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.
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!
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