Rumors about nitrogen suicide being painful

[Missyabuddy]

I've read online that nitrogen gas suicide can be painful, I've specifically read that people who've seen it used on prisoners noted that they'd scream or groan in the last seconds of their lives. How true is this? I thought it was painless? and how long does it last for anyway

 

[yearned]

replying because im curious

 

[birdie7]

Ur right, I found a paper arguing that nitrogen gas execution witnesses say the people in these executions were visibly in pain in their final moments. Apparently the "drunken" effect from nitrogen gas poisoning happens at specific atmospheric pressures only, such as for divers deep underwater. So up here on earth it would just hurt . Check it out urself, https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00864.2025

There's lots of these. I recommend you read both sides of the argument so that you're informed. I hope anyone who plans on doing this is aware of how it could go.

I'd say I'm against it. I highly doubt an average person could execute this correctly enough.

 

[SadCryingBunny]

Ur right, I found a paper arguing that nitrogen gas execution witnesses say the people in these executions were visibly in pain in their final moments. Apparently the "drunken" effect from nitrogen gas poisoning happens at specific atmospheric pressures only, such as for divers deep underwater. So up here on earth it would just hurt . Check it out urself, https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00864.2025

There's lots of these. I recommend you read both sides of the argument so that you're informed. I hope anyone who plans on doing this is aware of how it could go.

I'd say I'm against it. I highly doubt an average person could execute this correctly enough.

No pain for me after 90 seconds of breathing and blood oxygen levels dropping to 49%. I would assume if combined with zolpidem sleeping pills and once the person goes unconscious there would not be much or any pain after that.

 

[Alreadylate]

Ur right, I found a paper arguing that nitrogen gas execution witnesses say the people in these executions were visibly in pain in their final moments. Apparently the "drunken" effect from nitrogen gas poisoning happens at specific atmospheric pressures only, such as for divers deep underwater. So up here on earth it would just hurt . Check it out urself, https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00864.2025

There's lots of these. I recommend you read both sides of the argument so that you're informed. I hope anyone who plans on doing this is aware of how it could go.

I'd say I'm against it. I highly doubt an average person could execute this correctly enough.

all methods seem very problematic no matter what you chooose... I have gas and SN and I have no fucking idea of what to do...

 

[Dejected 55]

Not saying there is no truth to this... but using executions as a source for "proof" might be biased. I mean, generally speaking people being executed do not want to die... so they are going to struggle and fight and many want to make it hard on people watching since that's all they can do in that moment to rebel against what is being done to them. Think of any time you have been restrained against your will... you fight and make noises even if not in outright pain from being restrained. You just don't want to be there so you fight and resist and make noises. Whether it hurts or not.

 

[dai153207]

Yeah I'm pretty sure it's BS and like someone already said on here people who get executed aren't a good example instead you can look at medical organizations that support painless death like the one in the Netherlands who have done a video of someone setting up the method with two pure helium tanks and an exit bag and they reported it works perfectly cuz honestly that's as painless as it gets as long as you're using an ideal inert gas like helium specifically, because there's no CO2 build up therefore no pain or discomfort nor any feeling of suffocation

 

[purebliss]

This has been covered in the PPeH

The reason it was not peaceful is because the prisoner, in fact, did not want to die.

So. What he did was not preparing at all.
Not hyperventilating beforehand
Not taking a very deep breath instead taking multiple shallow ones

Nitzsche himself said to the court that it will not be peaceful if someone is EXECUTED that way.
The court did not listen to him.
The results were as expected

Nitrogen Gas suicide is as peaceful and quick as it can get, Nitrogen Gas execution is not

 

[Missyabuddy]

No pain for me after 90 seconds of breathing and blood oxygen levels dropping to 49%. I would assume if combined with zolpidem sleeping pills and once the person goes unconscious there would not be much or any pain after that.

You're not using a mask in that video? Is that ideal? Does it actually work if you inhale it like a hookah like in that video?

 

[DeathSweetDeath]

You would be unconscious. Have you watched the pig video on YouTube? It falls over from the nitrogen, then it goes back for more.

 

[thehorizons]

I've read online that nitrogen gas suicide can be painful, I've specifically read that people who've seen it used on prisoners noted that they'd scream or groan in the last seconds of their lives. How true is this? I thought it was painless? and how long does it last for anyway

I think it's painful if you prolong the process. If you have a huge amount of Nitrogen coming in quickly (with Oxygen depleted from your body), you'll LOC quickly. That said, it might not look like a pretty death. There could be convulsions and mucus spewing out from you. I tried two test runs without following proper protocol (i.e. I didn't inflate the exit bag on top of my head first, hyperventilate, then take two deep breaths), but just putting my head into the exit bag with the air already scrunched out, letting Nitrogen into the bag, and tightening the bag. I had two very different experiences.

The first one with a lot of Nitrogen (my Argon regulator indicated 17 LPM), I felt these sensations almost all at once although I think it followed this order: ringing sound, felt like I needed spit/puke, dizzy, disoriented, and feeling faint. I'm pretty sure I was on the verge of LOC cause when I took the exit bag off, I knocked over one of my cylinders, but I didn't really register this when I had the exit bag on. This happened within a span of over a minute I think or a couple minutes. When I took the exit bag off, I was still disoriented cause I even forgot to close the cylinder valve before letting out the gas from the regulator and unscrewing the regulator from the cylinder valve. The side effect or after effect felt like overconsuming Cannabis edibles in the sense that you're dizzy, disoriented, maybe needing to puke, and you feel like you're losing volitional control. These nasty side effects cleared up pretty quickly though, although the disoriented state felt lingering for about a good hour. If I had done the process properly with the inflation of the bag on top of my head and hyperventilating, I might have lost consciousness (don't know about CTB-ing though cause I might have convulsed and knocked the equipment around).

The second one with less Nitrogen (my Argon regulator indicated 13 LPM), I felt different sensations. Again, I didn't do the proper protocol but just scrunching the air out of the exit bag, putting the exit bag on, and breathing in the Nitrogen that was coming in. This time I felt a sense of breathelessness, my heart rate spiked really fast, and I felt lightheaded. These sensations were less tolerable and I don't imagine I could've CTB-ed this way, as it would have been painful to continue, as LOC didn't seem to be quick.

All in all, I would say that the method becomes less painful if you have a lot of Nitrogen coming in and depleting as much Oxygen from your body as soon as possible (you can get that from hyperventilating beforehand), so that you lose consciousness quickly. You could see this was a major issue with Kenneth Smith because he held his breath, didn't hyperventilate, and didn't take deep breaths of Nitrogen, which meant he had a lot of residual Oxygen, so he didn't LOC quickly. I don't know if it could be defined as painful when he started expelling mucus and trashing about, as he might not have been conscious for that. That part isn't pretty.

I'm not going to say this is a painless method and a pretty method (you can see images of mucus discharge from several Helium and Nitrogen deaths), but the pain will be quick if the conditions are perfect (i.e. using proper protocol). The idea behind this method (like some other methods) is introducing hypoxia for death. As hypoxia increases, the more painful it becomes. That said, when it reaches to the point of LOC, you won't register the pain, so if you can quickly get to a hypoxic state wherein you LOC, it would be less painful than being in a highly hypoxic state and being conscious. I see the protocol as being getting from A to Z. You don't want to be lingering around in G, H, I, etc. cause those are painful experiences. A is painless cause you have Oxygen, but Z is also painless cause even though you have no Oxygen, you're no longer conscious.