounds terrible! Do you have any suspicions yourself about what it was?

> Oh my god! That sounds terrible! Do you have any suspicions yourself
> about what it was?

Not at all. That's what's sort of scary.... what if it comes back?

Yeah. How long has it been?

Suicide attempt when I was 15, I thought I was dying and changed my mind about the whole prospect once I got to the ER began panicking. Fortunately, the pills I took would only have made me feel bad for awhile. Wouldn't have killed me.

I stared at that fora while and than I got it.

Don't worry about it, right? That's the advice you already paid the big bucks for.