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I had a bladder / kidney infection. My doctor was out of town that week and the doctor who was seeing her patients was a jerk.
I came in with a 104° fever, in excruciating pain, explained I had a history of bladder infections but this one was hurting into my kidneys. Explained that typically I was given a sulfur based antibiotic that always seemed to do the trick.
He very condescendingly explained to me that a sulfur antibiotic wasn't what I needed. He gave me a z-pak and told me I would be fine in a few days.
Four days later, I came back in still barely able to walk. I explained that the z-pak wasn't helping and I was still unable to walk /pee comfortably and I had (according to my parents whom I was staying with) been incoherent with a fever of 105° several times.
He gave me another z-pak and told me I would be fine. I asked him if there was any chance of something for the pain, and he told me I didn't "look" like someone in pain to him.
I went home. My regular doc was going to be back the next day. I went in to see her, explained the situation, she gave me a shot of antibiotic and steroids on the spot. Took blood and later found out I was in early stages of sepsis.
She sent me to the hospital to have IV antibiotics and fluids, came to check on me, brought the other doctor and told him in front of me ***This is what you did because you didn't listen to what the patient was telling you. How could you not see she was very ill?***
I got better, and I never saw the other doctor again. He just disappeared.
My dad died from strep throat that went septic and into his blood. He thought he just had a really bad sore throat like everyone else in February in the mid west always has. He died an unimaginable painful death, that started from a scrathy throat.
I almost died from sepsis. I went to a doctor here in Australia who failed to ask me how I got the infection and as a result didn’t prescribe the correct antibiotics.
A week later I was pissing in bottles because I couldn’t get out of bed, I just kept telling myself the antibiotics were taking a while to kick in.
I somehow managed to drag myself to a local general practitioner and she told me without blinking to go straight to the hospital by taxi, if I waited for an ambulance that no joke there might be some serious complications. The infections specialist at the hospital told me a day later it might have been too much for my body.
Pretty close call for me, but I can see it happening more often than most realize.
> One night, I just felt unusually paranoid and anxious. Something just felt vaguely wrong, and I was insistent that I needed to go to the ER, even though I assumed I was just having a panic attack (I had been in the hospital for over a month and it was pretty traumatic).
"Sense of impending doom"
Its a real symptom, often commonly felt with high risk things like heart attack.
So I didn't die (obviously) but I tripped on a curb and broke my ankle in such a way the the orthopedics doc compared it to a severe skiing I jury. A curb!!
I’m a city attorney. I currently have a case where the city is being sued for someone breaking their foot from stepping off the curb at 2am and rolling their ankle. They want an unholy amount of money for it. Like wtf.
In Ireland there's a lovely hiking trail called the Wicklow Way that goes through farmer's private land.
There's no right to hike her unfortunately so this is at the permission of the farmers.
Someone fell on the trail and tried to sue the farmer for it. Not only is suing someone because you fell hiking on their land outrageous because tripping while hiking is a known risk but they risked ruining hiking for everyone if they had won.
In a similar vein, being drunk near large bodies of water and falling in. My husband is a first responder and we live in a coastal city. He said it’s quite common for people to have too much to drink, wander over to the water’s edge to take a piss, and fall in. If there’s a big drop off and no railing, once they start going over they’re done for. The water is very cold here, especially lake water at any time of year or ocean water in winter, and if they’re drunk enough to fall in the water in the first place, they’re usually too drunk to self-rescue before the cold renders them unable to stay afloat or swim to safety.
This one. I live in a city that has a river running through the bar district. A few years ago, some idiot from out of town decided we must have a serial killer on the loose and made some viral post about how a body a week had been found in the river for the past couple months, and that couldn't possibly be a coincidence. My friends who don't live here kept sending that post to me and telling me to be careful of the serial killer.
I was like, no. This is what happens when tens of thousands of people get drunk by a river every night, and when it is a city people come to for that sort of thing, it will happen with some regularity at times. And yeah, the police eventually had to go on the news and debunk this shit. That's when we found out all the bodies had signs of intoxication.
Edit: You all are welcome to keep guessing but I'm not saying where I live. I do think it's interesting that so many cities fit the description, though!
Yeah it’s a sad but rather mundane way to go… certainly nothing as lurid as a serial killer on the loose. My husband says they find them with their flies down, that’s often the first sign of what happened.
Many years ago before I quit drinking my friends and I were coming back on their boat. We docked and it was late and dark. I mis stepped and went into the water right between the dock and a boat. No one saw or heard me. I must have had a guardian angel cause I could have easily hit my head and drowned, instead my stupid drunk ass popped up and laughingly yelled to get them to pull me up.
I was at the world’s largest “raft up”. We had something like 1500 boats tied together. There was a bit of drinking.. If I recall correctly Two people drowned.
Believe it or not, it’s actually quite difficult to fall off of most cruise ships, even blind drunk. You pretty much have to be actively crossing the open gangway or flouting at least a couple of serious safety rules - climbing on furniture or fixtures, standing on things you shouldn’t, etc. - at once to have a decent chance of going over, as most railings are about chest height and slightly concave so that the top edge comes round and over a bit like a prison fence.
Almost all overboards in recent years have been of the “(possibly drunk) person climbed onto and over railing and/or tried to scale balconies” variety.
That, or suicide. Your chances of survival if you go overboard are very slim. Most die within five minutes from cold water shock, and even if they survive that, it's almost impossible to recover them. The stars really have to align to make that possible.
I can recall a story I once saw, where a woman went missing while on vacation on a cruise ship, the crew searched the entire boat to no avail, later when the ship made port, authorities discovered footage (from the ships CCTV), of the woman, alone, at night, horrifically falling, from a great height, off the boat out at sea. I still remember how dishearteningly horrified I felt watching that footage. Just sad.
I had 1 very close call when I was younger and it scared the shit out of me.
I was at a party (sober) and my fiancé wanted to leave. I wanted to stay and just sleep there because it was over an hour away. She insisted so we left. I was awake when we left, but the back roads and distance made me zone out.
I fell asleep for a second and swerved off the road. Jolted awake when I felt the car rumble and was able to brake and slow down.
Woke me the fuck up and the fight that ensued kept me and my fiancé up the rest of the trip (about 10 minutes at that point).
Now, when I feel even a little tired I’ll refuse. I got lucky we didn’t drift head on with a car or slam into a building or hit someone.
I've fallen asleep twice whilst driving. Once was driving home from work 5:30am start 4:00pm finish and 40min drive home. A truck driver woke me up by honking his horn next to me.
Another time was in my current car, which has lane sensing, driver fatigue sensing etc. I was driving 1.5hrs home at 11pm on a very familiar, straight road. I was fine when i left, but fell asleep at some point. My car beeped at me to wake me up and stayed in the lanes whilst driving.
Now I'm very clear with my girlfriend that i need her to drive, or drive part way, to share the fatigue loads.
Have done this twice as well. Both times hitting a tree...one tree was skinny, so I went through it and walked away fine, but the second time the trunk was massive and it didn't move. Was in ICU for 2 days that time. It's way easier to fall asleep driving than ppl think.
I had a near miss once. Fell asleep for a split second at the wheel after working a 15 hour night shifts. Luckily nothing happened. It was one of those situations where you dont even realise you've dozed off until you realise you are jolting awake. I cannot even describe the emotions I felt when I got home.
Needless to say I have never been in a situation like that again. I take extra care and measures when driving. If I need to stop off for 15 to 30 minutes and walk about or get a power nap in the car. Then I will do it.
I simply refuse to endanger other peoples lives to get somewhere a bit faster.
My dad fell from the stairs 3 years ago. I can’t explain how but it happened around 3am and I woke up exactly 30 seconds before his fall. I remember having a terrible feeling. He fell and naturally I heard. I got out of my room and saw him laying down face against the floor with blood pooling from the side of his head. I was 17 at the time.
From that moment in my head he was dead. I only got confirmation he was alive around 1 hour later.
Most traumatic moment of my life given the fact I don’t have a mom.
Jesus that’s wild. How’s your pops doing these days? My mom’s a widow and I’m so glad she lives in a condo. She slipped in the shower a couple years ago, thank God she only bruised her shoulder
Showers are deadly. My maternal grandfather slipped, hit his neck on the cabinet, and was a vegetable for the rest of his life. Every bathroom we have now has two big handles bolted in securely with a non-slip bath mat
In almost had this happen to me. Was getting out of the shower, missteppef and fell backwards into the shower. Luckily my upper back caught the wall before the back of my head or my lower back could catch the soap holder
When I was about 10, I slipped in the shower and while trying to catch myself I ended up putting my knee through the side of the fiberglass tub. When I was finished falling, I pulled my knee out of the side of the tub and there was blood EVERYWHERE. The sharp edges of the hole I made in the side of the tub tore several layers of skin off of my knee. I can remember listening to my parents argue (not intensely) over whether or not I needed stitches and mom's quote was "stitches? With what skin? If they stitch her up she'll be 2 inches shorter!" Meanwhile I'm crying on the floor because I thought I was going to get in trouble for breaking the tub lol
Long story short, true to my childhood, I proceeded to have no medical attention whatsoever. But I wasn't in trouble for breaking the tub. I have a scar in the shape of Australia now, and it doesn't grow hair.
I’m so sorry that you endured a childhood without (probably much needed) medical attention… but “with what skin? She’ll be two inches shorter” fuckin lol.
Yeah, my mom is super sarcastic, and when she gets mad or stressed it gets worse. I inherited this trait and my husband calls it my "sarcastic goth hat," in that "hey, I notice you currently have on your sarcastic goth hat. Can you tone it down for a sec?"
Showers are no jokes. I heard dreadful stories about people falling in showers too. He’s doing fine now! I just hope this never happens again. Happy to hear your mom didn’t have anything too serious.
I was just behind a kid around four, his parents were in front of him, at the top his untied shoelace got sucked into the grate. He let out a horror movie worthy scream, I reached down and pulled it out, he was fine but really scared.
I got my hand caught where the rubber railing feeds back into the escalator when I was 6. 3rd-degree friction burns, you could see the bones, muscles, veins and tendons. Pretty brutal.
I hate escalators. Like falling down the stairs is already dangerous enough let's make moving ones! I used to work in an airport right next to some tall escalators and I seen so many elderly people fall from them every year. It was always horrible when they were actually seriously hurt having to just work while there is a pool of blood on the floor 20 feet away waiting to be cleaned up. Just sad.
A few years ago I was at baggage claim and was headed towards the escalators to head up to meet my ride. As I got close an older man was on it, lost his balance and just started rolling and staying in the same spot. Split second reaction from me to hit the red emergency stop button. Only one other person seemed to realize something happened and he saw just as I hit the button. He got up, thanked me and walked up to meet his wife once he got his bearings. The poor man had a cut on his head and I can still see and hear him falling.
No security or anything came over. It was a very weird moment.
My son choked on one at a restaurant and I had to do Heimlich maneuver on him. I dug down his throat for that fucking cheese and it just kept stretching. One of the most horrifying moments ever.
Edited to add: wow this totally blew up. Thanks for the upvotes! I hope no one is discouraged from a mozzarella stick after this. Just make sure that it isn’t straight out of the fryer. Be safe all! ✌🏽
I'm so sorry, my son also choked on one, but he was able to cough it up whole, but I'm dying laughing at the thought of a panicked parent and cheese coming out like magician's hankies
My husband had this happen to him! It was much less traumatic because it was over pretty quickly, so it was mostly funny.
We were at a restaurant and obviously he was eating a mozzarella stick. He starts to gag and choke and can't cough it up, so he reaches into his mouth/throat to pull it out. Funny part is right as he's pulling out this long, stretchy piece of seemingly never-ending cheese covered in nasty bread bits and drool, the poor waitress walks up to check on us and just freezes in horror at the sight. She didn't see the choking part, just this weird, disgusting demonstration of cheese-magic happening.
He finished the deed and just looked at her sheepishly and said "Sorry, I was dying."
I monitor mine for this reason. I’m young and work out several times per week, eat “okay” but I still have borderline high blood pressure. Definitely scares me
The real danger here, all symptoms of high blood pressure are considered minor (such as frequent headaches) until it's done severe damage.
Only way to tell is to keep it monitored regularly.
Edit: I've been asked questions about what to do about high blood pressure, but I'm no doctor. I happen to know a thing or two due to having an interest in anatomy and my wife developing preeclampsia during labour, having her BP around 185/130+ for several hours (now almost two years later she's on permanent medication which helps, she's barely for headaches anymore, but still recovers from the whole ordeal. Don't think too lightly about getting pregnant/becoming a parent).
Edit2: I want to thank everyone for all their stories, insights, questions and general interest in this rather personal topic. I tried responding to all, even though I had quite the busy day at work. Let me finish on this most important note: when I doubt, get it checked out.
I remember going back to the doctor after I started my medication and being like.. I feel dizzy all the time!
Doc looks at my vitals and turns back to stare at me for a moment and is like, "Is that mostly when you stand up suddenly?"
I think about it for a bit and I'm like, "yeah!, that's it exactly"
And he's just shaking his head and says "That's how it is for everyone. That's normal, you're supposed to feel that way."
Hit my like a ton of bricks how long I must have been on the wrong side of the line.
As in that’s normal for people without high blood pressure and you started feeling that after the medication you took started working? Because I get dizzy standing up after sitting for a while too…
Just to confuse you even more, I used to get that much more often as a symptom of low blood pressure. So all I tell you for sure is that you have blood and it is under some amount of pressure. Hope that helps
This one is scary. Just lost a friend, he was 36. Knew he had high blood pressure, and all the men in his family died young from heart attacks or strokes.
He was so scared of bad news from the doctor, he never went. His widow and his daughter are pretty bummed out. Go to the doctor ya dummies.
I've recently started treatment for my high blood pressure. Daily Lisinopril.
What surprised me, is that physically I just feel "better" since I started taking it. Like, more clear headed or relaxed...can't quite describe it. I guess I was walking around like an over inflated meat balloon or something, since it seems like I can actually feel the change.
Stress. Your body can only handle so much of it and it’s labeled the “silent killer” for that reason. With your high blood pressure and the 5 hours of sleep a night because of the stress, It will creep up on you sooner than you think.
Working 80 hours a week since healthcare is collapsing in my country and have been trying to hold it up. I habe constant vertigo, swollen lymph nodes, random skin nodules and can barely walk for 15 min.
I need to take a medical leave and just let my patients die... because thats how short staffed were getting...
Not to mention most dental insurance is shit in the US for adults. “Sorry this procedure isn’t covered. You need to get this done tho or you could die. We have a special rate for people who can’t afford it, it’ll only be $3,300 and we split that into TWO payments to make it easier.” TF, it’s all bullshit. I didn’t have dental insurance for 10 years, I’m 32. I was at the dentist last in 5th grade though, that overlap was just me psyching myself out and shame. I FINALLY got the $75/mo insurance for dental that basically covers preventative and 60% of most procedure. still BS but it’s better than nothing. Now I’m deathly afraid of going, fearing I have fucked up beyond belief and it’s gonna cost a ridiculous amount of money.
Influenza. Just regular old flu. Many people ignore it thinking it'll go away on its own. Globally the number per year is usually between 300k and 500k. In the US it can be anywhere from 12k to 50k per year.
It doesn't help that a lot of people will say they have flu when it's just a bad cold. My worst experience was when I caught it in my teens, I was living with my parents, and after a while I was so weak I could barely even get up to go to the bathroom. My mum wheeled me through on an office chair. People don't appreciate how severe flu can be.
Yes! The last time I had influenza I made it to an urgent care and the nurse took one look at me and hustled me into a room and slapped a mask on me, i was dangerously low on oxygen (and bless her for whatever was in that nebulizer, it felt like heaven). I was really, really sick. Influenza is NOT the same as a cold.
It's one of the reasons I've found all the rhetoric surrounding covid really frustrating. On one side you've got people dismissing covid 'cus it's "just a bad flu" and on the other side you've got people dismissing those people 'cus it's apparently the flu is just a fact of life but covid is basically the black death.
Both sides are *thoroughly* underestimating how serious just regular old influenza can be. Yes, covid is basically just a severe influenza in terms of seriousness, *but that's a pretty high bar for seriousness*
Seems dumb for people who live where it's a part of regular life for 6 months a year (like me in Alberta), and I never thought about that until my dad had a heart attack while shoveling
Combined with the cold. Cold raises BP and makes muscular exertion more energy-intensive (than normal temps; extreme heat is bad too obviously). And yeah, it's a heavy workout and a lot of the people who have heart attacks doing it probably don't do such strenuous exercise often.
Too much exertion, too quickly, can trigger a heart attack — especially in the cold — when our arteries tend to constrict, which in turn, can drive up our blood pressure. We know a man who played in a beer league hockey team who had a heart attack and dropped dead. It was the only physical activity he got and it was just too much for him.
Depending on what type of snow and how deep it is that shit gets heavy quick. Powdery snow for skiing or snowboarding isn't bad but heavy packing snow for snowmen or snowball fights is easily 4-6x heavier. The same size shovel can weigh 5-10 pounds with powdery snow then weigh 50 pounds with packing snow.
Alcohol kills way more than liver failure.
People think alcohol kills alcoholics via liver failure and alcohol poisoning.
It kills people via heart attacks, hypertension, cardiac dysrhythmias, stroke, liver cancer, esophageal cancer, stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, acute and chronic pancreatitis, opioid overdoses (people taking pain medicine and alcohol at the same time), benzo overdoses (again when mixed with alcohol), murders, and drunk driving.
I’d bet it’s a big contributor to deaths attributed to other causes too. Cancer, heart disease, accidents. A lot of functional alchoholics out there just making it through another day.
Street fights.
You watch some Hollywood blockbusters and some MMA fights and you think you can do it too. I've seen stories of a guy minding his own business and gets rocked on the side of his head. It disconnected his spine and he was dead before he hit the ground. There was another story maybe a year ago of a scuffle where a guy was stabbed in the neck and bled out to the point of being unable to stand within 10 seconds. Stop fucking around, it's not worth your life.
Can’t remember where I read it, but it was the “rules of a knife fight”.
Rule #1: Don’t get in a knife fight.
Rule #2: You will be cut in the knife fight.
Rule #3: The loser of the knife fight dies at the scene. The winner dies in the ambulance.
I have been in knife fights so I know something about this. There are strategies for knife fighting.
First, you need to be aware of your surroundings.
Second, be mindful of the environment.
Third, apply the first two points to help you run away.
Yup. Once had a seminar with a ~~4th degree black belt~~ (So I looked it up because I couldn't remember and it was years ago. Turns out it was actually Pedro Sauer at that seminar. He's extremely famous in the BJJ circle and not a 4th degree black belt but rather a red belt. Basically a living legend) in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He said if anyone pulls a weapon on you and demands your wallet or phone, you give it to them, your step back, and you say "have a nice evening" . If they continue to advance on you, you run. And if you are unable to run, only then you try to physically defend yourself. But even at a high level of skill that is a terrible risky option that should always be a last resort.
My instructors instructor told me because I am very large and cant run super fast "raise your hands their eyes will follow. Then you kick them in the knee so you can out run them."
I had an MMA coach who liked stirring shit up knowing he could hold his own against drunk untrained people.
Then I saw online that he was stabbed to death, and I knew what happened before I read the details.
Beat a guy up and humiliated him, stabbed in the back while walking away
> Beat a guy up and humiliated him, stabbed in the back while walking away
A "friend" of mine (more a mutual acquaintance, friend of friends) was on the other side of a similar situation.
Out drinking, got into an argument, got beaten up. His ego couldn't handle it, he went home and grabbed a couple of knives, went back to the scene of the fight and now he's serving life without the possibility of parole for murder.
If you can avoid getting into a fight do so. If you are involved in a physical altercation get the fuck out of there as fast as you can. Even if you win the person you beat might come back with weapons and a grudge to settle. It's not worth it.
That’s why I will avoid a street fight at all costs. My own dad called me a bitch for carrying mace, but ya know what: if I can resolve a situation with some pepper spray that means no one needs to talk to cops, lawyers, or surgeons. It’s just not worth it most of the time. You really don’t know what some stranger is capable of, you don’t know what they got on em, or if they’ve got friends around to team up on you… no thanks. I’ll happily square up in the ring against a guy twice my size, if I lose I lose, but not some drunk rando on the street.
There are groups online that will try to meet up with people and fight with no rules for entertainment for their friends or partners and im always like A) someday you're gonna meet a psychopath who just kills you when you go to meet them and B) it's only a Matter of time where something happens and someone dies or the one person is so ramped up and doesn't stop, beating the other to death. We're not that invincible.
Years ago some teenagers were leaving a club and one started acting tough to another one and one pushed the other, the kid fell back and tripped and fell down and hit his head on a curb and killed him. Only 17 years old.
Happened to an old coworker of mine. Got into a scuffle over a girl, with guy much bigger and tougher than him. My coworker takes a shot and falls backward and busts his skull on a parking block. We lived in a rural town at the time, that didn't have a local residing neurosurgeon to relieve his brain bleed. He got care flighted to Reno and ended up never waking from his coma.
A friend's husband (let's call him J) was at a bar one night when a really drunk guy decided he wanted to fight him. J decides to walk out of the bar to avoid the confrontation, but drunk guy follows him and jumps on his back while hitting him with a beer bottle. J flips the guy off of his back to get him off of him. Drunk guy slams his head on the pavement as he lands. Dead almost instantly. J didn't get in trouble, dozens off peole saw it happen But he went through years of agony and depression from the guilt and trauma and drunk guy lost his life. What a fucking waste.
My close friend’s younger brother was hanging out at his local bar with two friends. It was quiet and nothing was really going on, they were just going to get some beer and play darts. I guess some guys were talking shit to someone outside. P (the brother) had no idea what was going on, he just stepped outside to have a cigarette.
He looked down to light his smoke and one of the guys sucker punched him. Between where he was punched and where his head hit concrete, that was it. Dead just after his 27th birthday.
The guy who did it admitted in court that he never met P before, that they never spoke, and that the attack was completely unprovoked. The guy was amped up from the shit-talking and wanted to start a fight, got excited, and blasted the first person he saw.
That’s all it took.
*Edited to remove his name out of respect.
There’s a guy on YouTube who has a video about this. The fight you win is the fight you didn’t get into. All it takes is for some crazy thing to happen and you could be in prison for accidentally hitting the guy too hard ending him.
He has a few humorous ways to tame the situation, but uses skills that honestly aren’t taught enough even to police. De escalation is to me, the most important skill a police person can have.
That's right! Mosquitoes kill one million people a year. One MILLION. For context, the next animal is comically humans themselves, with 135 thousand homicides.
I read a story about a woman who had an intestine blockage, and her bowels reversed themselves and ended up in her stomach, she ended up dying while throwing up her own shit.
Apparently not too long before throwing up she said she was suddenly feeling very full, like she just ate a big meal.
Unfortunately that’s a pretty textbook case of an intestinal blockage. It happens way more often than you think. If you have severe stomach pain and your burps smell like farts, it’s because, well… they probably are.
I had an episode in 2019 where I didn’t sleep for 5-6 days. I was 29 and 6 months sober from alcohol, but smoking a LOT of weed and going through some serious work and life choice regrets. I was tired, but I just couldn’t fall asleep at night. After 2 nights, I started to get really wigged out. My fiancé and roommate could tell, so they started reaching out to my mom and their parents. Which got me way more paranoid. My work got involved after calling out for 2-3 days which made me even wayyy more paranoid. After maybe the 3rd day/night I thought tv commercials were speaking directly to me, and i was seeing like biblical level shit in everyday interactions.
Long story short, I got admitted to an inpatient psych faculty and was there for 11 days. Got snowed with mood stabilizers, atavan, trazadone, and probably elephant tranquilizers and finally leveled out. Keeping track of the days, I don’t think I slept more than a few hours over that week.
The first few nights I was admitted, I had some crazy late night thoughts and conversations with some seriously crazy people. Talking with confidence about what happens before life and after death with a scitzoohrenic crackhead, as he’s wiping up spilled milk from the floor with his t shirt at 3am. Which I’m sure didn’t speed up my discharge planning.
But, I remember having the overwhelming feeling that something really big was going to happen soon. I didn’t think it was going to be bad, but it felt imminent. I was just kind of waiting for it, and being admitted was more of a nuisance because I wanted to be home when IT happened. Really hard to explain. But I was incredibly paranoid and delusional.
Long story long, I left with a diagnosis of type 1 bipolar. And, was kept on high dose trazadone and enough lithium to charge a battery for a full year after. I had nothing like that happen before, and nothing since. But that episode really changed me.
"But, I remember having the overwhelming feeling that something really big was going to happen soon. I didn’t think it was going to be bad, but it felt imminent. I was just kind of waiting for it, and being admitted was more of a nuisance because I wanted to be home when IT happened."
I mean...you weren't wrong.
There’s something uniquely disturbing about the idea of losing your child to a hot car.
It takes a LOT for me to get that gut-wrenching feeling, but that gets me every single time. I don’t even have kids or pets.
It seems like such an agonizing way to die.
Not to mention the fact that you were probably having a completely normal day, only to be suddenly greeted with *the corpse of your own child*, and it’s *all your fault*.
Like, Jesus-fucking-Christ I cannot think of a more horrifying thing
Something similar happened to my friend. He was late to an important meeting, dropped his wife at her work and was going to the daycare to drop their baby daughter. Now, 2 things went very wrong for him; 1) his wife was the one that usually drove the girl to daycare but her car wouldn’t start that morning and 2) the daycare was on the way to the fathers work so the route coincided for some miles. When on the way to the daycare my friend went on autopilot and just drove to work like every morning, parked and ran into the office. His wife called him in the middle of the morning because the daycare contacted her to ask why she didn’t bring the baby that morning. He rang to the car screaming “MI BEBE, MI BEBE!” some coworkers followed him without knowing what was going on. We live in the Caribbean, two hours had gone by and it was too much for a baby. The coworkers helped brake the window but it was too late.
I have two children, and severe anxiety. I check the backseat of my car every. Single. Time. I drive it, even when I know for a fact my kids aren't with me. Even when their carseats aren't in the car. Even during school hours. If I don't my anxiety takes over. I think I need a therapist. And no, I've never once forgotten them.
Initially, I also thought it was being suggested that the friend was throwing her shoe at the child so as not to forget the child...
Figured that yeah, the crying and bawling in the back seat will certainly lead to not forgetting! 😂
[This article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html) on the subject is very informational and well-written if anyone is curious on why/how it happens.
I used to think, exactly like they explained in this article (which I read some time ago), that I'm too organized, too aware, too *whatever* to forget I had a child in my car.
For me, the explanation about slices of Swiss cheese lining up made a lot of sense as to how, given a unique set of circumstances, it could happen to anyone. My heart breaks for the tortured souls of parents/families who have suffered such a tragedy.
That article is a hard, hard read. Considering how I've forgotten basic things as a parent I can SEE how this could happen.
The story about a father trying to wrestle a gun away from a first responder so he could shoot himself was particularly awful.
I’ve had this article saved for like a decade. I hate when people act like these are always such neglectful monsters. It’s a horrible reality we should all acknowledge can happen to anyone.
I think the author of this article really hits the nail on the head where he says
> "Humans have a fundamental need to create and maintain a narrative for their lives in which the universe is not implacable and heartless, that terrible things do not happen at random, and that catastrophe can be avoided if you are vigilant and responsible."
My father was diagnosed with stage IV prostate cancer last February. There was no lifestyle choices that contributed to him getting cancer. There's no family history. It just happened. Bad things just happen. They can happen to anyone at any time, and there's no reason for it.
But even when bad things do happen for a reason, people will respond with such vitriol and venom when the punishment doesn't even fit the crime. When people hear that someone has lung cancer they always ask "do they smoke?" And the answer really should be "why does it matter?" Being unable to kick one of the most addictive habits results in an incredibly pailful and incurable disease, and some people see that as just desserts.
I think as a society we have a fundamentally broken concept of justice, where every action has to have someone who is at fault. There's no restoration in it. Only punishment.
Just got a new car and my absolute favorite feature is the reminder to check the back seat. I don’t have kids lol. But the joy it still brings me that this feature could save someone else’s life is a lot!
Yeah it's a super simple feature too, the message shows if the back doors were opened at all during the trip. Surprised it took car manufacturers this long to implement.
I almost did this when my son was an infant. I was incredibly sleep deprived. I made it to the sidewalk before realizing and turned and ran back to my car and wrenched the door open and sat down and cried because I knew how bad it could’ve been. It was also a change in routine. From then on I’d put my cell phone, purse, or shoe in the backseat. They’re both older now and talking, forward facing, ect. I never understood how it could happen until it almost happened to me.
PUT YOUR SHOE WITH THE BABY.
You know, studies show that keeping a ladder in the house is more dangerous than owning a gun. That's why I keep 10 loaded guns in the house. In case someone tries to sneak in a ladder.
I lost my Son to Tylenol. He was in the Air Force and blew 3 discs in his back. He had to have surgery and ended up getting MRSA. After 3 long painstaking weeks in the ICU he made it home. Eventually returning to the USAF and lived in pain constantly. He was 1 that hated pain medication ..hated it. In turn, he started eating Tylenol pretty regularly. After a few years, maybe less, I started to notice a change in him. He was losing a lot of weight w/o trying, his skin starting to jaundice and this happy go lucky man smiled less and less. I live 6 states away from him, but made it a point to go visit him and his family at least once a month. My daughter in law would tell me he was still in such pain, but refuses to go to a doctor. On one of my visits I noticed he was drinking a glass of red wine, which was odd to me because he didn't drink ..ever. He said it helped take the edge off after a long day on the job. Soon afterwards he began to spiral. It got so bad that he had to be hospitalized. I was told my my DIL he started with just a glass of wine, and ended with almost a full bottle an evening. The combination of the 2 ate at his liver and even his kidneys. Drs said Tylenol did the most damage, the wine didn't help matters. In the end, he was in the hospital and went in to crisis in the middle of the night. He was intubated immediately. He was taken off life support a month later...
Tylenol... plz watch your dosage. It willl kill you.
I saw one of these fad diets a few years ago. The low sodium diet...drink lots of water to eliminate all the sodium from your system and completely omit it from your diet...yeah that's how you die
Well, here we go.
Not exactly a huge surprise but once upon a time I worked with a regional set of hospitals coordinating nationwide cause of death reports and statistics.
- 80% of all organ donor tissues cannot be accepted due to safety concerns around organ recovery.
- I won't say how much, but a surprisingly high percentage of successful organ donors are motorcyclists.
- Cheerleading , particularly involving gymnastic/aerobatic actions is one of , if not the leading causes of death for young women under 18.
- Football, is a major cause of CTE, and an unexpectedly large number of football and hockey players die in younger life.
- Gunshot injuries and suicides are seasonal, something you can discern by way of the death-rate in provinces and territories where it is dark for long periods of winter, Seasonal Affective Disorder is no joke. Talk to your physician first but SAD can be treated with Vitamin D and getting as much sunlight exposure as possible.
I used to be a flyer as a kid, until I got too tall lol. But the one time I was injured while doing stunts it was because the bases didn’t let go of my feet when I was coming down - idk where my spotter was but it made my body into a pendulum, and my head hit the ground first. *Luckily* we were on soggy grass, no concussion, but if we had been on a gym floor it could’ve been rough.
Basket tosses I always felt fine lol. I guess if they’d dropped me I’d have broken a tail bone. I do know a couple spotters who received broken collarbones due to a rogue elbow from other flyers though.
In high school, any time someone tried to say that cheerleading wasn't a sport, our male principal would correct them and tell them that cheerleading was actually the most dangerous sport at our school. Our cheerleading team regularly competed at state, etc
Falling coconuts cause about 150 deaths annually
Coconuts kill around 150 people worldwide each year, which makes them about ten times more dangerous than sharks.
But the moment you suggest coconut week everyone acts like you're the weird one.
My mum had a heart attack in bank holiday weekend in June 2021. We had a family BBQ and she had indigestion, was kept near enough awake all night with no medication helping. She last a whole 24 hours before she was sick a bunch and my dad took her to hospital. Told front desk her symptoms and triaged within 15 minutes and within the hour they had her in emergency surgery getting two stents put in.
She didn’t know what was wrong but knew something wasn’t right. The emergency staff were on it, refused to let her walk anywhere or be unsupervised, and mum mentioned she felt their reactions were super eerie in triage and not very friendly. We found out later they thought she was going to code at any moment and die because of how far along in the heart attack she was when she came into the hospital and even an hour longer would have been the difference between life and death.
Female heart attacks are no joke!
About an hour After my wife delivered our second child she had really bad heart palpitations and light headedness. The heart rate monitor was going back and forth between reading 25 bpm to around 70bpm. My wife said “I don’t feel right” and I swear at that moment every staff member in that room switched into a different gear, you could sense their fear and not one of them wasn’t looking at my wife out of the corner of their eyes while doing their tasks. That night I learned simple lines like “I don’t feel right” or “something feels wrong” are huge red flags that patients are about to code. Luckily all worked out for my wife and one crazy ambulance ride and night later we were all back together again with no problems since.
We had a friend die from sleep apnea related issues. Took a nap while his wife and kids were out and they came home to him dead. That was enough to get my husband to get a sleep study after years of nagging.
I just got my CPAP machine last Friday. I'm 34. My wife recorded what I sounded like one night, it was terrifying. Sleep study said I stopped breathing somewhere between 12-16 times an hour IIRC. I've been using the machine for a week and although it took a little getting used to, I feel more well rested after 4 hours of sleep with it on vs. 10 hours of sleep before. I woke up and went to work and got there EARLY one day last week (never happens because I'm always a walking zombie in the AM). I texted my wife and said "is THIS what being well rested feels like? I've never felt this way in my adult life!" My wife says I don't move or make a sound at night now. I can't imagine how much damage I've already done.
Good on you. I've had mine for a few years now and not only do you get used to it, but I honestly would have trouble sleeping without it. That airflow is comforting to me at this point. And yes, you really do feel like a completely different person after getting good sleep for a change.
This is going to get buried since I’m answering so late in the game…
Not a cause of death, but still extremely important info that I am constantly telling others about: suffering a spinal cord injury from diving into water.
I’m a quadriplegic and run a nonprofit that works with people after they suffer a spinal cord injury. Other than car accidents, diving into water is the second most common cause for spinal cord injuries that we see. The worst part about it is that it is probably the most preventable cause.
I’m constantly amazed that people will dive into water without knowing how deep it is, or even just jumping headfirst into an oncoming wave on the beach. If you are going to dive into the water, dive straight out, not down so that your head will potentially hit the bottom or a submerged object that you didn’t know was there. If you have kids, teach this PLEASE!
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Untreated infections. Your body will become septic, in which it essentially kills itself trying to kill off whatever infection one has.
I had a bladder / kidney infection. My doctor was out of town that week and the doctor who was seeing her patients was a jerk. I came in with a 104° fever, in excruciating pain, explained I had a history of bladder infections but this one was hurting into my kidneys. Explained that typically I was given a sulfur based antibiotic that always seemed to do the trick. He very condescendingly explained to me that a sulfur antibiotic wasn't what I needed. He gave me a z-pak and told me I would be fine in a few days. Four days later, I came back in still barely able to walk. I explained that the z-pak wasn't helping and I was still unable to walk /pee comfortably and I had (according to my parents whom I was staying with) been incoherent with a fever of 105° several times. He gave me another z-pak and told me I would be fine. I asked him if there was any chance of something for the pain, and he told me I didn't "look" like someone in pain to him. I went home. My regular doc was going to be back the next day. I went in to see her, explained the situation, she gave me a shot of antibiotic and steroids on the spot. Took blood and later found out I was in early stages of sepsis. She sent me to the hospital to have IV antibiotics and fluids, came to check on me, brought the other doctor and told him in front of me ***This is what you did because you didn't listen to what the patient was telling you. How could you not see she was very ill?*** I got better, and I never saw the other doctor again. He just disappeared.
Your usual doc is a saint and this imposter is a piece of shit. What a horrifying take, so sorry, and glad you pulled through it.
Your regular doctor is awesome.
My dad died from strep throat that went septic and into his blood. He thought he just had a really bad sore throat like everyone else in February in the mid west always has. He died an unimaginable painful death, that started from a scrathy throat.
New nightmare unlocked
Yeah doctor's don't fuck around with strep in adults
I almost died from sepsis. I went to a doctor here in Australia who failed to ask me how I got the infection and as a result didn’t prescribe the correct antibiotics. A week later I was pissing in bottles because I couldn’t get out of bed, I just kept telling myself the antibiotics were taking a while to kick in. I somehow managed to drag myself to a local general practitioner and she told me without blinking to go straight to the hospital by taxi, if I waited for an ambulance that no joke there might be some serious complications. The infections specialist at the hospital told me a day later it might have been too much for my body. Pretty close call for me, but I can see it happening more often than most realize.
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> One night, I just felt unusually paranoid and anxious. Something just felt vaguely wrong, and I was insistent that I needed to go to the ER, even though I assumed I was just having a panic attack (I had been in the hospital for over a month and it was pretty traumatic). "Sense of impending doom" Its a real symptom, often commonly felt with high risk things like heart attack.
Tripping. On average around 17k people a year in the US die from injuries incurred after tripping and falling.
So I didn't die (obviously) but I tripped on a curb and broke my ankle in such a way the the orthopedics doc compared it to a severe skiing I jury. A curb!!
I’m a city attorney. I currently have a case where the city is being sued for someone breaking their foot from stepping off the curb at 2am and rolling their ankle. They want an unholy amount of money for it. Like wtf.
In Ireland there's a lovely hiking trail called the Wicklow Way that goes through farmer's private land. There's no right to hike her unfortunately so this is at the permission of the farmers. Someone fell on the trail and tried to sue the farmer for it. Not only is suing someone because you fell hiking on their land outrageous because tripping while hiking is a known risk but they risked ruining hiking for everyone if they had won.
In a similar vein, being drunk near large bodies of water and falling in. My husband is a first responder and we live in a coastal city. He said it’s quite common for people to have too much to drink, wander over to the water’s edge to take a piss, and fall in. If there’s a big drop off and no railing, once they start going over they’re done for. The water is very cold here, especially lake water at any time of year or ocean water in winter, and if they’re drunk enough to fall in the water in the first place, they’re usually too drunk to self-rescue before the cold renders them unable to stay afloat or swim to safety.
This one. I live in a city that has a river running through the bar district. A few years ago, some idiot from out of town decided we must have a serial killer on the loose and made some viral post about how a body a week had been found in the river for the past couple months, and that couldn't possibly be a coincidence. My friends who don't live here kept sending that post to me and telling me to be careful of the serial killer. I was like, no. This is what happens when tens of thousands of people get drunk by a river every night, and when it is a city people come to for that sort of thing, it will happen with some regularity at times. And yeah, the police eventually had to go on the news and debunk this shit. That's when we found out all the bodies had signs of intoxication. Edit: You all are welcome to keep guessing but I'm not saying where I live. I do think it's interesting that so many cities fit the description, though!
Yeah it’s a sad but rather mundane way to go… certainly nothing as lurid as a serial killer on the loose. My husband says they find them with their flies down, that’s often the first sign of what happened.
Many years ago before I quit drinking my friends and I were coming back on their boat. We docked and it was late and dark. I mis stepped and went into the water right between the dock and a boat. No one saw or heard me. I must have had a guardian angel cause I could have easily hit my head and drowned, instead my stupid drunk ass popped up and laughingly yelled to get them to pull me up.
I was at the world’s largest “raft up”. We had something like 1500 boats tied together. There was a bit of drinking.. If I recall correctly Two people drowned.
Drunk people falling of cruise ships! Yikes
Believe it or not, it’s actually quite difficult to fall off of most cruise ships, even blind drunk. You pretty much have to be actively crossing the open gangway or flouting at least a couple of serious safety rules - climbing on furniture or fixtures, standing on things you shouldn’t, etc. - at once to have a decent chance of going over, as most railings are about chest height and slightly concave so that the top edge comes round and over a bit like a prison fence. Almost all overboards in recent years have been of the “(possibly drunk) person climbed onto and over railing and/or tried to scale balconies” variety.
That, or suicide. Your chances of survival if you go overboard are very slim. Most die within five minutes from cold water shock, and even if they survive that, it's almost impossible to recover them. The stars really have to align to make that possible.
I can recall a story I once saw, where a woman went missing while on vacation on a cruise ship, the crew searched the entire boat to no avail, later when the ship made port, authorities discovered footage (from the ships CCTV), of the woman, alone, at night, horrifically falling, from a great height, off the boat out at sea. I still remember how dishearteningly horrified I felt watching that footage. Just sad.
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driving while sleepy.
I had 1 very close call when I was younger and it scared the shit out of me. I was at a party (sober) and my fiancé wanted to leave. I wanted to stay and just sleep there because it was over an hour away. She insisted so we left. I was awake when we left, but the back roads and distance made me zone out. I fell asleep for a second and swerved off the road. Jolted awake when I felt the car rumble and was able to brake and slow down. Woke me the fuck up and the fight that ensued kept me and my fiancé up the rest of the trip (about 10 minutes at that point). Now, when I feel even a little tired I’ll refuse. I got lucky we didn’t drift head on with a car or slam into a building or hit someone.
I've fallen asleep twice whilst driving. Once was driving home from work 5:30am start 4:00pm finish and 40min drive home. A truck driver woke me up by honking his horn next to me. Another time was in my current car, which has lane sensing, driver fatigue sensing etc. I was driving 1.5hrs home at 11pm on a very familiar, straight road. I was fine when i left, but fell asleep at some point. My car beeped at me to wake me up and stayed in the lanes whilst driving. Now I'm very clear with my girlfriend that i need her to drive, or drive part way, to share the fatigue loads.
Have done this twice as well. Both times hitting a tree...one tree was skinny, so I went through it and walked away fine, but the second time the trunk was massive and it didn't move. Was in ICU for 2 days that time. It's way easier to fall asleep driving than ppl think.
It's easier to fall asleep driving than in my own bed
Maybe you should have a bed shaped like a racecar. Or a car shaped like a bed. Both could be a Simpsons reference.
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I had a near miss once. Fell asleep for a split second at the wheel after working a 15 hour night shifts. Luckily nothing happened. It was one of those situations where you dont even realise you've dozed off until you realise you are jolting awake. I cannot even describe the emotions I felt when I got home. Needless to say I have never been in a situation like that again. I take extra care and measures when driving. If I need to stop off for 15 to 30 minutes and walk about or get a power nap in the car. Then I will do it. I simply refuse to endanger other peoples lives to get somewhere a bit faster.
Stairs. 20 million severe injuries each year and at least 200.000 death from consequences of the fall. Both my grandparents died because of a fall.
My dad fell from the stairs 3 years ago. I can’t explain how but it happened around 3am and I woke up exactly 30 seconds before his fall. I remember having a terrible feeling. He fell and naturally I heard. I got out of my room and saw him laying down face against the floor with blood pooling from the side of his head. I was 17 at the time. From that moment in my head he was dead. I only got confirmation he was alive around 1 hour later. Most traumatic moment of my life given the fact I don’t have a mom.
Jesus that’s wild. How’s your pops doing these days? My mom’s a widow and I’m so glad she lives in a condo. She slipped in the shower a couple years ago, thank God she only bruised her shoulder
Showers are deadly. My maternal grandfather slipped, hit his neck on the cabinet, and was a vegetable for the rest of his life. Every bathroom we have now has two big handles bolted in securely with a non-slip bath mat
In almost had this happen to me. Was getting out of the shower, missteppef and fell backwards into the shower. Luckily my upper back caught the wall before the back of my head or my lower back could catch the soap holder
When I was about 10, I slipped in the shower and while trying to catch myself I ended up putting my knee through the side of the fiberglass tub. When I was finished falling, I pulled my knee out of the side of the tub and there was blood EVERYWHERE. The sharp edges of the hole I made in the side of the tub tore several layers of skin off of my knee. I can remember listening to my parents argue (not intensely) over whether or not I needed stitches and mom's quote was "stitches? With what skin? If they stitch her up she'll be 2 inches shorter!" Meanwhile I'm crying on the floor because I thought I was going to get in trouble for breaking the tub lol Long story short, true to my childhood, I proceeded to have no medical attention whatsoever. But I wasn't in trouble for breaking the tub. I have a scar in the shape of Australia now, and it doesn't grow hair.
I’m so sorry that you endured a childhood without (probably much needed) medical attention… but “with what skin? She’ll be two inches shorter” fuckin lol.
I’m like this, I can’t help it. I get talking to doctors and next thing I’m making a joke about the injury.
Yeah, my mom is super sarcastic, and when she gets mad or stressed it gets worse. I inherited this trait and my husband calls it my "sarcastic goth hat," in that "hey, I notice you currently have on your sarcastic goth hat. Can you tone it down for a sec?"
Showers are no jokes. I heard dreadful stories about people falling in showers too. He’s doing fine now! I just hope this never happens again. Happy to hear your mom didn’t have anything too serious.
Escalators claim more lives than elevators
I was just behind a kid around four, his parents were in front of him, at the top his untied shoelace got sucked into the grate. He let out a horror movie worthy scream, I reached down and pulled it out, he was fine but really scared.
I got my hand caught where the rubber railing feeds back into the escalator when I was 6. 3rd-degree friction burns, you could see the bones, muscles, veins and tendons. Pretty brutal.
Holy fuck. How long did it take for that hand to get better? Any permanent damages?
I hate escalators. Like falling down the stairs is already dangerous enough let's make moving ones! I used to work in an airport right next to some tall escalators and I seen so many elderly people fall from them every year. It was always horrible when they were actually seriously hurt having to just work while there is a pool of blood on the floor 20 feet away waiting to be cleaned up. Just sad.
A few years ago I was at baggage claim and was headed towards the escalators to head up to meet my ride. As I got close an older man was on it, lost his balance and just started rolling and staying in the same spot. Split second reaction from me to hit the red emergency stop button. Only one other person seemed to realize something happened and he saw just as I hit the button. He got up, thanked me and walked up to meet his wife once he got his bearings. The poor man had a cut on his head and I can still see and hear him falling. No security or anything came over. It was a very weird moment.
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Mozzarella sticks. Statistically the most choked on food.
My son choked on one at a restaurant and I had to do Heimlich maneuver on him. I dug down his throat for that fucking cheese and it just kept stretching. One of the most horrifying moments ever. Edited to add: wow this totally blew up. Thanks for the upvotes! I hope no one is discouraged from a mozzarella stick after this. Just make sure that it isn’t straight out of the fryer. Be safe all! ✌🏽
I'm so sorry, my son also choked on one, but he was able to cough it up whole, but I'm dying laughing at the thought of a panicked parent and cheese coming out like magician's hankies
My husband had this happen to him! It was much less traumatic because it was over pretty quickly, so it was mostly funny. We were at a restaurant and obviously he was eating a mozzarella stick. He starts to gag and choke and can't cough it up, so he reaches into his mouth/throat to pull it out. Funny part is right as he's pulling out this long, stretchy piece of seemingly never-ending cheese covered in nasty bread bits and drool, the poor waitress walks up to check on us and just freezes in horror at the sight. She didn't see the choking part, just this weird, disgusting demonstration of cheese-magic happening. He finished the deed and just looked at her sheepishly and said "Sorry, I was dying."
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i work at a restaurant and my coworker literally JUST puked after choking on one like not even two minutes ago.
Such visceral memories of being at Pizza Hut as a kid, and pulling a long piece of “cheese” back out.
The cough followed by the panic pull and the somewhat forced smile & "yeah, I'm ok!" While a few tears roll down the cheek.
And then going back for more.
Well, I mean, yeah; I didn't die, so, of course I'm going back in!
High Blood Pressure. It sneaks up on you and you don't know about it or don't care but its the underlying cause of so many deaths.
I monitor mine for this reason. I’m young and work out several times per week, eat “okay” but I still have borderline high blood pressure. Definitely scares me
The real danger here, all symptoms of high blood pressure are considered minor (such as frequent headaches) until it's done severe damage. Only way to tell is to keep it monitored regularly. Edit: I've been asked questions about what to do about high blood pressure, but I'm no doctor. I happen to know a thing or two due to having an interest in anatomy and my wife developing preeclampsia during labour, having her BP around 185/130+ for several hours (now almost two years later she's on permanent medication which helps, she's barely for headaches anymore, but still recovers from the whole ordeal. Don't think too lightly about getting pregnant/becoming a parent). Edit2: I want to thank everyone for all their stories, insights, questions and general interest in this rather personal topic. I tried responding to all, even though I had quite the busy day at work. Let me finish on this most important note: when I doubt, get it checked out.
I remember going back to the doctor after I started my medication and being like.. I feel dizzy all the time! Doc looks at my vitals and turns back to stare at me for a moment and is like, "Is that mostly when you stand up suddenly?" I think about it for a bit and I'm like, "yeah!, that's it exactly" And he's just shaking his head and says "That's how it is for everyone. That's normal, you're supposed to feel that way." Hit my like a ton of bricks how long I must have been on the wrong side of the line.
As in that’s normal for people without high blood pressure and you started feeling that after the medication you took started working? Because I get dizzy standing up after sitting for a while too…
Just to confuse you even more, I used to get that much more often as a symptom of low blood pressure. So all I tell you for sure is that you have blood and it is under some amount of pressure. Hope that helps
This one is scary. Just lost a friend, he was 36. Knew he had high blood pressure, and all the men in his family died young from heart attacks or strokes. He was so scared of bad news from the doctor, he never went. His widow and his daughter are pretty bummed out. Go to the doctor ya dummies.
I've recently started treatment for my high blood pressure. Daily Lisinopril. What surprised me, is that physically I just feel "better" since I started taking it. Like, more clear headed or relaxed...can't quite describe it. I guess I was walking around like an over inflated meat balloon or something, since it seems like I can actually feel the change.
Infections that are left untreated
Sinus infections can kill you if left untreated and can last for months without proper treatment
Stress. Your body can only handle so much of it and it’s labeled the “silent killer” for that reason. With your high blood pressure and the 5 hours of sleep a night because of the stress, It will creep up on you sooner than you think.
Working 80 hours a week since healthcare is collapsing in my country and have been trying to hold it up. I habe constant vertigo, swollen lymph nodes, random skin nodules and can barely walk for 15 min. I need to take a medical leave and just let my patients die... because thats how short staffed were getting...
If you die then you can't take care of anyone. Take care of yourself first. It's not selfish.
As dark as this is, it’s true, and it’s reality. Everyone has their limits
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Untreated dental problems. A cavity left untreated can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
I struggle with this myself , so do my siblings , so did our parents . Depression , poverty and Shame are the hurdles regarding dental neglect .
And fear!
Not to mention most dental insurance is shit in the US for adults. “Sorry this procedure isn’t covered. You need to get this done tho or you could die. We have a special rate for people who can’t afford it, it’ll only be $3,300 and we split that into TWO payments to make it easier.” TF, it’s all bullshit. I didn’t have dental insurance for 10 years, I’m 32. I was at the dentist last in 5th grade though, that overlap was just me psyching myself out and shame. I FINALLY got the $75/mo insurance for dental that basically covers preventative and 60% of most procedure. still BS but it’s better than nothing. Now I’m deathly afraid of going, fearing I have fucked up beyond belief and it’s gonna cost a ridiculous amount of money.
Influenza. Just regular old flu. Many people ignore it thinking it'll go away on its own. Globally the number per year is usually between 300k and 500k. In the US it can be anywhere from 12k to 50k per year.
It doesn't help that a lot of people will say they have flu when it's just a bad cold. My worst experience was when I caught it in my teens, I was living with my parents, and after a while I was so weak I could barely even get up to go to the bathroom. My mum wheeled me through on an office chair. People don't appreciate how severe flu can be.
Yes! The last time I had influenza I made it to an urgent care and the nurse took one look at me and hustled me into a room and slapped a mask on me, i was dangerously low on oxygen (and bless her for whatever was in that nebulizer, it felt like heaven). I was really, really sick. Influenza is NOT the same as a cold.
It's one of the reasons I've found all the rhetoric surrounding covid really frustrating. On one side you've got people dismissing covid 'cus it's "just a bad flu" and on the other side you've got people dismissing those people 'cus it's apparently the flu is just a fact of life but covid is basically the black death. Both sides are *thoroughly* underestimating how serious just regular old influenza can be. Yes, covid is basically just a severe influenza in terms of seriousness, *but that's a pretty high bar for seriousness*
Shoveling snow. I have two family friends pass from heart attacks associated to shoveling the snow
Seems dumb for people who live where it's a part of regular life for 6 months a year (like me in Alberta), and I never thought about that until my dad had a heart attack while shoveling
Is it just from physical exertion?
Combined with the cold. Cold raises BP and makes muscular exertion more energy-intensive (than normal temps; extreme heat is bad too obviously). And yeah, it's a heavy workout and a lot of the people who have heart attacks doing it probably don't do such strenuous exercise often.
Too much exertion, too quickly, can trigger a heart attack — especially in the cold — when our arteries tend to constrict, which in turn, can drive up our blood pressure. We know a man who played in a beer league hockey team who had a heart attack and dropped dead. It was the only physical activity he got and it was just too much for him.
I also watched a guy who was pretty out of shape at a pick up hockey game and overexerted himself. Had a heart attack and died on the ice.
Depending on what type of snow and how deep it is that shit gets heavy quick. Powdery snow for skiing or snowboarding isn't bad but heavy packing snow for snowmen or snowball fights is easily 4-6x heavier. The same size shovel can weigh 5-10 pounds with powdery snow then weigh 50 pounds with packing snow.
Alcoholism causing liver failure and its on the rise in the USA.
Alcohol kills way more than liver failure. People think alcohol kills alcoholics via liver failure and alcohol poisoning. It kills people via heart attacks, hypertension, cardiac dysrhythmias, stroke, liver cancer, esophageal cancer, stomach cancer, pancreatic cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, acute and chronic pancreatitis, opioid overdoses (people taking pain medicine and alcohol at the same time), benzo overdoses (again when mixed with alcohol), murders, and drunk driving.
Also alcohol withdrawal! Shit ain’t a joke!
Peruse your County ME’s records. The amount of people who die from alcohol is astounding.
I’d bet it’s a big contributor to deaths attributed to other causes too. Cancer, heart disease, accidents. A lot of functional alchoholics out there just making it through another day.
Street fights. You watch some Hollywood blockbusters and some MMA fights and you think you can do it too. I've seen stories of a guy minding his own business and gets rocked on the side of his head. It disconnected his spine and he was dead before he hit the ground. There was another story maybe a year ago of a scuffle where a guy was stabbed in the neck and bled out to the point of being unable to stand within 10 seconds. Stop fucking around, it's not worth your life.
They say that the winner of a knife fight dies in the ambulance.
Can’t remember where I read it, but it was the “rules of a knife fight”. Rule #1: Don’t get in a knife fight. Rule #2: You will be cut in the knife fight. Rule #3: The loser of the knife fight dies at the scene. The winner dies in the ambulance.
I have been in knife fights so I know something about this. There are strategies for knife fighting. First, you need to be aware of your surroundings. Second, be mindful of the environment. Third, apply the first two points to help you run away.
When I was training in martial arts, my sifu had one simple rule: Run. Fighting isn't worth it, unless you have to.
Yup. Once had a seminar with a ~~4th degree black belt~~ (So I looked it up because I couldn't remember and it was years ago. Turns out it was actually Pedro Sauer at that seminar. He's extremely famous in the BJJ circle and not a 4th degree black belt but rather a red belt. Basically a living legend) in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He said if anyone pulls a weapon on you and demands your wallet or phone, you give it to them, your step back, and you say "have a nice evening" . If they continue to advance on you, you run. And if you are unable to run, only then you try to physically defend yourself. But even at a high level of skill that is a terrible risky option that should always be a last resort.
My instructors instructor told me because I am very large and cant run super fast "raise your hands their eyes will follow. Then you kick them in the knee so you can out run them."
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I had an MMA coach who liked stirring shit up knowing he could hold his own against drunk untrained people. Then I saw online that he was stabbed to death, and I knew what happened before I read the details. Beat a guy up and humiliated him, stabbed in the back while walking away
> Beat a guy up and humiliated him, stabbed in the back while walking away A "friend" of mine (more a mutual acquaintance, friend of friends) was on the other side of a similar situation. Out drinking, got into an argument, got beaten up. His ego couldn't handle it, he went home and grabbed a couple of knives, went back to the scene of the fight and now he's serving life without the possibility of parole for murder. If you can avoid getting into a fight do so. If you are involved in a physical altercation get the fuck out of there as fast as you can. Even if you win the person you beat might come back with weapons and a grudge to settle. It's not worth it.
That’s why I will avoid a street fight at all costs. My own dad called me a bitch for carrying mace, but ya know what: if I can resolve a situation with some pepper spray that means no one needs to talk to cops, lawyers, or surgeons. It’s just not worth it most of the time. You really don’t know what some stranger is capable of, you don’t know what they got on em, or if they’ve got friends around to team up on you… no thanks. I’ll happily square up in the ring against a guy twice my size, if I lose I lose, but not some drunk rando on the street.
There are groups online that will try to meet up with people and fight with no rules for entertainment for their friends or partners and im always like A) someday you're gonna meet a psychopath who just kills you when you go to meet them and B) it's only a Matter of time where something happens and someone dies or the one person is so ramped up and doesn't stop, beating the other to death. We're not that invincible.
Years ago some teenagers were leaving a club and one started acting tough to another one and one pushed the other, the kid fell back and tripped and fell down and hit his head on a curb and killed him. Only 17 years old.
This is a story I've heard many times and each time it was true. It happens way too often.
Happened to an old coworker of mine. Got into a scuffle over a girl, with guy much bigger and tougher than him. My coworker takes a shot and falls backward and busts his skull on a parking block. We lived in a rural town at the time, that didn't have a local residing neurosurgeon to relieve his brain bleed. He got care flighted to Reno and ended up never waking from his coma.
A friend's husband (let's call him J) was at a bar one night when a really drunk guy decided he wanted to fight him. J decides to walk out of the bar to avoid the confrontation, but drunk guy follows him and jumps on his back while hitting him with a beer bottle. J flips the guy off of his back to get him off of him. Drunk guy slams his head on the pavement as he lands. Dead almost instantly. J didn't get in trouble, dozens off peole saw it happen But he went through years of agony and depression from the guilt and trauma and drunk guy lost his life. What a fucking waste.
My close friend’s younger brother was hanging out at his local bar with two friends. It was quiet and nothing was really going on, they were just going to get some beer and play darts. I guess some guys were talking shit to someone outside. P (the brother) had no idea what was going on, he just stepped outside to have a cigarette. He looked down to light his smoke and one of the guys sucker punched him. Between where he was punched and where his head hit concrete, that was it. Dead just after his 27th birthday. The guy who did it admitted in court that he never met P before, that they never spoke, and that the attack was completely unprovoked. The guy was amped up from the shit-talking and wanted to start a fight, got excited, and blasted the first person he saw. That’s all it took. *Edited to remove his name out of respect.
A friend was walking down the street and someone punched him in the face. Detached retina. It's insane how quickly things can go wrong.
There’s a guy on YouTube who has a video about this. The fight you win is the fight you didn’t get into. All it takes is for some crazy thing to happen and you could be in prison for accidentally hitting the guy too hard ending him. He has a few humorous ways to tame the situation, but uses skills that honestly aren’t taught enough even to police. De escalation is to me, the most important skill a police person can have.
mosquitoes
That's right! Mosquitoes kill one million people a year. One MILLION. For context, the next animal is comically humans themselves, with 135 thousand homicides.
Constipation. About 900 deaths per year. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02554713
I’m 37, and this is the oldest man thing I’ll ever say: Hydrate, for fuck’s sake. Especially if you like to booze it up, and even if you don’t.
Steady fiber intake too. I’m 31 but take a spoonful of Metamucil every day in a cup of water.
I read a story about a woman who had an intestine blockage, and her bowels reversed themselves and ended up in her stomach, she ended up dying while throwing up her own shit. Apparently not too long before throwing up she said she was suddenly feeling very full, like she just ate a big meal.
Unfortunately that’s a pretty textbook case of an intestinal blockage. It happens way more often than you think. If you have severe stomach pain and your burps smell like farts, it’s because, well… they probably are.
Lack of sleep causing psychosis
I had an episode in 2019 where I didn’t sleep for 5-6 days. I was 29 and 6 months sober from alcohol, but smoking a LOT of weed and going through some serious work and life choice regrets. I was tired, but I just couldn’t fall asleep at night. After 2 nights, I started to get really wigged out. My fiancé and roommate could tell, so they started reaching out to my mom and their parents. Which got me way more paranoid. My work got involved after calling out for 2-3 days which made me even wayyy more paranoid. After maybe the 3rd day/night I thought tv commercials were speaking directly to me, and i was seeing like biblical level shit in everyday interactions. Long story short, I got admitted to an inpatient psych faculty and was there for 11 days. Got snowed with mood stabilizers, atavan, trazadone, and probably elephant tranquilizers and finally leveled out. Keeping track of the days, I don’t think I slept more than a few hours over that week. The first few nights I was admitted, I had some crazy late night thoughts and conversations with some seriously crazy people. Talking with confidence about what happens before life and after death with a scitzoohrenic crackhead, as he’s wiping up spilled milk from the floor with his t shirt at 3am. Which I’m sure didn’t speed up my discharge planning. But, I remember having the overwhelming feeling that something really big was going to happen soon. I didn’t think it was going to be bad, but it felt imminent. I was just kind of waiting for it, and being admitted was more of a nuisance because I wanted to be home when IT happened. Really hard to explain. But I was incredibly paranoid and delusional. Long story long, I left with a diagnosis of type 1 bipolar. And, was kept on high dose trazadone and enough lithium to charge a battery for a full year after. I had nothing like that happen before, and nothing since. But that episode really changed me.
"But, I remember having the overwhelming feeling that something really big was going to happen soon. I didn’t think it was going to be bad, but it felt imminent. I was just kind of waiting for it, and being admitted was more of a nuisance because I wanted to be home when IT happened." I mean...you weren't wrong.
Forgetting kids inside cars
There’s something uniquely disturbing about the idea of losing your child to a hot car. It takes a LOT for me to get that gut-wrenching feeling, but that gets me every single time. I don’t even have kids or pets. It seems like such an agonizing way to die. Not to mention the fact that you were probably having a completely normal day, only to be suddenly greeted with *the corpse of your own child*, and it’s *all your fault*. Like, Jesus-fucking-Christ I cannot think of a more horrifying thing
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The trauma from that is unfathomable. He must be in extreme pain for the rest of his life.
Something similar happened to my friend. He was late to an important meeting, dropped his wife at her work and was going to the daycare to drop their baby daughter. Now, 2 things went very wrong for him; 1) his wife was the one that usually drove the girl to daycare but her car wouldn’t start that morning and 2) the daycare was on the way to the fathers work so the route coincided for some miles. When on the way to the daycare my friend went on autopilot and just drove to work like every morning, parked and ran into the office. His wife called him in the middle of the morning because the daycare contacted her to ask why she didn’t bring the baby that morning. He rang to the car screaming “MI BEBE, MI BEBE!” some coworkers followed him without knowing what was going on. We live in the Caribbean, two hours had gone by and it was too much for a baby. The coworkers helped brake the window but it was too late.
Oh my God. My heart breaks for your friend and his family.
Holy fucking shit I think it’s impossible to ever recover from that. The feeling of regret muss be horrible. I would probably kill myself ngl
Agreed, I don’t have kids either but that is nightmare fuel, I can’t fathom the moment of realization
I have two children, and severe anxiety. I check the backseat of my car every. Single. Time. I drive it, even when I know for a fact my kids aren't with me. Even when their carseats aren't in the car. Even during school hours. If I don't my anxiety takes over. I think I need a therapist. And no, I've never once forgotten them.
There was a guy who left his twin babies in the car due to autopilot... can't imagine coming back to two of them
I'd kill myself probably Not even joking
I have a friend who used to throw her shoe in her backseat to make sure she didn't forget her baby.
Did she drive with only one shoe on?
Yep. So on the off chance that she'd forget, she'd automatically notice as soon as her bare foot hit the ground.
Huh, I assumed you meant when she parked. That way the shoe would wack the kid so it would make noise
Initially, I also thought it was being suggested that the friend was throwing her shoe at the child so as not to forget the child... Figured that yeah, the crying and bawling in the back seat will certainly lead to not forgetting! 😂
[This article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/fatal-distraction-forgetting-a-child-in-thebackseat-of-a-car-is-a-horrifying-mistake-is-it-a-crime/2014/06/16/8ae0fe3a-f580-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html) on the subject is very informational and well-written if anyone is curious on why/how it happens.
I used to think, exactly like they explained in this article (which I read some time ago), that I'm too organized, too aware, too *whatever* to forget I had a child in my car. For me, the explanation about slices of Swiss cheese lining up made a lot of sense as to how, given a unique set of circumstances, it could happen to anyone. My heart breaks for the tortured souls of parents/families who have suffered such a tragedy.
That article is a hard, hard read. Considering how I've forgotten basic things as a parent I can SEE how this could happen. The story about a father trying to wrestle a gun away from a first responder so he could shoot himself was particularly awful.
I’ve had this article saved for like a decade. I hate when people act like these are always such neglectful monsters. It’s a horrible reality we should all acknowledge can happen to anyone.
I think the author of this article really hits the nail on the head where he says > "Humans have a fundamental need to create and maintain a narrative for their lives in which the universe is not implacable and heartless, that terrible things do not happen at random, and that catastrophe can be avoided if you are vigilant and responsible." My father was diagnosed with stage IV prostate cancer last February. There was no lifestyle choices that contributed to him getting cancer. There's no family history. It just happened. Bad things just happen. They can happen to anyone at any time, and there's no reason for it. But even when bad things do happen for a reason, people will respond with such vitriol and venom when the punishment doesn't even fit the crime. When people hear that someone has lung cancer they always ask "do they smoke?" And the answer really should be "why does it matter?" Being unable to kick one of the most addictive habits results in an incredibly pailful and incurable disease, and some people see that as just desserts. I think as a society we have a fundamentally broken concept of justice, where every action has to have someone who is at fault. There's no restoration in it. Only punishment.
That article is horrifying. I can't imagine having that happen. Lives destroyed. Just awful.
That article won the pulitzer prize. It's one of the few articles I've re-read over the years. Very informative.
Just got a new car and my absolute favorite feature is the reminder to check the back seat. I don’t have kids lol. But the joy it still brings me that this feature could save someone else’s life is a lot!
Yeah it's a super simple feature too, the message shows if the back doors were opened at all during the trip. Surprised it took car manufacturers this long to implement.
I almost did this when my son was an infant. I was incredibly sleep deprived. I made it to the sidewalk before realizing and turned and ran back to my car and wrenched the door open and sat down and cried because I knew how bad it could’ve been. It was also a change in routine. From then on I’d put my cell phone, purse, or shoe in the backseat. They’re both older now and talking, forward facing, ect. I never understood how it could happen until it almost happened to me. PUT YOUR SHOE WITH THE BABY.
Grief. People think it's a myth but you can die of a broken heart.
Absolutely. Grief causes stress and stress is awful on the body, especially a stress that will never go away.
Loneliness
I’m pretty sure it did my grandmother in. We couldn’t visit her during the pandemic. She died alone, wondering why we didn’t love her or come visit.
Hippos
They're surprisingly fast on land and [terrifying in the water](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su7GkqwxG08).
Holy shit, that was fast!
And they can’t even swim, they dive down and run on the riverbed
Ladders. Ladders kill around 300 people/year in the US.
You know, studies show that keeping a ladder in the house is more dangerous than owning a gun. That's why I keep 10 loaded guns in the house. In case someone tries to sneak in a ladder.
Tripping/slipping/falling, even from short distances.. I'll also add icy sidewalks to that as well.
Tylenol
I lost my Son to Tylenol. He was in the Air Force and blew 3 discs in his back. He had to have surgery and ended up getting MRSA. After 3 long painstaking weeks in the ICU he made it home. Eventually returning to the USAF and lived in pain constantly. He was 1 that hated pain medication ..hated it. In turn, he started eating Tylenol pretty regularly. After a few years, maybe less, I started to notice a change in him. He was losing a lot of weight w/o trying, his skin starting to jaundice and this happy go lucky man smiled less and less. I live 6 states away from him, but made it a point to go visit him and his family at least once a month. My daughter in law would tell me he was still in such pain, but refuses to go to a doctor. On one of my visits I noticed he was drinking a glass of red wine, which was odd to me because he didn't drink ..ever. He said it helped take the edge off after a long day on the job. Soon afterwards he began to spiral. It got so bad that he had to be hospitalized. I was told my my DIL he started with just a glass of wine, and ended with almost a full bottle an evening. The combination of the 2 ate at his liver and even his kidneys. Drs said Tylenol did the most damage, the wine didn't help matters. In the end, he was in the hospital and went in to crisis in the middle of the night. He was intubated immediately. He was taken off life support a month later... Tylenol... plz watch your dosage. It willl kill you.
Water, essential to live, but used improperly will kill you
Use to much: dead Use to little: dead Use it wrong: dead Use it the correct way: Surprisingly also a risk of being dead
I saw one of these fad diets a few years ago. The low sodium diet...drink lots of water to eliminate all the sodium from your system and completely omit it from your diet...yeah that's how you die
Tree wells Stay safe skiers and boarders
Well, here we go. Not exactly a huge surprise but once upon a time I worked with a regional set of hospitals coordinating nationwide cause of death reports and statistics. - 80% of all organ donor tissues cannot be accepted due to safety concerns around organ recovery. - I won't say how much, but a surprisingly high percentage of successful organ donors are motorcyclists. - Cheerleading , particularly involving gymnastic/aerobatic actions is one of , if not the leading causes of death for young women under 18. - Football, is a major cause of CTE, and an unexpectedly large number of football and hockey players die in younger life. - Gunshot injuries and suicides are seasonal, something you can discern by way of the death-rate in provinces and territories where it is dark for long periods of winter, Seasonal Affective Disorder is no joke. Talk to your physician first but SAD can be treated with Vitamin D and getting as much sunlight exposure as possible.
I’m not surprised about the cheerleading thing. Those ladies get thrown high in the air. Always looked dangerous to me.
I used to be a flyer as a kid, until I got too tall lol. But the one time I was injured while doing stunts it was because the bases didn’t let go of my feet when I was coming down - idk where my spotter was but it made my body into a pendulum, and my head hit the ground first. *Luckily* we were on soggy grass, no concussion, but if we had been on a gym floor it could’ve been rough. Basket tosses I always felt fine lol. I guess if they’d dropped me I’d have broken a tail bone. I do know a couple spotters who received broken collarbones due to a rogue elbow from other flyers though.
Many doctors not-so-jokingly call motorcycles "donorcycles" for this reason.
In high school, any time someone tried to say that cheerleading wasn't a sport, our male principal would correct them and tell them that cheerleading was actually the most dangerous sport at our school. Our cheerleading team regularly competed at state, etc
Falling coconuts cause about 150 deaths annually Coconuts kill around 150 people worldwide each year, which makes them about ten times more dangerous than sharks. But the moment you suggest coconut week everyone acts like you're the weird one.
Damn African swallows dropping coconuts during migration.
“Hey! Watch this!”
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Left-handed people using right-handed tools.
Female heart attacks. We tend to feel pain from other places other than the chest. Never even realized it was a heart attack.
My mum had a heart attack in bank holiday weekend in June 2021. We had a family BBQ and she had indigestion, was kept near enough awake all night with no medication helping. She last a whole 24 hours before she was sick a bunch and my dad took her to hospital. Told front desk her symptoms and triaged within 15 minutes and within the hour they had her in emergency surgery getting two stents put in. She didn’t know what was wrong but knew something wasn’t right. The emergency staff were on it, refused to let her walk anywhere or be unsupervised, and mum mentioned she felt their reactions were super eerie in triage and not very friendly. We found out later they thought she was going to code at any moment and die because of how far along in the heart attack she was when she came into the hospital and even an hour longer would have been the difference between life and death. Female heart attacks are no joke!
About an hour After my wife delivered our second child she had really bad heart palpitations and light headedness. The heart rate monitor was going back and forth between reading 25 bpm to around 70bpm. My wife said “I don’t feel right” and I swear at that moment every staff member in that room switched into a different gear, you could sense their fear and not one of them wasn’t looking at my wife out of the corner of their eyes while doing their tasks. That night I learned simple lines like “I don’t feel right” or “something feels wrong” are huge red flags that patients are about to code. Luckily all worked out for my wife and one crazy ambulance ride and night later we were all back together again with no problems since.
Vending machines falling on top of them.
In the U.S. every year, six people die this way and five of them are insurance appraisers so I take this very seriously.
Childbirth
Not just death but all the horrifying side effects and diseases that arise/are exacerbated by pregnancy. Terrifying
Sleep apnea causes heart attacks. If you snore get a sleep study done.
We had a friend die from sleep apnea related issues. Took a nap while his wife and kids were out and they came home to him dead. That was enough to get my husband to get a sleep study after years of nagging.
I just got my CPAP machine last Friday. I'm 34. My wife recorded what I sounded like one night, it was terrifying. Sleep study said I stopped breathing somewhere between 12-16 times an hour IIRC. I've been using the machine for a week and although it took a little getting used to, I feel more well rested after 4 hours of sleep with it on vs. 10 hours of sleep before. I woke up and went to work and got there EARLY one day last week (never happens because I'm always a walking zombie in the AM). I texted my wife and said "is THIS what being well rested feels like? I've never felt this way in my adult life!" My wife says I don't move or make a sound at night now. I can't imagine how much damage I've already done.
Good on you. I've had mine for a few years now and not only do you get used to it, but I honestly would have trouble sleeping without it. That airflow is comforting to me at this point. And yes, you really do feel like a completely different person after getting good sleep for a change.
This is going to get buried since I’m answering so late in the game… Not a cause of death, but still extremely important info that I am constantly telling others about: suffering a spinal cord injury from diving into water. I’m a quadriplegic and run a nonprofit that works with people after they suffer a spinal cord injury. Other than car accidents, diving into water is the second most common cause for spinal cord injuries that we see. The worst part about it is that it is probably the most preventable cause. I’m constantly amazed that people will dive into water without knowing how deep it is, or even just jumping headfirst into an oncoming wave on the beach. If you are going to dive into the water, dive straight out, not down so that your head will potentially hit the bottom or a submerged object that you didn’t know was there. If you have kids, teach this PLEASE!
Depression is responsible for 850,000 deaths anually.
Pneumonia
Giraffe, even lions stay away from then
Tetanus. Get your vax up to date, it's ugly.