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@valtmy

Another option, depending on how long your character is in the water, is starvation, coupled with possible heat stroke(water reflections are not nice to stare at all day while you’re clinging to a piece of driftwood, and despite common belief, the more skin you show the hotter you will be in actuality), bad sunburns, and severe exhaustion. A person who’s left in the sea for to long, depending where you’re at in the world, can develop any of these things. If your story takes place in the Bahamas, is very likely that your character could risk severe heatstroke(which in turn, leads to brain swelling/bleeding/bruising and possible death, which can also cause stuttering, mental trauma, and many other things) and starvation/exhaustion(it’s very tiring to keep one’s self afloat, even with a piece of driftwood or such to hang onto). If your story takes place in cooler climates like the north Atlantic/etc, it’s very possible that your character will risk severe pneumonia(which is very serious and life threatening, but can be treated sometimes by ancient medicine. It will most likely cause permanent health/immune damage though, due to the nature and limited reaction of ancient medicines).

Hypothermia is something that can be coupled with pneumonia, as people often develop pneumonia after getting hypothermia. Just remember one thing–hypothermia can set in very fast, especially in winter conditions. Don’t have your character still hanging on to a piece of driftwood after five days in frigid water–sorry, but unless he’s a fire-bender he’s going to be dead. XD

It all really depends on A.) How long he’s going to be in the water, B.) what the climate is, and C.) what his natural resistance/strength is. Some people have stronger immune systems than others, some people have stronger bodies than others and are therefore able to hang on long.

Anyhow, I hope this helped! Let me know if you have any questions. 😉