Method Starvation = Wernickes Encephalopathy from Malnutrition

[Blackjack]

I've seen a few recent posts about Starvation as a desired method for exiting so consider this a PSA: DO NOT DO IT.

Unless you are old and frail and under Hospice care, you will fail. You will permanently disable yourself. You will be discovered, hospitalized, you won't be able to walk or form complete sentences, they will insert a feeding tube in you, then transfer you to the Psych ward.

Look up "Wernickes Encephalopathy from Malnutrition" (1 link below for starters) to learn about what happens when you rapidly deplete your body of essential thiamine/B1 vitamins due to malnutrition. It is painful and debilitating, you will permanently damage your brain, but you will NOT die peacefully.

If you have any questions about Wernickes specifically and my personal experience with it, ask me & I'll give you all the first-hand, gory details you need to change your mind about this method.

Wernicke’s encephalopathy in a malnourished surgical patient: a difficult diagnosis

Wernicke’s encephalopathy is an acute neurological disorder resulting from thiamine deficiency mainly related to alcohol abuse. Severe thiamine deficiency is an emerging problem in non-alcoholic patients and it may develop in postoperative surgical ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Rocksandsand]

I'd like to add: hospices do a shitload of things to ensure that a person is comfortable while they die from an illness that is already killing them. This seems to be forgotten in discussion. Trying to die from starvation spontaneously is a really, really bad plan. SS is about leaving with dignity, and all that's going to happen when you collapse from low blood sugar is hospital treatment to bring you back, but with a host of medical issues to boot. There isn't much dignity in nasogastric feeding under a psych order.

 

[Trainwreck]

I'd like to add: hospices do a shitload of things to ensure that a person is comfortable while they die from an illness that is already killing them. This seems to be forgotten in discussion. Trying to die from starvation spontaneously is a really, really bad plan. SS is about leaving with dignity, and all that's going to happen when you collapse from low blood sugar is hospital treatment to bring you back, but with a host of medical issues to boot. There isn't much dignity in nasogastric feeding under a psych order.

Like giving you enemas so that you aren't in pain from constipation. You may not be eating and drinking, but your gut is still making poop. And since your not eating and drinking, it's not possible to poop on your own. My grandma died a not particularly dignified death from cancer, and she had a lot of pain from being constipated, despite eating nothing and drinking very little. The cancer got her before the starvation/dehydration did.

 

[Rocksandsand]

Like giving you enemas so that you aren't in pain from constipation. You may not be eating and drinking, but your gut is still making poop. And since your not eating and drinking, it's not possible to poop on your own. My grandma died a not particularly dignified death from cancer, and she had a lot of pain from being constipated, despite eating nothing and drinking very little. The cancer got her before the starvation/dehydration did.

I watched my mum die in a hospice, too. Cancer as well. She was barely eating in the end, and was pretty much kept constantly loaded on morphine, laxatives, and a pile of benzos just to keep her settled. And exactly the same as you describe - it was the cancer that killed her before anything else.

 

[Trainwreck]

My grandma only had hospice visits in her home while a relative looked after her otherwise. Unfortunately, the hospice people were not always available when desperately needed (which I've read in not uncommon). I think she would have potentially received better palliative care in an actual hospice facility, but I obviously wasn't the one making the decision. I'm sorry that your mum had to die of that nasty disease too. Cancer is certainly no death with dignity.

 

[Astral316]

Starvation without accompanying dehydration sounds awful, true.

 

[Chris0001]

Did you do it yourself? Sounds like one of the worst ways to go. I can barely survive 6 hours without food :v

 

[Jessica5]

Like giving you enemas so that you aren't in pain from constipation. You may not be eating and drinking, but your gut is still making poop. And since your not eating and drinking, it's not possible to poop on your own. My grandma died a not particularly dignified death from cancer, and she had a lot of pain from being constipated, despite eating nothing and drinking very little. The cancer got her before the starvation/dehydration did.

I think that hospice centers do their best. However, they aren't miracle workers, and there often is only so much they can do to help a dying person. I don't agree with the criticism that hospice centers often get.

 

[I’vehadenough]

I've seen a few recent posts about Starvation as a desired method for exiting so consider this a PSA: DO NOT DO IT.

Unless you are old and frail and under Hospice care, you will fail. You will permanently disable yourself. You will be discovered, hospitalized, you won't be able to walk or form complete sentences, they will insert a feeding tube in you, then transfer you to the Psych ward.

Look up "Wernickes Encephalopathy from Malnutrition" (1 link below for starters) to learn about what happens when you rapidly deplete your body of essential thiamine/B1 vitamins due to malnutrition. It is painful and debilitating, you will permanently damage your brain, but you will NOT die peacefully.

If you have any questions about Wernickes specifically and my personal experience with it, ask me & I'll give you all the first-hand, gory details you need to change your mind about this method.

Wernicke’s encephalopathy in a malnourished surgical patient: a difficult diagnosis

Wernicke’s encephalopathy is an acute neurological disorder resulting from thiamine deficiency mainly related to alcohol abuse. Severe thiamine deficiency is an emerging problem in non-alcoholic patients and it may develop in postoperative surgical ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Yikes, thanks for the reality check. A hospice nurse told me it wasn't a bad way to die, like being stranded on a boat. This shows something much worse. Am I still ok with shooting a gram of heroin or hanging myself? Lol

 

[Blackjack]

Yikes, thanks for the reality check. A hospice nurse told me it wasn't a bad way to die, like being stranded on a boat. This shows something much worse. Am I still ok with shooting a gram of heroin or hanging myself? Lol

Like Rocksandsand said, "hospices do a shitload of things to ensure that a person is comfortable while they die from an illness that is already killing them. This seems to be forgotten in discussion. Trying to die from starvation spontaneously is a really, really bad plan."

 

[lotus11]

I COMPLETLY second this. DO NOT DO IT. I've had eating problems for ten years and have honestly eaten nothing more than a snack a day for about 10 years...and thats on a good day and im still bloody here!!! just suffering even more from a destroyed body. DONT BOTHER TRYING THIS

 

[Blackjack]

I think that hospice centers do their best. However, they aren't miracle workers, and there often is only so much they can do to help a dying person. I don't agree with the criticism that hospice centers often get.

This post was not started to bash Hospice centers.

 

[Trainwreck]

I think that hospice centers do their best. However, they aren't miracle workers, and there often is only so much they can do to help a dying person. I don't agree with the criticism that hospice centers often get.

I wasn't bashing hospice centers, I think my grandma would have gotten better pain management had she been in one.

 

[I’vehadenough]

Like Rocksandsand said, "hospices do a shitload of things to ensure that a person is comfortable while they die from an illness that is already killing them. This seems to be forgotten in discussion. Trying to die from starvation spontaneously is a really, really bad plan."

Yes. I don't know how to die then :( but I have to find a way bc I can't take this pain much longer