I had an NDE around Christmastme in 1992.Six months earlier I had been in a traffic accident that ruptured four discs in my back.I was in pain constantly and had been through the mill with meds and treatments.My doctor had prescribed a then new medication called Stadol which came in a nasal spray.It was so new it wasn't on the list for my HMO to pay for so I had to shell out 80 bucks for a tiny bottle that contained around 10 doses.
My wife and I were going out to dinner,so I made her drive because I was hurting and tried the medication.When I first inhaled a bit of the Stadol,it felt like nothing was going in,so I looked at the nozzle and sqirted a tiny bit out.Not wanting to waste the expensive drug I snorted another bit,this time feeling it go into my system.What I did not know at the time was that the sprayer was defective and I had inadvertendtly emptied the entire bottle into my nose.It was bitter as hell going down so during dinner I drank quite a bit of sweet ice tea (official soft drink of the Deep South,for some reason northerners and midwesterners haven't learned that if you sweeten tea while it's hot,the sugar melts and you can taste it.Californians understand the concept,I was able to order sweet tea in LA,but I digress)which put the stuff deeper in my system.During dinner I began to get ill and the restaraunt began to spin around me.My wife told me,"I didn't look right".I told her I thought I was having a reaction to the medication and we left.The effects were starting to subside so I thought I was out of the woods.I remember even telling a bedtime story to my daughter who was 4 at the time.My wife was already asleep,so I crawled in bed next to her and attempted to sleep.After a bit I felt my legs go numb and tingly and felt that sensation travel north up my body,through my chest and eventually I became aware that I wasn't breathing.I wondered if I could get up and so made the attempt.When I did,I felt myself rise,but felt no resistance against the waterbed we slept on.I turned to look back and saw myself lying in bed,next to my wife pale and pasty and quite dead looking,a slight chalky drool dropping from my lip,eyes slightly open and sightless.I felt no fear and felt that something was communicating with me,though not in words,more impressions.It basically told me that I had a choice,I could leave and not be in pain anymore but it would be a long time before I ever saw my wife and kid again.If I stayed,I would be very ill and in pain the rest of my life.I remeber seeing my daughter in her room next to ours asleep and at that moment I felt myself back in my body,choking and gagging over my own vomit.I was violently ill for days and today I suffer chronic pain from the accident.
I'm told this experience is common for many people.Who else has experienced anything similar?