Discussion Starvation/Dehydration

[Superdeterminist]

Has anyone else attempted or considered this method? It's the only method which I've had the opportunity to seriously attempt, however I so far haven't been so successful, my record so far is a mere 3 days. I have read that it can take up to 70 days for a person of moderate weight to die.

I understand that in many ways, starvation is one of the worst means of suicide. It takes a long time, over which pain will be experienced and only worsen. There is a lot of time given to back out, and what I noticed in my brief attempts were a change in personality, as the pain, while not excruciating, is constant and impossible to ignore. I noticed a flu-like feeling, and a general ache throughout my entire body, and that was only 3 days in. But I so fear all the other methods, that this has been the only one I've been willing to try. I would love to die by CO or He, but there are many barriers which render this method inaccessible to me.

Additionally, starvation can apparently cause permanent organ damage, which means you would not want to back out if you get that far into it. Starved people are scary to look at, and I wonder how I would cope looking at myself in the mirror if ended up that way. I worry about disease because starved people are immunocompromised, and vitamin/mineral deficiencies give way to a plurality of disorders. As well, when starved, you become extremely irritable, more depressed, and of course exhausted all the time. It eventually becomes hard to concentrate.

There is also the dehydration method of suicide, which is far quicker to cause death (reportedly 2-3 days). I've even read that the experience is not painful, but I find it hard to believe that. With dehydration being a major risk factor for kidney stones, I also avoid this method because I've had kidney stones before, and as you may already know, they are exquisite agony, let me tell you.

The one big advantage of starvation/dehydration is that unlike most other methods, they require no resources. It is less frightening to me than for example jumping, because no acute physical trauma is involved. On balance however, I can see that it is probably much harder and more gruelling than e.g. hanging or jumping. Regardless, I'm considering another attempt because I feel rather desperate.

Your thoughts are welcome.

 

[Qbert]

I think you've argued yourself out of it. Also, SI will kick in and you'll find it irresistible to eat and drink.

 

[faust]

Well, I would not consider these things as methods.
Dehydration causes extreme discomfort, may cause anxiety and panic. I once nearly died in the mountains when it was 45C degrees, it feels like you can kill to get water, an enormous thirst which can make you very irritated.
Starvation is a common thing for me, is stressful but not too much, however once you may become unable to control yourself because of hunger and become very irritated and aggressive.
Anyway, this is an extremely long way, not peaceful, may be a horrible experience. People start eating each other when they are unable to get any other food, this instinct is incredibly strong.

 

[Superdeterminist]

I think you've argued yourself out of it. Also, SI will kick in and you'll find it irresistible to eat and drink.

I worry about this. I want to be as informed as possible, however the more I learn about it, the more daunting it feels.

Well, I would not consider these things as methods.
Dehydration causes extreme discomfort, may cause anxiety and panic. I once nearly died in the mountains when it was 45C degrees, it feels like you can kill to get water, an enormous thirst which can make you very irritated.
Starvation is a common thing for me, is stressful but not too much, however once you may become unable to control yourself because of hunger and become very irritated and aggressive.
Anyway, this is an extremely long way, not peaceful, may be a horrible experience. People start eating each other when they are unable to get any other food, this instinct is incredibly strong.

It's horrible, I feel trapped. I definitely don't want to lose control of myself. It seems increasingly that I will have to abandon the idea and work towards trying to make a different method work.

 

[Iwantoutrightnow]

I've gone 6 days without fluids and food and I'm still here. Going without fluids is hard and I would say painful.

I've been 14 days without any food. It really affects your concentration, your thoughts, your mood. It's exhausting and your muscle's hurt, small movements and the smallest tasks take forever because your thinking is so fuzzy. And thoughts of food will constantly interrupting you.

This would be a difficult way to go

 

[Superdeterminist]

I've gone 6 days without fluids and food and I'm still here. Going without fluids is hard and I would say painful.

I've been 14 days without any food. It really affects your concentration, your thoughts, your mood. It's exhausting and your muscle's hurt, small movements and the smallest tasks take forever because your thinking is so fuzzy. And thoughts of food will constantly interrupting you.

This would be a difficult way to go

I don't know how you even made it that far, but I appreciate the insight. The consensus seems to be that maybe these are among the worst methods to choose from, which is prompting me to reconsider.

 

[LMLN]

It is very difficult without support. Most people who do VSED (Voluntarily Stop Eating and Drinking), have hospice support, Ativan and morphine. And if you have people around you, they will call for help and put you in the hospital. The last stage is coma, which means other people will call for help if they find you.

 

[Superdeterminist]

It is very difficult without support. Most people who do VSED (Voluntarily Stop Eating and Drinking), have hospice support, Ativan and morphine. And if you have people around you, they will call for help and put you in the hospital. The last stage is coma, which means other people will call for help if they find you.

Oh dear...

I also heard that the starvation/dehydration experience is much less painful for some terminally ill patients, because in addition to the drugs which you mentioned, their bodies enter a different mode which does not resist it. How true that is though, I don't know.

 

[FluffyDove]

I'm sorry things are bad enough for you to be considering this. Please don't use this method, it'll be extremely painful and almost impossible.

 

[Superdeterminist]

I'm sorry things are bad enough for you to be considering this. Please don't use this method, it'll be extremely painful and almost impossible.

I appreciate your consolation and advice. There seems to be unanimous agreement that VSED is impracticable, which has really made me question if I want to try it again. I was scared already, and every extra warning against it increases that.

 

[Iwantoutrightnow]

I didn't mean to scare you but it's better to know the realities.

I hope you find peace whatever you decide

 

[ohhgeeitsme]

I've only gone three days without food, so can't really speak to that. It did.. suck, though. But I have experienced extreme thirst and I don't see how anyone could resist that. It would drive you crazy and if you have access to it, I don't know, seems impossible to me. That would take some serious buddhist monk type of brain power to fight that.

 

[littlebang]

I suffer from severe gastroparesis. (if you don't know what this means, it means my stomach function is paralyzed). Before I was diagnosed, I was unable to eat or drink very much at all without throwing up. This went on for about 2 months before I could not function any longer. I actually went on with my life and attended college classes in the few months before they caught it. I was hospitalized and put on a NJ tube for 9 months and an IV for one month. I was told that I was very sick and close to dying. They only were able to catch this because I was having extreme tachycardia and thats what initially sent me to the ER and led to hospital admission. This was before I wanted to plan to CTB, otherwise I would have forced myself to go a little longer so I could avoid the horrible months ahead. For reference, I was a healthy 19 year old and my BMI was 22. I fell to a BMI of about 16 in 2 months. Granted, this was not COMPLETE starvation or dehydration. Just eating a cracker or an apple a day and drinking sips of water a few times a day. However, it still did the trick of making me incredibly ill, but yeah it took some time and I felt quite ill, but not unbearable. If I kept going though, I'm not sure what my last weeks would have entailed.

 

[Blue Portal]

Has anyone else attempted or considered this method? It's the only method which I've had the opportunity to seriously attempt, however I so far haven't been so successful, my record so far is a mere 3 days. I have read that it can take up to 70 days for a person of moderate weight to die.

I understand that in many ways, starvation is one of the worst means of suicide. It takes a long time, over which pain will be experienced and only worsen. There is a lot of time given to back out, and what I noticed in my brief attempts were a change in personality, as the pain, while not excruciating, is constant and impossible to ignore. I noticed a flu-like feeling, and a general ache throughout my entire body, and that was only 3 days in. But I so fear all the other methods, that this has been the only one I've been willing to try. I would love to die by CO or He, but there are many barriers which render this method inaccessible to me.

Additionally, starvation can apparently cause permanent organ damage, which means you would not want to back out if you get that far into it. Starved people are scary to look at, and I wonder how I would cope looking at myself in the mirror if ended up that way. I worry about disease because starved people are immunocompromised, and vitamin/mineral deficiencies give way to a plurality of disorders. As well, when starved, you become extremely irritable, more depressed, and of course exhausted all the time. It eventually becomes hard to concentrate.

There is also the dehydration method of suicide, which is far quicker to cause death (reportedly 2-3 days). I've even read that the experience is not painful, but I find it hard to believe that. With dehydration being a major risk factor for kidney stones, I also avoid this method because I've had kidney stones before, and as you may already know, they are exquisite agony, let me tell you.

The one big advantage of starvation/dehydration is that unlike most other methods, they require no resources. It is less frightening to me than for example jumping, because no acute physical trauma is involved. On balance however, I can see that it is probably much harder and more gruelling than e.g. hanging or jumping. Regardless, I'm considering another attempt because I feel rather desperate.

Your thoughts are welcome.

I have seriously considered both myself. Until I read that one of the top people that promoted starvation suicide later regretted it when she did it herself. It was much harder than she anticipated. I can't remember her name. SN is so much easier, plus it's cheap, and legal.

 

[death137]

Dehydration takes longer than 3 days. I once dehydrated myself for 3 days. On Reddit there few ppl who did dehydration for more than 10 days. Quickness of death depends from person to person. But I think 10-15 days are enough for most ppl.

 

[TheQ22]

I would imagine that if you are lacking the mettle to kill yourself with a relatively immediate method, that the idea you can starve and dehydrate yourself for a week or month plus is fictional at best.

Even people who are germaphobes, when faced with death in a desert will drink their own, or even someone elses urine.

Trying to stave off hunger in a world full of pizza shops, kebab shops, supermarkets, pick up the phone and order a takeaway delivery services - would seem utterly futile to all but Mahatma Ghandi and his ilk.

 

[SadGuyWannaDie]

I did a 20 day dry fast with no water or food when I was healthy and 40 days with just water and this isn't viable because you get a spike in norepinephrine hormone that keeps you up all night to stimulate your hunter gatherer instincts to go out and hunt food like your ancestors and SI will skyrocket. The suffering that comes from being depleted of sodium(nausea/heart), potassium(muscle cramping) and magnesium(headaches) while you dehydrate can be awful. Not to mention the possibility of uric acid crystals forming kidney stones as your fluids thicken and concentrate. The stomach becomes highly acidic and if you do manage to starve yourself down to 5 - 8% body fat(skinny Olympic marathon runners have about 10%) then at that rate you will secrete neuropeptide-Y which is linked in studies to starvation cannibalism and I can't imagine survival instinct gets any stronger than that.