If lack of oxygen to the brain is ultimately what triggers death in every case...?

Question

...does that mean that the last thing we all experience is a strong sensation of suffocation?

Answer 1

hmmmm....let me ponder this a moment....

Being somewhat of an expert on brains and brain death....

Well...lets evaluate the truth of your statement.

If you are blown up to the degree of the brain being obliterated...no, the brain would have no time to have lack of oxygen before non-function of brain occured.....unless it was death due to blood loss from other areas or damage to the heart resulting ultimately...as you mention....lack of oxygen.

Generally speaking you are right to assume that most death ultimately all stems from a lack of oxygen to the brain...even heart problems...no new blood with oxygen....severed cord....no respiratory function...thus no oxygen to the blood and therfore to the brain....in fact, short of adequate destruction of the brain itself.....I can't think of a death that doesn't involve, ultimately, loss of oxygen or oxygenated blood to the brain.

sorry friend, severed spinal cord...doesn't kill you outright per say, although the immediate shock likely results a loss of "awareness" and although in hangings it looks like the body is "dead" that is predominantly because the brain can no longer control the limbs via the cord; however, I would think that the brain would continue to survive several minutes (at 4 min of no oxygen, brain cells begin to die) helplessly starving for oxygen...again providing the shock doesn't shut it down.

Now, beyond the idea of shock and complete obliteration of the brain itself....lets look at the nature of the neuron (brain cell). When looking at the function of the brain (via EEG used to study brain waves), you notice that as brain cells start to starve from lack of oxygen, they will stop functioning in an effort to protect the cell, saving the remaining oxygen to perserve its life. When it does so, the EEG changes dramatically; brain waves start to slow down, their function reduced. Eventually (in a matter of minutes, perhaps seconds) they will not function at all before they actually become "dead" per say. That would lend me to believe that the mind would probably shut down to the point of not being aware enough to "experience" much of anything prior to death.

That being said, there may indeed be a small window of time when the neurons are triggering a need for oxygen to the remainder of the body and shutting down function for preservation in which we may get an insatiable feeling of suffocation.

dude....that question sucks!

Answer 2

No. If you drown, yes. But usually what kills you is fluid in your lungs. Usually, it's the brain that stops first. Not lack of oxygen, but the electrical system of the brain stopping. If you are in an accident and your spinal cord is severed, or your heart is damaged, you just black out. Who knows what you feel then. Probably nothing.

Answer 3

If we're not passed out from something else...

Sometimes, I think that the brain stops functioning, and that allows breathing to stop... the person is actuallly no longer able to sense anything, before breathing stops.

Answer 4

Most cases are heart frailer
Not brain death.

Answer 5

but is lack of oxygen to the brain what you always die of?

Answer 6

Definitely not if your spinal cord is severed or if you're blown to bits.