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Why do most ways of dying seem to involve so much physical suffering? Whether it’s a long, agonizing disease, or an extremely violent auto accident, or other terrible things like drowning, falling from a high location, burning to death, or being brutally murdered.
Is it possible to die without experiencing any pain at all? Mod cut.
BTW, sorry for sounding morbid, but if your time was up and you could choose the way you would die, how would it be?
Moderator caution: If this thread turns into a discussion about how to commit suicide it will be shut down and removed from the forum.
Let me preface this by saying that I, personally, have no problems talking about death, no matter how morbid a turn the conversation takes. However, I do feel that this topic and line of questioning can be highly irresponsible on a forum where many of its members suffer from depression, grief, and other conditions often accompanied by suicide ideation. No matter how innocent your intentions may be, you do not want to add fuel to that fire by attempting to come up with the least painful ways to die and be the last straw in someone's fight with the darkness.
It can be incredibly hard to identify people who need help without them being open about it. It can be next to impossible to do so online. For all I know, your thread could be a veiled scream for help. If it is such and you are thinking of death for these reasons then I strongly encourage you to seek help and contact either your doctor or one of the local emergency helplines. Similarly, if anyone reading this seriously contemplates the subject of death, please talk to someone about it. You shouldn't be alone when these thoughts crowd you. It's about sharing your burden and having someone else be your sounding board. Everyone has secrets but this is not the kind of secret one should be carrying alone. So please talk to someone about it and don't use this thread to make light of the matter because words have consequences, and I'm not sure we as individuals could bear the cost.
Why do most ways of dying seem to involve so much physical suffering? Whether it’s a long, agonizing disease, or an extremely violent auto accident, or other terrible things like drowning, falling from a high location, burning to death, or being brutally murdered.
Is it possible to die without experiencing any pain at all? I know Carbon Monoxide poisoning is said to be a relatively painless death, you supposedly fall asleep and don’t even realize you’re dying. In Oregon, secobarbital and pentobarbital is prescribed in physician-assisted suicides, and seems to be a humane way to end your life if you have a terminal illness.
BTW, sorry for sounding morbid, but if your time was up and you could choose the way you would die, how would it be?
When I had my heart attack last year, my heart stopped. Fortunately the hospital brought me back with three minutes of mechanical CPR. However, at the moment my heart stopped, I experienced the feeling of a fuzzy blanket being drawn up over my face. I had been in total agony for over an hour with the pain of the heart attack (I've described it to people as having a branding iron shoved through my chest), but at the moment my heart stopped beating I felt a complete lack of pain and total peace. The fuzzy blanket was drawn up over my face and everything went black. That was it until I woke up in the ICU.
I also experienced clinical death on the operating table at age 20 and had the same experience (minus the fuzzy blanket, lol). No pain, no agony, just being "gone".
There are people who die in their sleep. There are people who suddenly drop dead from massive heart atacks...seemingly no time for pain. They were walking along, and then they dropped.
So...to answer the question, death...or on-coming death is not always painful.
I volunteer in a hospice center; have been doing so for about 13 years. In my experience, at least half the patients are fairly comfortable and not in pain when they die. Dying is not always a physically painful process.
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I have no experience with near death scenarios, however I have heard that the two most painful ways of dying are by fire or drowning. As far as a long, agonizing disease my understanding is that with proper intervention (such as hospice) there is pain management so I would imagine it would not last very long or be agonizing except to family who will be standing by and suffering the impending pain and sense of loss.
But honestly, what do I know as I have not approached that point in time yet. I have thought about it and my concern is for my loved ones having to suffer the inevitable, in whatever form it takes.
I volunteer in a hospice center; have been doing so for about 13 years. In my experience, at least half the patients are fairly comfortable and not in pain when they die. Dying is not always a physically painful process.
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Sorry, I won’t turn this discussion into a thread about suicide. My cousin died that way, and it still bothers me after many years.
I know that people who have terminal illnesses usually have hospice care, but the ones I feel really bad for are those that have a sudden stroke or heart attack, or perhaps have been in a major car accident and are near death but still are able to feel intense pain for however long they may have to endure it.
Let me preface this by saying that I, personally, have no problems talking about death, no matter how morbid a turn the conversation takes. However, I do feel that this topic and line of questioning can be highly irresponsible on a forum where many of its members suffer from depression, grief, and other conditions often accompanied by suicide ideation. No matter how innocent your intentions may be, you do not want to add fuel to that fire by attempting to come up with the least painful ways to die and be the last straw in someone's fight with the darkness.
It can be incredibly hard to identify people who need help without them being open about it. It can be next to impossible to do so online. For all I know, your thread could be a veiled scream for help. If it is such and you are thinking of death for these reasons then I strongly encourage you to seek help and contact either your doctor or one of the local emergency helplines. Similarly, if anyone reading this seriously contemplates the subject of death, please talk to someone about it. You shouldn't be alone when these thoughts crowd you. It's about sharing your burden and having someone else be your sounding board. Everyone has secrets but this is not the kind of secret one should be carrying alone. So please talk to someone about it and don't use this thread to make light of the matter because words have consequences, and I'm not sure we as individuals could bear the cost.
I think this is one of the best posts I have ever read. Thank you.
I think you way over generalize.
My grandpa died in 15 seconds, likely not even knowing he was dying. I want to go that way.
MANY people die in sleep.
MANY die consciously without any pain or suffering.
Many religious, really religious, people fear no death and do not suffer.
And so on and so on.
In many cultures death is not feared as afterlife is normal part of upbringing, so it is considered only a transition to something else.
Modern healthcare here in the US simply puts person onto "comfort care" and person doesn't suffer. I know as my wife works in ICU.
I think, fear of death is more damaging than death itself. Not even as much as fear of death, as fear of unknown behind it.
You took only small aspect of dying and used it as a universal norm. It is quite not that way.
I know that people who have terminal illnesses usually have hospice care, but the ones I feel really bad for are those that have a sudden stroke or heart attack, or perhaps have been in a major car accident and are near death but still are able to feel intense pain for however long they may have to endure it.
This is simply not true. Body can take only so much pain. Then it goes into pain shock, safeguards turn on, and intelligence in the body does not suffer anymore. I was almost killed once by a vehicle related accident and I can tell you one thing - with face disfigured by agricultural equipment that made my body fly some 5 meters in the air, I suffered from no pain. Just dull ache. Pain came next day, after surgery. But even then it was by far nothing major you describe.
I feel, you made an assumption and are creating a phobia based on it.
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