I did a search for hypercapnic response and found a useful article. Here's the most useful part:
If I was going to rank the ways I'd choose to die, this would be my choice:
- Massive laceration to the carotid artery - the drop in blood pressure would cause instant unconsciousness, and death would swiftly follow
- Diamorphine or fentanyl overdose - while this effectively kills through respiratory arrest, which is the same as asphyxiation, you would almost certainly die quickly and painlessly, unconscious
- Nitrogen (or other inert gas - e.g. helium) - to breathe this gas until you lost consciousness would require a certain amount of steely resolve, to not tear off the bag or mask. Completely painless, but requiring 2 or 3 minutes that would be psychologically unpleasant.
- Potassium cyanide - this would produce a relatively swift and certain death, but there may be some minutes of pain and discomfort
The poisons arsenic, ricin and strychnine, along with the nerve agents botulinum, sarin and venomous agent X, would all have undesirably slow or indirect ways of killing you - for example, inhibiting your ability to breathe. To die by these deadly agents would be most undesirable, given the suffering in your final moments.
Point blank gunshots to the head can miss major blood vessels and parts of the brain that control your vital organs, and as such, very many people have survived attempted suicide using a gun. This is probably largely to do with Hollywood portrayals of suicides being committed by putting the gun in your mouth: liable to result in the bullet missing the spinal cord and anything else important, and just leaving a hole in the back of your head/neck. Painful, but not fatal.
Therefore, without the assistance from a person with anatomical and surgical knowledge, to sever your carotid artery, and without the access to the controlled (illegal) substances of diamorphine and fentanyl, your best option is to obtain a canister of wine preserver gas, a large plastic bag and some duct tape. Filling the bag with the gas, you would place it over your head, top up the gas as much as possible and then tape it airtight around your neck. You should lose consciousness within minutes and die soon after that - completely painlessly. A home remedy to euthanise yourself.
Many dentists who commit suicide breathe nitrous oxide - laughing gas - through a mask until they lose consciousness and asphyxiate.
The problem with a home made pill cocktail - opiates to stop your breathing and benzodiazepines and Z-drugs (zopiclone, zolpidem) to keep you unconscious - is that your stomach needs to break down many many pills and for their contents to enter your bloodstream rapidly, without you vomiting. Augmenting with alcohol may increase the ability of the opiates to stop you breathing, and assist in keeping you unconscious, but there is a fairly big time window where you might be discovered and there are a number of variables that make the result more unpredictable than is acceptable, if you've made the final decision to euthanise yourself.
As you can see, those who are thinking about ending a life have much to consider, even if it's just a pig to make bacon out of. I would prefer my pigs to be killed with pure nitrogen gas, than pure CO2. In actual fact, even though the halal practice of slitting an animal's throat looks barbaric, it's very humane, for the reasons explained above - it would be my first choice, for myself.
Gas chambers, animal and human euthanasia - you're welcome.
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I don't want to get into much detail, as this is regarding a particularly dark time in my life. However, I can assure you that an overdose of Diamorphine (heroin) is absolutely painless, euphoric even. If I had to pick how I'd have to go, an overdose of Intravenous opiates seems to be the most favorable.
