Damp air does not, inherently, increase the risk of any infection. In fact, it's better to breathe in damp air because air with no humidity can dry out your mouth and throat. As far as I know, there's really no such thing a as "water-triggered illness" other than the condition hypothermia if it's particularly cold. It's an old-wives tale that cold/dampness leads to pneumonia.
However, being so sedated he is unable to cough can lead to a number of problems, not the least of which is potential suffocation on mucus that builds up over time as you lay down. This is more a long term problem. If his gag reflex is compromised, he could aspirate and choke on his own spit. This could be pretty short term. Additionally, accumulation of mucus in your chest provides a fertile breeding ground for all sorts of little beasties, any bacterial, viral or even fungal infection you can think of. This would be more of a long term problem and potentially aided by his immune system being depleted because of other parts of the captivity (lack of food, water). The dampness in the room would work against him in this case, as the mucus could potentially dry out a little if the air/room was quite dry. But the moisture of the room itself is not the problem - the sedative is.
Most illnesses have to be caught from something, be it in the environment around you or another person. If his immune system is depleted by a lack of food/water and his cough reflex is suppressed, both of these over a period of time, that might make him less able to fight off bugs that are normally killed by your immune system, something like streptococcal pneumonia.
Because the sedative has affected his breathing to the point that he has to have rescue breathing performed, he will likely be intubated and put on a respirator - you would not bag anyone for a prolonged period of time. Treatment would depend on the type of sedative given - from my understanding, there is not a lot of "antidote" type treatment out there - you simply give supportive care until the sedative wears off and he can maintain his vital signs and bodily functions. There's no magic bullet antidote unless we're talking about opiates (with narcan, like you found). The amount of time it takes for the drug to wear off depends on dose, individual drug metabolism and body mass.
The most likely "sedative" you're looking for is a barbituate or a benzodiazepine. Neither type of drug has an antidote like narcan.
Assuming you decide he develops pneumonia, they will not "drain fluid from his lungs" unless he is in immediate danger of suffocating (at which point, I would assume they'd put him on a respirator and suction the stuff out instead). Lots of percussion, expectorants and treatment for whatever is causing the pneumonia (basically out of luck with viral, antibiotics for bacterial, anti-fungal for fungus, though if you go fungus, do more research - fungal pneumonia is nasty, as is the medicine to treat it).
From my understanding, with no other problems, patients are usually observed for 24-48 hours post extubation. He would likely be put on broad-spectrum antibiotics for the skin infection, which would cover any pneumonia. They would want to make sure his fluids and electrolytes were balanced because of possible lack of food and water. There would be psychologist visits to see how he is doing mentally.
Dampness: I blame the old "Nancy Drew" books for putting the dampness/pneumonia association in my head, and I always did wonder whether that was meant to be bacterial or viral and by what mechanism. It didn't occur to me that there really wasn't one! I wasn't originally planning pneumonia per se, but it occurred to me that the location is very damp for other reasons and the constant sedation would likely slightly compromise his breathing, and I had heard of problems from the latter. (I think I was also thinking of a condensation-like effect, but that would require his lungs to be cooler than the surrounding air, I think, and they're certainly not.) I'm most likely thinking of mucus accumulation, along the lines of what you've described. I'll probably have the sort-of-nice captor worried, and have him congested by the end of the ordeal, but leave him only with precautionary measures (such as the expectorant) rather than an identified illness. That will probably suit the plot better anyway.
I also should have used better phrasing - illnesses, injuries, or ailments involving water (such as drowning and near-drowning, for an extreme example, but also water-borne germs) will generally affect him more quickly and more severely than most others. (His greater vulnerability is part of the minor-magic thing, but that only increases his susceptibility to otherwise real afflictions; it doesn't add any unreal-to-us ailments.) Since water/condensate wouldn't actually accumulate, the draining technique becomes irrelevant as well.
As long as it's realistic that he might need intubation for a few minutes to a few hours but not go into cardiac arrest, with that respiratory support being the primary intervention as they otherwise wait out the dosage, that will work fine, and everything you mention for after that is perfect. A barbiturate or benzodiazepine also does sound the most suitable.
Damp air does not, inherently, increase the risk of any infection. In fact, it's better to breathe in damp air because air with no humidity can dry out your mouth and throat. As far as I know, there's really no such thing a as "water-triggered illness" other than the condition hypothermia if it's particularly cold. It's an old-wives tale that cold/dampness leads to pneumonia.
However, being so sedated he is unable to cough can lead to a number of problems, not the least of which is potential suffocation on mucus that builds up over time as you lay down. This is more a long term problem. If his gag reflex is compromised, he could aspirate and choke on his own spit. This could be pretty short term. Additionally, accumulation of mucus in your chest provides a fertile breeding ground for all sorts of little beasties, any bacterial, viral or even fungal infection you can think of. This would be more of a long term problem and potentially aided by his immune system being depleted because of other parts of the captivity (lack of food, water). The dampness in the room would work against him in this case, as the mucus could potentially dry out a little if the air/room was quite dry. But the moisture of the room itself is not the problem - the sedative is.
Most illnesses have to be caught from something, be it in the environment around you or another person. If his immune system is depleted by a lack of food/water and his cough reflex is suppressed, both of these over a period of time, that might make him less able to fight off bugs that are normally killed by your immune system, something like streptococcal pneumonia.
Because the sedative has affected his breathing to the point that he has to have rescue breathing performed, he will likely be intubated and put on a respirator - you would not bag anyone for a prolonged period of time. Treatment would depend on the type of sedative given - from my understanding, there is not a lot of "antidote" type treatment out there - you simply give supportive care until the sedative wears off and he can maintain his vital signs and bodily functions. There's no magic bullet antidote unless we're talking about opiates (with narcan, like you found). The amount of time it takes for the drug to wear off depends on dose, individual drug metabolism and body mass.
The most likely "sedative" you're looking for is a barbituate or a benzodiazepine. Neither type of drug has an antidote like narcan.
Assuming you decide he develops pneumonia, they will not "drain fluid from his lungs" unless he is in immediate danger of suffocating (at which point, I would assume they'd put him on a respirator and suction the stuff out instead). Lots of percussion, expectorants and treatment for whatever is causing the pneumonia (basically out of luck with viral, antibiotics for bacterial, anti-fungal for fungus, though if you go fungus, do more research - fungal pneumonia is nasty, as is the medicine to treat it).
From my understanding, with no other problems, patients are usually observed for 24-48 hours post extubation. He would likely be put on broad-spectrum antibiotics for the skin infection, which would cover any pneumonia. They would want to make sure his fluids and electrolytes were balanced because of possible lack of food and water. There would be psychologist visits to see how he is doing mentally.
Reply
Dampness: I blame the old "Nancy Drew" books for putting the dampness/pneumonia association in my head, and I always did wonder whether that was meant to be bacterial or viral and by what mechanism. It didn't occur to me that there really wasn't one! I wasn't originally planning pneumonia per se, but it occurred to me that the location is very damp for other reasons and the constant sedation would likely slightly compromise his breathing, and I had heard of problems from the latter. (I think I was also thinking of a condensation-like effect, but that would require his lungs to be cooler than the surrounding air, I think, and they're certainly not.) I'm most likely thinking of mucus accumulation, along the lines of what you've described. I'll probably have the sort-of-nice captor worried, and have him congested by the end of the ordeal, but leave him only with precautionary measures (such as the expectorant) rather than an identified illness. That will probably suit the plot better anyway.
I also should have used better phrasing - illnesses, injuries, or ailments involving water (such as drowning and near-drowning, for an extreme example, but also water-borne germs) will generally affect him more quickly and more severely than most others. (His greater vulnerability is part of the minor-magic thing, but that only increases his susceptibility to otherwise real afflictions; it doesn't add any unreal-to-us ailments.) Since water/condensate wouldn't actually accumulate, the draining technique becomes irrelevant as well.
As long as it's realistic that he might need intubation for a few minutes to a few hours but not go into cardiac arrest, with that respiratory support being the primary intervention as they otherwise wait out the dosage, that will work fine, and everything you mention for after that is perfect. A barbiturate or benzodiazepine also does sound the most suitable.
Thank you so much!
Reply
Leave a comment