# Near-death experiences may be triggered by serotonin



## qubit (Sep 8, 2011)

> THE bright light at the end of the tunnel which some people close to death describe may result from a flood of serotonin in the brain.
> 
> Near-death experiences (NDEs) are reported by around 1 in 5 critically ill people, and their cause is a mystery. Alexander Wutzler's team at the Charité University of Medicine in Berlin, Germany, wondered if serotonin - a neurotransmitter involved in mood regulation and processing vision and sound - plays a role.
> 
> ...



Oh, but I thought NDE's were caused by the pearly gates of heaven reaching out to you? Oh well, no matter.

As ever killing animals "in the name of science" was done in order to allegedly "research" this. :shadedshu 

New Scientist


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## BumbleBee (Sep 8, 2011)

qubit said:


> oh, but i thought nde's were caused by the pearly gates of heaven reaching out to you? Oh well, no matter.


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## qubit (Sep 8, 2011)

BumbleBee said:


>



Sorry to be slow and out of touch, but I see a lot of ** lately and have no idea what it means?!


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## BumbleBee (Sep 8, 2011)

qubit said:


> Sorry to be slow and out of touch, but I see a lot of ** lately, but I have no idea what it means?!



sideways heart.


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## Peter1986C (Sep 8, 2011)

qubit said:


> As ever killing animals "in the name of science" was done in order to allegedly "research" this



Many people that say like "OMG that is so brutal" forget that they would dislike it even more if humans were used for tests that are potentially unsafe.
Think of the Nazis, they did it with concentration camp prisoners. And to make it worse none of the results are usable because of the way in which the tests were done (methodology).


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## erocker (Sep 8, 2011)

So, basically if you take a whole bunch of extasy (MDMA) you will have a sweet NDE? I just wanted to touch everything and drink a lot of water.


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## Wrigleyvillain (Sep 8, 2011)

Everything is biochemical.


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## dank1983man420 (Sep 8, 2011)

erocker said:


> So, basically if you take a whole bunch of extasy (MDMA) you will have a sweet NDE? I just wanted to touch *every woman* and drink a lot of water.



fixed that for ya.   

Yep those were the days


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## TheMailMan78 (Sep 8, 2011)

erocker said:


> So, basically if you take a whole bunch of extasy (MDMA) you will have a sweet NDE? I just wanted to touch everything and drink a lot of water.



I just fap until I lose consciousness and wake up glued to the bed and mildly thirsty.


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## Damn_Smooth (Sep 8, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> I just fap until I lose consciousness and wake up glued to the bed and mildly thirsty.



And this is why we need a nothanks button over here.


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## Wrigleyvillain (Sep 8, 2011)

That shit never did much for me. Uppers and such though, wowza. Brain chemistry, I guess.


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## FordGT90Concept (Sep 8, 2011)

I'd say that's inconclusive.  They need to be monitoring someone's seratoinin and have that someone claim to experience a "near death experience" in order to connect the too.  Just because seratonin spikes in the body before death doesn't necessarily mean there's any link to near death experiences.  The body does all kinds of strange things on the brink of, and after, death.  Thing is, most people don't experience near death experiences at all before/during dying.  If I go by that parcel of information alone, I'd have to conclude it is not seratonin because 6/6 having the same biological response is too frequent.

More likely, the release of seratonin is likely to make the process of death easier on the cortex so you relax instead of panic.  If you panic, you're likely to exacerbate the problem leading to death thereby making matters worse, not better.  As far as I know, seratonin has never been linked to those kinds of mental pictures either.

In short, their conclusion doesn't make much sense.


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## casual swift (Sep 8, 2011)

TheMailMan78 said:


> I just fap until I lose consciousness and wake up glued to the bed and mildly thirsty.



LOL. There's not a whole lot of posts that make me laugh out loud in the office but this is one of them.


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## AphexDreamer (Sep 8, 2011)

When people take drugs, even the same drugs, not everyone experiences the same hallucination or visual or has a good trip. 

Likewise with serotonin, not everyone is expect to get the same reaction either. This could be why some experience the effect, while others don't. 

Speculation of course.


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## TheoneandonlyMrK (Sep 8, 2011)

never once did i see the pearly gates whilst ravein!! mostly crackeds and raverbabes in hotpants and bikinis


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## Wrigleyvillain (Sep 8, 2011)

AphexDreamer said:


> When people take drugs, even the same drugs, not everyone experiences the same hallucination or visual or has a good trip.
> 
> Likewise with serotonin, not everyone is expect to get the same reaction either. This could be why some experience the effect, while others don't.
> 
> Speculation of course.



Of course not. Your "speculation" is spot on. Differing brain chemistry (sensitivity and health of various receptors and neurons and such) is the reason.


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## DannibusX (Sep 8, 2011)

I make a move to change MailMan's screenname to Count Fapula.

Also, interesting article.


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## Wrigleyvillain (Sep 8, 2011)

Milkman was funnier cause someone accidentally called him that in a post.


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## Drone (Sep 9, 2011)

@op Yeah I've heard about this since 2002 I suppose or earlier


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## qubit (Sep 9, 2011)

DannibusX said:


> I make a move to change MailMan's screenname to Count Fapula.
> 
> Also, interesting article.



Oh god, that was funny!  An instant classic.

No offence meant MM, I just think it's an awesome gag.


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## Nick259 (Sep 9, 2011)

If I rub my eyes for about 20 seconds I start to see bright light (even in a dark room) so i've always thought the argument for the gates of heaven was a bit silly.


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## Peter1986C (Sep 9, 2011)

Wrigleyvillain said:


> Milkman was funnier cause someone accidentally called him that in a post.



Than he is still Count Fapula (or is it nicknamed "milking" only when someone else is doing the work for the guy being fapped?).

BTW, no offence to anyone intended./


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## jasper1605 (Sep 9, 2011)

Nick259 said:


> If I rub my eyes for about 20 seconds I start to see bright light (even in a dark room) so i've always thought the argument for the gates of heaven was a bit silly.



Yeah that's just mechanically gated channels that are in your eyes.  Pressure hits them, they change shape and release stimuli to the rods of the eyes (don't remember the stimuli exactly) but it causes just about anyone to see a bunch of amorphous shapes.  Interestingly enough, you'll see the light on the opposite side of which you push on


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## GSquadron (Sep 9, 2011)

I have heard of this only in Hollywood films
Still, i think this is just a fairy tale


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## Steevo (Sep 9, 2011)

qubit said:


> As ever killing animals "in the name of science" was done in order to allegedly "research" this. :shadedshu



Would you trade all the medical advances made for all the bunnies, rats, pigs, and primates who have died for us to live? 

I wouldn't, and I think that experimenting on animals isn't cruel at all, but great, would it be better if your spouse, parent, child, friends all had to suffer through these tests? What about you, are you or would you be willing to suffer so that others can live or would you rather them suffer and die?


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## twilyth (Sep 10, 2011)

qubit said:


> Sorry to be slow and out of touch, but I see a lot of ** lately and have no idea what it means?!



Don't listen to people who say it's a sideways heart.  It's really a sideways nutsack. 

I saw a documentary on this years ago and for people who go on to survive, NDE's are often a life changing event.  What they experience is so profound that they don't even feel like they are the same person they used to be.


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## qubit (Sep 10, 2011)

twilyth said:


> Don't listen to people who say it's a sideways heart.  It's really a sideways nutsack.



Thanks, I think I'll steer clear of it...



twilyth said:


> I saw a documentary on this years ago and for people who go on to survive, NDE's are often a life changing event.  What they experience is so profound that they don't even feel like they are the same person they used to be.



I'm sure that's true. It's the ultimate subjective effect, isn't it? Their brain has changed in one or more important ways (likely damaged, unfortunately) so I'll bet they feel different. The good news, is that the brain does actually have strong powers of self healing. I thought it couldn't heal itself, until I saw a documentary on coma patients and how the brain repairs itself after extensive injury. It's not always successful of course and will often not be as good, but the repair system is very much there and is why some people wake up from their coma. I guess that repair system is how drug addicts can often go for years abusing themselves with that awful stuff. :shadedshu


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## twilyth (Sep 10, 2011)

I'm probably an example of that phenomenon, but until fairly recently, it was widely believed that the brain couldn't create new neurons.  As it turns out, that may be the mechanism behind SSRI anti-depressants.  Plasticity does decrease with age though, so a person who suffers brain trauma before age 6 or 7 has a much better chance of a full recovery.


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## qubit (Sep 10, 2011)

Hey, I'm sorry to hear you've suffered head trauma. I hope you're doing fine in everyday life.


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Sep 10, 2011)

I believe House touched on this in one of his episdoes where Cuddy made him cover a class for another doctor who fell ill to a cup that was painted with led based paint.


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