Have you thought of avoiding the doctor as a method and just taking ibuprofen for the pain until your body gives out?

[Ambivalent1]

It's what people did before modern medicine. They had other things, often better, than ibuprofen to make the dying process from infection tolerable.

I mean in the instance of an infection or other health problem.

 

[locked*n*loaded]

All the ibuprofen in the world isn't going to help you if you get something serious like cancer or something like that. My sister had liver cancer and was on quite a few different drugs for the pain, including opioids and lidocaine patches, and she still had considerable pain on a consistent basis, until she finally reached Hospice care and they were able to give her even more powerful drugs to render her unconscious. What I would do, though, if I get something really serious, is take myself out almost immediately upon learning of it, or suspecting it. I mean I'm going to go anyway, so I'd just have to move things up and forget about the things I'm doing. Infections can cause a lot of pain, too, far beyond what any ibuprofen is going to knock down, at least once the infection becomes systemic.

 

[Forever Sleep]

As @locked*n*loaded said- I suspect illnesses and ailments bad enough to kill create symptoms far too severe for ibuprofen or paracetamol to reduce.

The worst I've had was gallstones and eventually, a stone in the bile duct. That was terribly painful and would have killed me eventually if left untreated but I couldn't handle the pain and not knowing when if/when it was going to subside. The worst part of it is having excruciating pain and not knowing why. Without a medical diagnosis- you simply won't know if what you've got is bad enough to kill you- and- how long it will take. The first gallstone attack I had- I thought it was a heart attack. I was happy to die- so- I didn't ring for an ambulance. 13 attacks later- it was clear I wasn't going to die from whatever it was- just be in excruciating pain each time- so, I felt like I had to get help.

By the time it's that severe- I think you need opiates- codeine and morphine etc. which you can't get without prescription. Even high dosage codeine didn't do much for me when it was really bad. Seeing as they are highly addictive and the body builds up a tolerance to them- I also doubt doctor's like to prescribe them long term. I think even serious illnesses don't always kill that quickly.

I suppose the most I've considered doing would be to refuse treatment for something serious but ask for pain medication- I don't know how willing they are to do that though.

I guess you could go the homegrown route and grow cannabis but that's illegal in many countries. So would trying to obtain drugs on the black market. Plus- if you are REALLY that ill- you may not be well enough to do either.

There's also the matter of finances. If you work and become that seriously ill- presumably too ill to work- your firm will likely want a doctor's certificate before they dish out sick pay. If you apply for state benefits- same thing- they'll surely want official notification from a doctor. If your family support you financially- will they also support you in that decision?

It might be a good method if you contract something that kills extremely quickly and painlessly but I'm not that familiar with illnesses that do that. Possibly a heart attack out of the blue. I imgine that's excruciatingly painful but then it's over- if you aren't saved.

 

[peaceindeath]

It'll give you the courage to end it immediately

 

[nothingbutmybest]

If you already had some other life-threatening cause for your death, you can get painkillers just fine while refusing treatment. Most places allow you to refuse treatment as long as you're in sound mind, primarily for religious reasons. You don't really have to make a story, just say it's for religious reasons and that you'd rather not disclose it. But like others have said, ibuprofen doesn't work at pain peaks

 

[FuneralGrey]

I've thought about it when I've had various symptoms, especially since I have health anxiety and dislike going to the doctor to begin with. As Forever Sleep touched on, the hard bit is not knowing what you have or if it will kill you. For me, the not knowing would be agony.

It also just really depends what illness you have and where you live – if you have capacity, as others have mentioned, you can usually refuse treatment for several illnesses like cancer. I would be worried about not getting medical attention at all and then, once you are very sick, they say you don't have capacity to make decisions. So for example, if you let an infection progress until sepsis and then someone brings you to a hospital, they can say you are too sick to make decisions for yourself and treat you anyway, when the risk of long-term complications is highest.

 

[Ambivalent1]

As @locked*n*loaded said- I suspect illnesses and ailments bad enough to kill create symptoms far too severe for ibuprofen or paracetamol to reduce.

The worst I've had was gallstones and eventually, a stone in the bile duct. That was terribly painful and would have killed me eventually if left untreated but I couldn't handle the pain and not knowing when if/when it was going to subside. The worst part of it is having excruciating pain and not knowing why. Without a medical diagnosis- you simply won't know if what you've got is bad enough to kill you- and- how long it will take. The first gallstone attack I had- I thought it was a heart attack. I was happy to die- so- I didn't ring for an ambulance. 13 attacks later- it was clear I wasn't going to die from whatever it was- just be in excruciating pain each time- so, I felt like I had to get help.

By the time it's that severe- I think you need opiates- codeine and morphine etc. which you can't get without prescription. Even high dosage codeine didn't do much for me when it was really bad. Seeing as they are highly addictive and the body builds up a tolerance to them- I also doubt doctor's like to prescribe them long term. I think even serious illnesses don't always kill that quickly.

I suppose the most I've considered doing would be to refuse treatment for something serious but ask for pain medication- I don't know how willing they are to do that though.

I guess you could go the homegrown route and grow cannabis but that's illegal in many countries. So would trying to obtain drugs on the black market. Plus- if you are REALLY that ill- you may not be well enough to do either.

There's also the matter of finances. If you work and become that seriously ill- presumably too ill to work- your firm will likely want a doctor's certificate before they dish out sick pay. If you apply for state benefits- same thing- they'll surely want official notification from a doctor. If your family support you financially- will they also support you in that decision?

It might be a good method if you contract something that kills extremely quickly and painlessly but I'm not that familiar with illnesses that do that. Possibly a heart attack out of the blue. I imgine that's excruciatingly painful but then it's over- if you aren't saved.

What did ancient people do when they had gallstones, etc?

 

[woh6]

No..
Depends on what infection or health issue you have, some take a really long time. Ibuprofen helps against minor pains & aches, but if you're dealing with something deadly it's going to be a long, uncomfortable, painful process before you actually die. Of course, everyone has their own preferred methods, but this one sounds like you're just going to be making your last moments unnecessarily unpleasant, and it isn't that reliable.

 

[locked*n*loaded]

What did ancient people do when they had gallstones, etc?

Suffered and died.

 

[Vizzy]

Suffered and died.

No ancient people had different types of poison to make it quick, they had poison for paralysis, to become high, to die quick, to stop pain, only difference is we are using the refined version of the raw materials to do everything they did but ancient people straight away used the raw materials for everything

 

[Forever Sleep]

What did ancient people do when they had gallstones, etc?

I guess they tried all different things. Depends on when you're talking about- prior to x-rays and blood tests? They possibly wouldn't even know it was gallstones till you had turned yellow from jaundice and it was affecting both your liver and pancreas. Even then- it could be other things. Problems with the digestive tract seem difficult to diagnose even with modern medicine. Back then- I wonder if they would even realise what the person had until they were dead and they could open them up and take a look. How would they know without x-rays and ultra-sound and endoscopies?

Jaundice- skin and whites of the eyes turning yellow means a build up of red blood cells in the body- which can indicate that the bile duct is blocked- or- the liver isn't working properly. But are you talking about prior to them knowing what red blood cells even were? I guess it was just a case of trial and error really for them. I imagine the patient would go to the local herbalist- who would give them something for their symptoms. Then- they would either get better or die.

Maybe ancient herbs and remedies were effective- who knows? I wonder how common assisted suicide was back then.

 

[Ambivalent1]

No..
Depends on what infection or health issue you have, some take a really long time. Ibuprofen helps against minor pains & aches, but if you're dealing with something deadly it's going to be a long, uncomfortable, painful process before you actually die. Of course, everyone has their own preferred methods, but this one sounds like you're just going to be making your last moments unnecessarily unpleasant, and it isn't that reliable.

It could take months to die?

I guess they tried all different things. Depends on when you're talking about- prior to x-rays and blood tests? They possibly wouldn't even know it was gallstones till you had turned yellow from jaundice and it was affecting both your liver and pancreas. Even then- it could be other things. Problems with the digestive tract seem difficult to diagnose even with modern medicine. Back then- I wonder if they would even realise what the person had until they were dead and they could open them up and take a look. How would they know without x-rays and ultra-sound and endoscopies?

Jaundice- skin and whites of the eyes turning yellow means a build up of red blood cells in the body- which can indicate that the bile duct is blocked- or- the liver isn't working properly. But are you talking about prior to them knowing what red blood cells even were? I guess it was just a case of trial and error really for them. I imagine the patient would go to the local herbalist- who would give them something for their symptoms. Then- they would either get better or die.

Maybe ancient herbs and remedies were effective- who knows? I wonder how common assisted suicide was back then.

Living back then wouldve been scary. Nothing made sense and then suddenly you start having kidney stones or something and have no idea why.

 

[WorthlessTrash]

Too long and drawn out.

 

[woh6]

It could take months to die?

Living back then wouldve been scary. Nothing made sense and then suddenly you start having kidney stones or something and have no idea why.

Yeah, in general people won't die that quickly due to infections/health problems

 

[Ambivalent1]

Yeah, in general people won't die that quickly due to infections/health problems

Were people killing themselves a lot back then as a result of the pain? All the tooth infections...