i dont think death from not eating/drinking would be that painful

[snowman626]

i just read read some accounts of people who die from VSED "voluntary stop eating and drinking" and most of the accounts sound relatively calm and peaceful.
you can find people on youtube who do 40 day water fasts (not for suicide) and they say after the 3rd day you stop feeling hungry. im thinking about this VSED method and what if i just bring some painkillers, go into a forest, and just fast for a few weeks, i dont need to worry cause this method will always work as long as i can walk to the forest

How Painful Is Death from Starvation or Dehydration?

reducing-suffering.org

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. But she also said, "it hasn't been too bad," when someone asked her what it was like, to be five days without food or drink.
The last week of her life had a serenity and depth that affected everybody—even the man who came to pick up her corpse; he heard the story, shook his head, and said, "that's the way I want to go."
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.
And died three days later.

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. [...]
"What my patients have told me over the last 25 years is that when they stop eating and drinking, there's nothing unpleasant about it—in fact, it can be quite blissful and euphoric," said Dr. Perry G. Fine, vice president of medical affairs at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in Arlington, Va. "It's a very smooth, graceful and elegant way to go."

 

[motel rooms]

I think that's wishful thinking...

 

[Crimsonghost3]

You do stop feeling hungry and I could be wrong but at least for me not eating is much easier than not drinking. The effects of not eating also seem easier to manage than dehydration at least from a SI stand point. Taking meds a few days into it may also make you feel nauseous and could trigger stronger SI. If you have the determination though to make it long enough I don't believe it to be a bad way to go. It might be even easier if you don't have money or a means to bail yourself out at least I find it much easier to keep myself from eating and drinking

 

[blueclover_.]

I've done a 3 day water fast in 7th grade and it was very easy since i was never that emotionally connected to food in the first place. However, thirst and hunger are two very different kind of pain. Hunger will go away after a few days of not eating, and your body will start to do ketosis which uses fat as the source of energy.

Thirst however, is physically and mentally painful. Read stories about people stranded in a desert. After 3 days of not drinking your organs would start to fail, most likely your kidneys will be the first to shut down and if someone saves you (feeding tube), you'll have to live with broken kidneys and upcoming complications such as diabetes and other organ failures.

 

[Account unknown]

I think you're wrong and there's too many variables where something much more painful could happen or go wrong.

People who choose to stop eating and drinking while in some kind of care (old people's homes, hospitals, psych wards etc) are usually given copious amounts of painkillers which is why the experience can be relatively benign.

There's so much that could go wrong though and it's an excruciatingly slow process also… what made you want to consider this?

 

[sandalphon]

In case it needs to be spelled out, this is a terrible method. Do NOT do this.
Jesus, what's up with these recent threads with ridiculous methods lately? People in this forum are suffering enough and these posts are not helping.

 

[Bot]

In case it needs to be spelled out, this is a terrible method. Do NOT do this.
Jesus, what's up with these recent threads with ridiculous methods lately? People in this forum are suffering enough and these posts are not helping.

i don't think it's stupid, in fact its beneficial to discuss all sorts of methods so we can share pros and cons and find the best method

 

[FuneralCry]

I would never choose this method, personally I think I would rather the dying process be over quickly. It sounds too unpleasant to die slowly.

 

[sandalphon]

i don't think it's stupid, in fact its beneficial to discuss all sorts of methods so we can share pros and cons and find the best method

Starving yourself in forest without the help of medical professionals is not stupid to you? You really think there's a benefit in discussing the merits of this method?

There are methods of course that warrant discussion, but starving yourself in a forest with nothing but painkillers, using a syringe to drain yourself of blood, and overdosing on water are NOT those.

The problem with threads like these is that they may deceive people into thinking a stupid method is a good idea, and that causes unnecessary suffering. Lord knows we don't need any more of that here.

 

[xianv111]

Starving yourself or restricting water intake doesn't have any sense unless you're extremely desperate and it's the only method available for you. Fasting for even 3 days can be already more painful than most of the widely available methods. I think this way causes only needless suffering. Not to mention how long it takes... one could easily change their mind during the process.

 

[obliviousatbest]

As others have said, its an elongated and painful way to die. The amount of resilience it takes to fight your most basic need for days or weeks with the conscious intention of death is nearly unfathomable. My partners grandmother tragically starved herself to a living skeleton before her body gave way as she had no other choice, personally i could not imagine the willpower to complete this while consciously feeling your muscles and organs slowly deteriorating over a length of time.

 

[stellabelle]

I think that's wishful thinking...

I have to agree. It is painful.

 

[orange]

Last friday-saturday I didn't eat or drink for 24h and I got a splitting headache. Maybe if you had sedatives.

Edit: you know what? There might have been other contributing factors to my headache. I didn't feel specially hungry or thirsty, and talked myself out of it due to my personal living circumstances. I've read online dehydration should leave you unconscious by day three, but someone on this forum said by day four they were still awake and strong enough to pace around their room. Idk man, bodies are weird.

 

[supermario]

Noa Pothoven, a young dutch girl with a host of mental illnesses died via starvation when she was denied euthanasia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noa_Pothoven However, I suspect she probably got some help from medical specialists in terms of pain killers and other aides. She's a well known author and activist, so I'm sure there were many people willing to help her as much as it's within the law.
I should also add Noa Pothoven was probably already in a very weakened state due to years of anorexia. In other words, I don't think her case should be used as an example of how suicide by starvation can be feasible.

 

[snowman626]

Ceasing Food and Fluid Can Be Painless

Ceasing Food and Fluid Can Be Painless

Concerns for Schiavo's comfort have galvanized the debate. But experts say dying of starvation and dehydration is a peaceful end for the ill.

www.latimes.com

The lack of pain is part of a protective mechanism developed over millions of years, Sullivan said.

After 24 hours without food, "the body goes into a different mode, and you're not hungry anymore," he said. 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 cessation of eating and drinking is the dominant way that mammals die," said Dr. Ira Byock, director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire. "It is a very gentle way that nature has provided for animals to leave this life."

if anything, starvation is our original ctb method, as nature intended. its literally built into our design.

My partners grandmother tragically starved herself to a living skeleton before her body gave way as she had no other choice

I dont know why the grandmother starved, was it because she lived in famine? starving from famine and total starvation is different

That pain of hunger is only felt by those who subsist on small amounts of food and water -- victims of famine, for instance, or concentration camp inmates. They become ravenous as their bodies crave more fuel, Sullivan said.

"Total starvation is not painful or uncomfortable at all. When we were hunting rabbits millions of years ago, we had to have a backup mode because we didn't always get a rabbit. You can't go hunting if you're hungry."

How Starvation Kills

"If you mine too many proteins in the heart, it gets unstable," said Sullivan, a senior fellow at Duke's Center for the Study of Aging. That can give rise to an irregular heartbeat, which can cause the patient to die of cardiac arrest. Or, if the muscles in the chest wall become weak, the patient can end up with pneumonia, he said.

From the first article i posted:

"Based on anecdotal accounts, it seems that cardiac arrest may be among the better ways to die, while heart attacks are more protracted and can sometimes be intensely painful."

Can You Do It Without Painkillers?

Sullivan said doctors were likely to give painkillers to Schiavo, but added: "Frankly, I think they might as well give it to each other, because it will probably be more painful for them than it will be for her."

 

[obliviousatbest]

I dont know why the grandmother starved, was it because she lived in famine? starving from famine and total starvation is different

Lol i know. She was maltreated in the care home she was moved after returning to her home country, and after the death of her son she simply gave up and refused to eat, and the care home just let her slowly die. This didn't occur in a western country otherwise there would have been intervention and feeding tubes etc. She could have eaten if she wanted, but didn't.

 

[Teddybear]

Denying your body food and water is tantamount to declaring war on your own flesh. Good luck and *lots* of painkillers for that one. :-O
PS: "Total starvation is not painful or uncomfortable at all" - what a load of crap that is. >:-(

 

[Someone123]

Denying your body food and water is tantamount to declaring war on your own flesh. Good luck and *lots* of painkillers for that one. :-O
PS: "Total starvation is not painful or uncomfortable at all" - what a load of crap that is. >:-(

I think she is just exploring options, though I think you are correct, though not perfectly tactful. :)

 

[supermario]

Denying your body food and water is tantamount to declaring war on your own flesh. Good luck and *lots* of painkillers for that one. :-O
PS: "Total starvation is not painful or uncomfortable at all" - what a load of crap that is. >:-(

That's a good way to put it.

 

[Teddybear]

@Someone123 - Death is *never* "tactful". You know the first ones to come and pay their respects when you're dead? Flies and ants.

No sweet music playing in the background, no beautiful girl crying at your coffin. You are dead, cold and start to stink.

 

[Someone123]

@Someone123 - Death is *never* "tactful". You know the first ones to come and pay their respects when you're dead? Flies and ants.

No sweet music playing in the background, no beautiful girl crying at your coffin. You are dead, cold and start to stink.

It's worth it to see different ways of looking at things- I guess my hope, based on ndes(near death experiences) that many people have posted on youtube is that when our body dies our sould still lives and might go on to a plaqe we are much happier than here.

 

[Ch92921]

Whats worse no food or drink?

 

[blueclover_.]

Whats worse no food or drink?

you'll die in 3 weeks withouut food, 3-6 days without water. Hunger is nothing compared to thirst and your organs drying up. Your body is made of 70% of water after all.

 

[Ch92921]

you'll die in 3 weeks withouut food, 3-6 days without water. Hunger is nothing compared to thirst and your organs drying up. Your body is made of 70% of water after all.

So thirst is worse?

 

[supermario]

The more I research this, the more I realize it's not feasible unless you already have a terminal illness and are greatly weakened, or have an iron will driven by a cause larger than yourself. Most of the healthy that are able to see starvation through seem to be successful because they believe they're doing it for a great greater purpose, such as a hunger strike or political statement.

Back to contemplating more traditional methods.

 

[Ch92921]

The more I research this, the more I realize it's not feasible unless you already have a terminal illness and are greatly weakened, or have an iron will driven by a cause larger than yourself. Most of the healthy that are able to see starvation through seem to be successful because they believe they're doing it for a great greater purpose, such as a hunger strike or political statement.

Back to contemplating more traditional methods.

I am we have to overcome SI and additionaly overcome hunger drive?