"I was burning up inside…": Redditor shares days of scary, painful ‘afterlife’ experience

Is there an afterlife?

This is one of the most intriguing questions, and humankind has been looking for an answer, for aeons!

Near-death experiences often leave people with stories that blur the line between science and spirit. Such cases often send chills down the spine, commonly occurring due to a car crash, heart stoppage, or sudden coma.

Survivors of these incidents describe floating above their bodies, meeting lights or loved ones, or experiencing utter peace - feelings that seem beyond our world.

Some see this as proof of an afterlife, while disbelievers chalk it up to the brain firing off comforting illusions in a crisis.

A Redditor recently shared a fiery and chaotic thread on r/AskReddit, giving minute details of a jarring “return” to the body after brushing with death.

A ‘fiery’ return to the body

The original poster described their re-entry as brutal. “For me, it was a re-entry through fire. I thought I was burning up inside after growing so huge and being squashed back into my body,” they wrote on Reddit. They linked the stinging feeling to meds, adding, “It was as if fire ants had suddenly invaded my body. Maybe that was from the adrenaline shot.”

The ordeal didn’t end there. “I thought I was back from the afterlife; I was already back in my body, and then the angel and the rain came and sucked me right back in because I was trying to detach myself again,” they recalled.

Days later, the push-pull continued: “For days afterward, I kept having the feeling that I was floating away again, but also that concrete was pulling me down.”

Social media weighs in

Commenters piled on with their experiences, with mixed reactions. One compared it to post-swim heaviness: “You know how when you spend a few hours swimming in a pool and you feel weightless, and then you get out of the pool and you feel all heavy? It was like that for me. Coming back into my body felt heavy and dense, just like that.”

Another likened it to sleep: “For me, it was like slowly waking from a deep sleep - first hearing, then eyes opening, then slow realization of the situation, then the pain started.”

Another user felt sky-bound: “I had the sensation of falling at a very high speed from the sky. Before I opened my eyes, I heard beautiful, angelic music or choirs in my left ear.”

So, what exactly are near-death experiences?

NDEs vary wildly from person to person - peaceful for some, alarming for others. Studies confirm common experiences like out-of-body views, life reviews, or reduced fear of death post-event. But the rough ones, like intense burning sensations and sudden “snap-back” feelings, reveal how chaotic the brain can get when it kicks back into gear, as noted in UVA’s perceptual studies.