Light headed after a few hanging attempts

[meles_inoris]

I attempted suicide by partial suspension hanging with a belt earlier today, and twice yesterday. I managed to "unhang" myself by opening the door all three times, only after a few seconds. Now, I have a lingering feeling of lightheadedness and shortness of breath. Did I damage anything, and should I seek medical attention?

 

[PrettyMoose]

I've had a lingering lightheadedness after practicing partial too and it eventually went away. Some shortness of breath is to be expected if you are compressing the airway at all. It's up to you whether or not medical attention is required, but if it is found out that your symptoms stem from a suicide attempt then you will promptly be locked in a psych ward.

 

[RedDEE]

I don't know - I'm an emo kid, not a doctor.

 

[Suez]

I attempted suicide by partial suspension hanging with a belt earlier today, and twice yesterday. I managed to "unhang" myself by opening the door all three times, only after a few seconds. Now, I have a lingering feeling of lightheadedness and shortness of breath. Did I damage anything, and should I seek medical attention?

It is not unheard of for people to die a few days after strangling yourself or restricting breathing due to things like blood clots that can form, arterial complications and other respiratory complications etc You may want to read this paper as it talks about exactly what ive just said.

Strangulation, Domestic Violence, and Brain Injury: An Introduction to a Complex Topic

Affecting millions of individuals across the United States, intimate partner violence is the physical, sexual, or psychological harm of an individual by a romantic partner (Arroyo, Lundahl, Butters, Vanderloo, & Wood, 2017). Approximately one in four American women are the victims of severe...

www.biausa.org

It is not unheard of for people to die a few days after strangling yourself or restricting breathing due to things like blood clots that can form, arterial complications and other respiratory complications etc You may want to read this paper as it talks about exactly what ive just said.

Strangulation, Domestic Violence, and Brain Injury: An Introduction to a Complex Topic

Affecting millions of individuals across the United States, intimate partner violence is the physical, sexual, or psychological harm of an individual by a romantic partner (Arroyo, Lundahl, Butters, Vanderloo, & Wood, 2017). Approximately one in four American women are the victims of severe...

www.biausa.org

This paper gives even more information around some of the issues that can arise post strangulation. Given that you have attempted partial hanging three times over the last few days and you are experiencing the symptoms you state, its possible you might have done some damage to yourself and its perhaps worth seeing a Dr to get a proper assessment to rule this out. If your concerned enough to raise the question then i believe that you should see someone. I have mentioned on this site that I am a Medical Scienitst, a Dr, I trained in Medicine before becoming a Scientist, so i do understand what can happen in these situations but the choice is yours https://www.reliasmedia.com/articles/19950-strangulation-injuries

 

[theguineapigking]

Most of the time, no noticeable permanent damage, if any, will occur. That is unless you have prior medical issues.


In general, losing consciousness while pressure is still applied is what will cause permanent damage. So if you passed out for say, 1 minute, it could possibly cause some damage. But applying pressure for 10 seconds to get light headed or "high" (some people enjoy the feeling. It's called the choking game in that case) generally doesn't cause issues. Blood clots could be possible like @Suez stated. I truly don't think it's likely. If you ever were to practice karate or taekwondo(I did taekwondo for years), they will have you practice the choke hold. My point is that it very rarely causes permanent damage. It's usually temporary.


I've felt weird in my head for a couple of days once when practicing partial. I will sometimes also get a headache. That is normal. Light headedness is also normal.



FYI, if the belt is secured to the door, it is very risky(assuming you don't want to die yet). Not only could you slip out of consciousness faster than expected(especially if you position it "just right" one time then you could lose consciousness faster, potentially, compared to other times) , you could also trigger the vagus nerve response(there are other names for it). Once I got mad and squeezed my carotids with my fingers as I had done many times before, but I passed out. My vision went back to normal when I released my fingers, but then after 10 seconds, my heart beat weird, like it skipped a beat, and I passed out. If you do this in the noose, you'd probably be dead. Just be wary of this.


I wish you the best. We're here any time you need to talk.

 

[meles_inoris]

I attempted suicide by partial suspension hanging with a belt earlier today, and twice yesterday. I managed to "unhang" myself by opening the door all three times, only after a few seconds. Now, I have a lingering feeling of lightheadedness and shortness of breath. Did I damage anything, and should I seek medical attention?

update: the lightheadedness and shortness of breath are pretty much gone. However I do have a mild headache