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scripttorture · 6 years

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Hi! You've talked a lot about the details involved in 'pumping' someone full of liquids, and I've considered subjecting a character to this - a healthy soldier in their late 20s. I'm curious about how to write the recovery process provided they're rescued a day or so after the torture and taken to a hospital. How would this be complicated if the liquids the victim was given included things like human waste, mud, salt, laxatives etc., and if the captors had beaten them after they were 'full'?

WhelpI’ve asked @scriptveterinarian and the good news is it’s highly unlikelytheir organs would rupture. Which is good because I’m not sure whatthe treatment for a popped stomach or intestine would look like.

Rupturingthe oesophagus ispossible especially when something like a tube or metal funnel isinserted into it while pumping. But drowning on the liquid is morelikely.

Accordingto ScriptVet the level of dissension can put pressure on thediaphragm making it difficult to breathe.

Anyone of those things can be fatal.

Thefact that pumping usually isn’tfatal suggests to me that for whatever reason most of the time thesethings don’t happen.

Anda big part of the reason why is probably that vomiting is the body’snatural response to this huge and unnatural level of stretching inthe stomach. If it’s getting to the point where the stomach ispainfully swollen, there’s pressure on the diaphragm and so forththe body expels the excess. If torturers were to keep going at thispoint there’s a good chance the victim could drown in their ownvomit.

So-my educated guess is that pumping is survivable because torturersgenerally stop when the victim starts to vomit large amounts ofliquid.

Thediarrhoea, which can come at the same time but will definitely show up later, is due to taking in more liquid than the body canabsorb. As far as I can tell.

Assumingthat the torturers start beating the victim around the time theystart vomiting; well the victim is probably going to vomit even more.It would cause a lot of pain. It shouldn’trupture the stomach because the torturersaren’t really capable of hitting with that sort of force (you’retalking car-collision force).

Thevictim accounts I could find aren’t clear on whether this wouldalso trigger diarrhoea. They describe feelings of weakness,light-headedness, shakes. Which aren’t unexpected when you’recoupling a large amount of pain with nausea and a prolonged period ofvomiting. Especially as most torture victims are already dehydratedand/or under fed.

I’mnot entirely sure what hospital treatment would look like. Thistorture is still used but is a lot less common than it was 80 yearsago. As a result I’m not really finding any medical articles ontreating it now.

Isuspectthat he’d probably have expelled most of the excess fluid by thetime he’s rescued. Which means his treatment would probably focuson any wounds he has and re-feeding/re-hydrating. That would probablybe done via a drip.

Eachof the things you’ve suggested adding to a pumping mixture wouldhave different effects. Some of them are pretty risky for thecharacter.

Humanwaste is going to cause an infection. Probably not in the stomach butin the throat. Stomach acid is generally pretty good at killing theinfection-causing microbes that would be present which is why I thinkthat’s less likely (it would still be possible).

Thethroat seems most likely to me because the implements torturers useto force liquid into the stomach generally cause small cuts in thethroat and mouth. Things like plastic tubing, metal funnels and thelike are forced into the mouth and to the back of the throat. Whichcreates a lot of small injuries and a lot of likely sites forinfection.

Idon’tthink this would be lethal in the time frame you’ve got. Thecharacter is at the hospital in plenty of time for the infection tobe treated. As the infection takes hold his throat may swell, makingbreathing difficult. But if he’s already in hospital by that pointhe should be alright- it’s something modern medicine can deal with.

Itwould also cause diarrhoea, there are some sources I’ll quote laterthat would help you with that. This would be dangerous, probably evenlife threatening. But it would also be relatively easy to treat in ahospital.

The combination of the two however could result in a pretty life threatening condition. I think he’d need to be kept on a drip for quite a while to make sure he has enough fluids and ensure a constant delivery of antibiotics.

Mudis likely to be much more dangerous.

That’sbecause the big exception to the ‘stomachs are hard to rupture’stuff I was talking about earlier is...when the digestive tract isblocked by something solid and indigestible. Like mud.

Evenif the character’s stomach didn’trupture while the torturers were beating him pumping with mud wouldgive him incredibly serious digestive problems later on. It can inessence clog up the system. It’s not a substance the body canreally remove any way but physically and it is physically difficultto shift.

Thecases that are coming to mind are famine victims. Sometimes in themiddle of famine people will start to voluntarily eat mud. That’sbecause the pain from hunger is so bad that they just want to ease itany way they can. Mud can provide a very short term relief, anillusion of fullness. Until it passes a bit further and completelyblocks the intestines causing an agonising death.

I’mnot 100% clear on all the dangers and risks that are applicable whena character eats mud. ButI can give you an idea where to search. The technical term for eatinginedible things is ‘pica’, searching for that in relation tofamines in particular should help you find sets of symptoms andhopefully a treatment profile as well.

I’munsure how it could be treated or indeed if there’s a treatment andthat’s part of the danger. Hospital staff may not spot just how badthe situation is until it’s too late and something’s ruptured.

Outof all your suggestions my instinct is that mud is the most dangerousand would require the longest hospital stay. Possibly involving multiple surgeries.

Saltis easier. It would encourage the character to vomit more and leavehim even more dehydrated.

That’sa horrible feeling and a pretty lasting form of pain. But it iseasily remedied.

Dehydrationtends to cause headaches, light-headedness, tiredness and thesensation of a dry mouth. It can cause fainting, confusion andblurred vision. In extreme cases it can cause seizures.

I’vebeen dehydrated enough to faint and not be able to see straight anymore. In that state water tastes sweet and drinking it causes a sortof euphoric rush, almost like the early, pleasant stage ofdrunkenness.

Treatment would concentrate on rehydration.

Laxativeswould also cause the character to become more dehydrated.

I’mnot sure how long common laxatives effect people for. I thinkthey’re relatively short-acting but it would be best to check.There’s a big difference between the effect of a substance thatwould give him diarrhoea for a day and one that would give him it fora week. The first isn’t too worrying though it would likely beincredibly painful for the character. The second is much moredangerous even if he’s in a hospital.

Diarrhoeacan kill. In fact it is stillin the top ten causes of death world wide. Though it has fallen from5thto 9th(from 2000-2016), showing that we have made progress against thediseases that cause it.

Themajor risks if the character has diarrhoea for a long period aredehydration and lack of nutrition. He might need to be kept on a dripfor a while and it might be a long time before he’s back to fullstrength. I’m not sure exactly how long it would take or what thattreatment would look like.

Thereare resources on diarrhoeal diseases that would probably be a goodstarting point for working out what the treatment he’d receivewould look like. I’m not a medic so I can’t really give muchadvice myself. Butthe WHO has a page here which serves as a pretty good starting pointon diarrhoeal diseases, their prevention and treatment.

Noneof these substances would effect the pain the character feels whilehe’s being tortured. The initial period would be pretty similarwith each. It’s the longer term physical recovery that theseeffect. They’re each causing a prolonged period of sickness aftertorture, but they’re doing it in different ways.

Ithink that if you’re unsure which, if any, substance to pick thebest way to approach it is to think about how long you want thecharacter to be in hospital for. Salt will likely give the shortesthospital stay. Laxatives with a short term effect would also means ashort hospital stay.

Longerterm laxative and human waste would mean longer hospital stays- I amguessing here but I think 2-4 weeks wouldn’t be unreasonable.

Mudis likely to mean he’d be sick for a prolonged period of time.There are a lot of possible complications or things that could gowrong. He might need multiple surgeries. He might be in and out ofhospital for a much longer period of time.

Ihope that helps. :)

Disclaimer

#tw torture #tw lack of hygiene facilities #tw vomit #pumping #laxatives #pica #eating mud #infections #human waste #diarrheal diseases #thehungryvortigaunt

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