Research of less-than-desirable topics (wounds, wound complications, etc.)
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Hey everyone!
I was wondering if any of you would know the effects it would have on the body to have electrocution as a form of torture for a few days?
If a person had their arms chained so they were forced to stand for about 24-12 hours as well, what would happen to the body then?
Could a person lose limbs in a fire?
Also, My protagonist’s right arm was badly burned in a fire. it was scarred, and he lost most strength in it. he struggles to move it independently, and the skin hurts. is this realistic?
Also, do you know of a good website to look these things up? I’m nervous about researching such things myself.
Thank you so much!
We crazy people are the normal ones.
Hi again!
Does anyone also know if there could be a pain-killer strong enough to ease physical wounds in pill-form?
We crazy people are the normal ones.
*enters room slowly* hey so I was told this was a good place to come and ask my harming of characters questions soooooo… Here I am! With some questions.
So I have a character who fell maybe a couple feet of the ground and then got hit in the head by the pulley system she built and I wanted to know if A. The pulley system would break the skin. And B. If they’re broken, skin could scar.
And I also wanted to know how you would go about treating that with say medieval herbs and bandages and salves and whatnot.
And also I want this character to be running from place and to have her progressively fall several times. Would that cause her knees to start to bleed?
And also how would you go about treating that with the same medical knowledge as above.
And what would the heal time look like?
And also what the character be getting dizzy from blood loss and not thinking exactly straight and stuff like that?
If anyone knows how to answer even one of these questions that would be wonderful. And thank you for even taking the time to look at this
Sincerely,
From a very desperate author
Okay I can kinda answer a few of these! I have no medical experience in this, but I do have some personal experience with both, besides some historical research for the same kinds of questions in my WIP!
So I have a character who fell maybe a couple feet of the ground and then got hit in the head by the pulley system she built and I wanted to know if A. The pulley system would break the skin. And B. If they’re broken, skin could scar.
Okay, if it has any sharp edges, it definitely could. Especially if it hit the face, which has a ton of blood vessels and is pretty fragile.
And yes, it could scar! It depends on the person somewhat, some people scar easier because of how much collagen they produce, which would lead to the differences in how the new tissue appears. (These are called hypertrophic scars)
It could also heal completely and become invisible in a few years, whichever you need for plot reasons XD
And I also wanted to know how you would go about treating that with say medieval herbs and bandages and salves and whatnot.
Shallow wounds like that can definitely be treated with just natural remedies if that’s all they have access to!
The standard procedure for minor injuries like that is to clean the cut, disinfect it, and cover it. They’d probably clean it and stop the bleeding with cold water and some pressure (especially something that isn’t too deep)
Medieval people did actually know how to clean cuts properly! There’s historical evidence for using wine to clean out wounds, first documented around the 1200s. Now we know that would work as a disinfectant. After that, they’d probably cover it with a bandage and clean it as needed, and possibly use some kind of salve or oil to let it heal faster if I recall correctly!
And also I want this character to be running from place and to have her progressively fall several times. Would that cause her knees to start to bleed?
Speaking from experience, yes, definitely, especially if the terrain is rocky or dirt!
And also how would you go about treating that with the same medical knowledge as above?
It has pretty much the same treatment, though it has the additional complication that it might be tough to clean because of grit that might have gotten stuck in the scrapes.
And what would the heal time look like?
It should scab over well within a week, and it should be completely closed within a month at the most, is my best guess!
And also would the character be getting dizzy from blood loss and not thinking exactly straight and stuff like that?
From these injuries? I don’t think so unless there’s some huge external factor. There’s not much blood loss with scrapes, and although wounds to the face bleed a LOT it’s not that dangerous if they get attention fairly quickly. The adrenaline from the situation could mess with how straight they’re thinking, but the injuries themselves are pretty inconsequential!
I hope this helped!
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
THANK YOUUUU!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
*Does not stop thanking for another 10 minutes*
(But seriously thank you. Because I get stuck whenever I want to injure one of my characters because I don’t know what it will look like or how to heal them. So thank you!
Of course, I’m happy I could help! And yeah, injuring characters is tough XD
As for your first questions, that’s quite beyond me XD But I can answer the latter!
Does anyone also know if there could be a pain-killer strong enough to ease physical wounds in pill-form?
Yes! Painkillers that work on the central nervous system, like opioids, can come in pill form and are pretty strong. They’ll definitely make a difference if the wound is serious.
Medications like opioids can best be explained as instead of taking away the blinking light of pain on the metaphorical dashboard, they just stick a sticky note over it so your body doesn’t register the pain anymore, if I understand correctly!
So, hope that helps you along a bit 😀
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
Well, after trying six times to post a reply, I figured out that it just doesn’t like me putting links in here. So let’s try again xD
For electrocution, I went to the BRCA (Burn and Reconstructive Centers of America) website. Under “community resources” and “safety”, they have a page with a lot of info about electrocution.
For prolonged standing, OSH Wiki has a page on “musculoskeletal disorders and prolonged static standing” that looks promising.
As far as losing a limb to burns, I think absolutely. I doubt it would just burn off, but I bet the flesh could be so badly damaged that an amputation becomes necessary.
And those effects sound reasonable! I don’t have any research to back that up though.
As far as sites to research things, any medical site would be good for things like diseases. For other things, I end up just Googling my questions and using whatever sites come up. But I’m also very hard to make uncomfortable or nauseous (as far as wounds and diseases are concerned). I know that’s not the case for everyone lol. If I come across any sites that look useful, I’ll let you know!
Hopefully some of this helps!
“Enough! Be quiet! I can’t hear myself think! I can’t hear my teeth chatter!"
I use Startpage.com for research just because it’s private.
One note: when working with fantasy or sci-fi you can speed up the healing process via herbs like athelas in Lord of the Rings or via tech. You also have liberty to make up diceases like the Black Breath also from Lord of the Rings (though it’s more of an effect like stress which has effects but kinda isn’t a disease).
O light to us that wander here
Amid the world of woven trees!
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