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It's getting harder to die

plough.com

211–220 of 255 posts

Re: It's getting harder to die

#211
post #67

And that's a good thing Or maybe people got softer. Do we remember the 90% of time where humans roamed this planet barefoot without painkillers, or healthcare, or a guaranteed source of water that does not carry those roundworm parasites that love to swim inside your eyes, or anti polar bear sprays so they didn't tear you off and eat alive?. Those were hard deaths. The 120% of the times, being alive is the smartest o…

> Or maybe people got softer. Do we remember the 90% of time where humans roamed this planet barefoot without painkillers, or healthcare, or a guaranteed source of water that does not carry those roundworm parasites that love to swim inside your eyes, or anti polar bear sprays so they didn't tear you off and eat alive?. Those were hard deaths.

What’s your point here?

Re: It's getting harder to die

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too bad, I guess that leaves out the "use disproportionately large amounts of the agent to hotbox the room" method. But that doesn't invalidate the point of the parent comment.

Which is completely missing the point. To hotbox a room you need a bunch of the big cylinders. Look at the tare weights on page 3: https://www.airgas.com/medias/Airgas-Compressed-Gas-Cylinder... The have a volume in cubic feet specified, multiply by the 165 bar that's what's typically used to see how much space it will fill. Looking around our house there's a very odd-shaped closet under the stairs that would be diff…

Yeah, nobody is seriously suggesting to do that. It was an example for the sake of argument.

Re: It's getting harder to die

#213
in this modern day of increased privatized medicine, health insurances and self-absorbed people, what is the incentive to let a person die?

the longer you keep someone with medical needs and decent insurance the more you can milk the their insurance or whatever wealth they may have accumulated.

self-absorbed closed ones can also easily dismiss the sick person desires and needs.

I see no incentive for this to change.

Re: It's getting harder to die

#214

Recently watched someone close die over a couple days, after a long decline. The last 24 hours were monstrous to inflict on anyone. Torture. Evil. Hours and hours of faltering breathing, often restarting with what was plainly a panicked adrenaline-pumping response. It looked like they felt like they were about to drown every few minutes , hour, after hour, no relief. No IV fluids (terminal anyway, so no trying to kee…

I watched someone die of ALS for 6 months, it was pure hell on earth. A middle aged guy who basically was vibrant and in average health struck down from out of no where, the final moments were horrific when they turned off the life support. Even his diagnoses was difficult since no doctor wanted to deliver the news and it required a trip to the MAYO Clinic to finally get an answer.

I have often wondered why he was chosen to carry such a burden, a harmless and kind person.

Re: It's getting harder to die

#215
post #3

Kind of a tough read, I just turned 37 and this was the year when it really hit home that your body degrades and sometimes it never goes back to "normal". I was used to sports injuries being a pattern of injury -> recovery -> ramp back up to 100%, but have suffered some injuries recently and am coming to terms with realizing I will never return to 100%. They will be lingering things I deal with for the rest of my lif…

Same age, same realization - stuff that used to be just ‘tiring’ now knocks me out the next day too while I recover; and everything, bumps and bruises and blood etc, seems to take nearly 3x the time to heal now.

Re: It's getting harder to die

#216
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here they would ask you (unless dementia and not arranged, which is an ongoing issue) if you want more morphine and you can keep saying yes until you don’t wake up. Or click the button yourself; there is no limit (also; very hackable these limiting machines). Probably many people in a long decline would just hold the button until not waking up; that is the way it should be. Some people worry about the gov making us w…

You know that government doesn’t care about you. They care about your relatives who are burdened not “accidentally” holding that button for you when somehow you would still like to live.

> who are burdened not “accidentally” holding that button

That’s almost always a financial incentive though; if you remove that you can see who really cares. I have an open will for my friends and family; everything goes to charity with the taxes and tangible assets worked out so they don’t have issues; they get a net amount of a few million. Everyone else knows they don’t get 1 cent; helps with the accidental button holding.

Re: It's getting harder to die

#217
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey you're me 15 years ago. I stopped the sports and switched to sustained low damage exercise like cycling, hiking, swimming etc. While you can't undo the damage done if you have a very high level of fitness, you can reduce the effects of the further progression of time. Better be as fit as a 50 year old with some damage when you're 70 than as fit as a 70 year old with some damage. End game is not pretty. My ex wife…

Part of me really wants to pick up hockey - just for fun, recreationally - but at 40, I'm worried that I'll get injured to the point where I won't be able to do other things I enjoy, like cycling. Hell, I fell off my bike from a stop a few weeks ago, and landed on my knee, and it took a week and a half before I felt like I could trust my leg to hold weight.

I did MMA at 40. Problem is your reflexes just can't keep up with an 18 year old. My knee got blasted by a faint intended to just make me move back because I just couldn't move out of the way as fast as the kid's kick.

Whatever you do my advice is if it's high impact join the 'old man's league'. They better understand everyone's limits.

Re: It's getting harder to die

#218
post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also coming to the conclusion that inert gas hypoxia is going to be my way out. My end has to be, as far as I can make it, painless and polite, meaning a happy exit with minimal inconveniencing of as few as possible other people. Any suitable substance for this seems to be taken off the market, even basic stuff like metal nitrites (as used in curing meat. Try getting hold of a nontrivial amount of this in the UK)…

Any thoughts on how to inhale it without risking others finding you in a oxygen deprived setup? Like a warning sign or some fan kicking in later?

Maybe it could be done outside with a nasal cannula?

Re: It's getting harder to die

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here they would ask you (unless dementia and not arranged, which is an ongoing issue) if you want more morphine and you can keep saying yes until you don’t wake up. Or click the button yourself; there is no limit (also; very hackable these limiting machines). Probably many people in a long decline would just hold the button until not waking up; that is the way it should be. Some people worry about the gov making us w…

Yes, this has been my experience with a family friend who died of a brain tumor. Basically, once you're in hospice (in this case it was home hospice) and it's clear you're going to die, they just hook you up to the morphine drip that you can press yourself. Obviously for many people it's still very scary - it is death after all. But the self-administered morphine drip has been around for ages and is relatively uncont…

> very scary - it is death after all.

Is it? As an atheist I welcome the nothing; no more worrying about filling out taxes and such. Being religious you really should be jumping for joy (although you cannot kill yourself probably), but how is death scary if you believe in something after?

Re: It's getting harder to die

#220

Recently watched someone close die over a couple days, after a long decline. The last 24 hours were monstrous to inflict on anyone. Torture. Evil. Hours and hours of faltering breathing, often restarting with what was plainly a panicked adrenaline-pumping response. It looked like they felt like they were about to drown every few minutes , hour, after hour, no relief. No IV fluids (terminal anyway, so no trying to kee…

When I think about having a kid I think about how this is how they will end. When you give birth you also give death.
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