Note: I have no medical expertise. Feel free to use this article as a starting point for learning about VSED, but keep in mind that what I write here is amateur research. It's commonly said that predation is important because otherwise prey will overpopulate and starve.
I once heard someone claim confidence that starvation is much more painful than being eaten alive. How true is this? More generally, how bad is death by starvation? One example where this information might be useful is if you find a fly trapped in your house. If you don't let it out, it may starve or dehydrate.
But if you do let it out, it may breed and create more fly suffering in the future. Another option is to quickly squish the fly by placing it on a rough piece of paper, smashing a board against the paper, and dragging out the guts to make sure neural connectivity is destroyed throughout the fly's body. But is this more or less painful than starving? This piece aims to illuminate the painfulness of starving and dehydrating to death, mainly based on accounts of these processes in the human case.
Of course, different animals have different somatic physiology and neurophysiology, and this is especially true when comparing insects vs. Still, information from the human case is better than nothing. The Humane Society of the US says :. The pain of an animal who lingers with untreated illness or wounds, or without nourishment or shelter, can be tremendous—sometimes even more so than those who are victims of directly inflicted violence, because their suffering is so prolonged.
Animals who starve to death experience a myriad of painful symptoms throughout each stage of their physical deterioration. Following are some videos of animals enduring starvation, along with my notes on how the animals seem to be faring. This article says that. After a few days without food, chemicals known as ketones build up in the blood. These chemicals cause a mild euphoria that serves as an anesthetic.
The weakening brain also releases a surge of feel-good hormones called endorphins—the same chemical that prompts the so-called "runner's high. This piece explains:. Starvation wreaks havoc on the immune system, mostly on account of an extreme deficiency of vitamins and minerals.
And in fact, some people will become weak and die of immune-related diseases during starvation. Marasmus occurs on account of extreme energy deficiency, typically from inadequate amounts of protein and calories. At this point, body weight reaches dangerously low levels, and infections are common.
Kwashiorkor is a related disease that afflicts children who are protein-energy deficient, and can result in edema fluidic inflammation and an enlarged fatty liver — resulting in the counterintuitive distending of bellies, giving the illusory impression that starving children are well fed. People can die of starvation in as short as a three-week span, or as long as 70 days.
During the Irish Hunger Strikes of , for example, ten men survived without food drinking only water for periods ranging from 46 to 73 days. This page says about animals: "An initial loss of body fat is followed by muscle loss and atrophy and, ultimately, organ failure. In long-term starvation, degeneration of the liver, cardiac changes, anemia, and skin lesions may develop. This page says:. As a person dies from dehydration, his or her mouth dries out and becomes caked or coated with thick material; lips become parched and cracked; the tongue swells and could crack; eyes recede back into their orbits; cheeks become hollow; lining of the nose might crack and cause the nose to bleed; skin begins to hang loose on the body and becomes dry and scaly; urine would become highly concentrated, leading to burning of the bladder; lining of the stomach dries out, likely causing the person to experience dry heaves and vomiting; body temperature can become very high; brain cells dry out, causing convulsions; respiratory tract also dries out causing thick secretions that could plug the lungs and cause death.
This article explains that fluid loss disrupts electrolyte balance. So do the heart and other muscles, causing patients to feel lethargic. VSED is used by some people to end their lives. Pro-life groups tend to claim that the experiences are awful, while pro-hospice groups tend to claim that dying by such means is nearly painless.
I had been a nurse for a decade, and the traditional wisdom is that a death by dehydration is agonizing. I did the research—there were reports that it had been done, and that it was not as uncomfortable as I had assumed.
I had read that the body might produce endorphins after the third day of the fast. I had also read that the sensation of thirst and hunger fade and perhaps disappear after the third or fourth day. My mother disputed that. She said farewell to her friends, she resolved three unfinished pieces of business, and then, on the eighth day of her fast, she fell into a coma. This article makes the sweeping claim that.
Studies have shown that the majority of dying patients never experience hunger, and in those who do, small amounts of food and fluids, offered whenever the person wants, relieves the hunger.
Dehydration in a seriously ill person with a terminal condition, and in the frail elderly, is not painful. In fact, frail elderly persons have a blunted sense of thirst, which allows them to slip rather easily into a dehydrated state. This is generally characterized by increased sleepiness and less mental alertness without other signs of distress.
In the dying patient, studies have shown that the majority never experience thirst, or only initially, and the thirst that occurs is easily alleviated by small amounts of fluids or ice chips given by mouth, and by lubricating the lips.
Moreover, the above quotes suggest that VSED patients may get small amounts of food and water when desired, while wild animals have no such luxury—although I suppose that starving wild animals probably can also find bits of food here and there in many cases.
This study echoes the idea that elderly people may find VSED easier: "Anorexia, which occurs in some dying patients, may facilitate the choice to stop eating and drinking. She decided to pursue a Ph.
Preparing her dissertation, she learned that hospices and nursing homes were often skittish about helping patients with the process, but those that did go through with it usually seemed to have a comfortable and painless end. Schwarz wrote in this article :. Other clinicians who have not witnessed a VSED death may fear that if they inform an already suffering patient about this option, they might indirectly encourage a dying process that is unduly painful, prolonged, and "inhumane.
Several small empirical studies and an increasing number of anecdotal reports suggest that VSED provides most patients with a peaceful and gentle death that is generally well tolerated and occurs within 2 weeks of beginning the fast.
This page says of VSED:. Eventually, the individual cannot be aroused. For those who are at the end of a terminal illness, this coma state could occur as early as the second or third day of the fast.
For those who are not terminally ill, it may take longer to completely lose consciousness. One study reports the average time to coma is six days, but there is no way to predict exactly what will happen in any individual case.
Each organ system in the body slowly begins to shut down. For a terminally ill patient, the average length of time before death occurs is ten days; for those without an underlying terminal illness the length of time varies from one to three weeks. As death nears, breathing becomes more shallow and irregular. Moaning may occur but is not believed to be an indication of pain or distress. Death from VSED is essentially a natural process that follows a fairly predictable pattern.
This article describes a terminally ill woman who decided to stop eating and drinking:. Instead of feeling pain, the patient experienced the sense of euphoria that accompanies a complete lack of food and water. She was cogent for weeks, chatting with her caregivers in the nursing home and writing letters to family and friends.
As her organs failed, she slipped painlessly into a coma and died. Perry G. For some terminally ill people, aggressive medical treatment may not be helpful and may prolong the dying process without improving quality of life. Under certain circumstances, treatments can increase suffering, ruin the remaining quality of life, or even shorten life.
Stopping treatment can result in a peaceful death but it may also result in increased discomfort. Consult with your physician and arrange for optimal palliative comfort care before stopping treatment. Stopping treatment can be combined with hospice and palliative care or voluntary stopping eating and drinking to shorten the dying process and reduce suffering.
For dying people experiencing so much pain or unmanageable symptoms that they cannot get relief from medications unless the dose is high enough to make them unconscious, palliative sedation provides enough medication to keep them continuously unconscious and thereby free of pain and symptoms.
All nutrition and hydration is stopped, and they usually die within a few days. People using palliative sedation should be monitored around the clock to be sure the sedation is adequate. While this intensive monitoring can sometimes be provided in the home, it is usually provided in a skilled nursing or inpatient hospice facility. Many [people] claim that palliative sedation effectively eases the suffering of patients when other means fail to do so.
However, it is an unacceptable option for most terminally ill adults whose primary concerns are losing autonomy, quality of life and their dignity. While palliative sedation is an ethical and legal end-of-life option, it is not necessarily a right.
While you can request palliative sedation, it is up to the medical provider to determine if it is appropriate. Some physicians and hospices are reluctant or unwilling to authorize palliative sedation. If having the option of palliative sedation is important to you, discuss it with your hospice or other medical provider well before it becomes necessary. The Disparity of Hope.
Losing Forward with Dignity. Share This Share on facebook Share on twitter Share via email. Voluntary Stopping of Eating and Drinking VSED To voluntarily stop eating and drinking means to refuse all food and liquids, including those taken through a feeding tube, with the understanding that doing so will hasten death. Before You Start You must prepare to voluntarily stop eating and drinking.
Talk with your physician to let them know of your plans. Talk with your physician about all your medications, and ask if a sedative or pain medication will be available to keep you comfortable. Complete an Advance Directive stating in writing that voluntarily stopping eating and drinking is your wish.
I have it all planned out. So if I starve myself to death, or near death, and I survive? Then that could be my proof. And if I die? What do you think? Whatever weight you do lose will reattach itself to you with the velocity of a stretched rubber band the moment you begin to consume food with regularity once more.
You might think that no body understands but I know how you feel. But, starving yourself is not the answer. You need to eat. The amount of pain you will feel will be overwhelming and you will be stuck being in a hospital bed. I hope you take into consideration that everyone around you cares about you, even the meanest people. Verum is right. You will not be able to overcome your survival instincts when it comes to trying to starve yourself.
Other methods or different. You have survival instincts that tell you not to stand in front of a train or hang yourself either, but in those instances, you only have to find the strength to push those instincts out of your mind for a matter of seconds. Starving is an entirely different story. Plus depending on how much extra weight you have on your body you could end up surviving for weeks if not months.
You could try to put a positive spin on it, try fasting, it can actually be very healthy and healing for your body to refrain from food for a while. There are different ways to go about this but you have to do it safely. Getting there is very slow and painful. Yes, I know how you feel. That feeling inside is all consuming. I restrict my food intake or puke to punish myself, among other things. Depending on your current weight, you might not achieve your goal skinny before your body gives out.
The two previous posts are absolutely correct. The average person will take up. That plane too will probably be given up on the second or third day of you trying it. Anyway, looking pretty in death is THE most pointless thing ever. Looking good is for life, and eating healthily and exercising is a good way of accomplishing it. Being healthy might also improve your mood or at least make you feel more in control. Just try to be yourself and to find joy in life, being true to yourself should at least give you a sense of self-worth and pride, even when you are feeling sad.
Starving oneself to death is a viable option and contrary to many of the comments above it is considered one of the least painful of methods. I have attempted ending my life on 4 separate occasions over the past 2 years.
Three times I tried Co2 poisoning and once I tried helium. Helium was a dismal failure. Today is March 15,, Today is my 11th day without food of any kind. I can tell you from firsthand experience that the bad days were days 2 and 3.
After that my stomach shrank the primary cause of hunger pangs is this — your stomach is naturally expanded to receive an approximate quantity of food every day.
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