Non-lethal poisoning

[p01son1vy]

My story takes place in a parallel universe, similar to the modern day. I've looked in Wikipedia for poisonous mushrooms, done a Google search on slow-acting poisons, plant toxins and paralytic toxins, but the ones I've found are a bit too effective. On my search I found that what I want can be most likely achieved by combining two poisonsFirst, I

Comments

[lilacsigil]

If you have medical attention present, pancuronium or similar drugs will paralyse without affecting consciousness. The problem with all drugs of this kind is that the difference between effective and toxic is very small, and difficult to predict. "Paralysing voluntary muscles" and "paralysing breathing" are very close together.

Internal haemorrhage is the same thing: use warfarin, and it's reversible with medical attention (and not necessarily fatal in itself) but without constant monitoring it's hard to tell the difference between "mild internal haemorrhage" and "bleeding to death right now".

[p01son1vy]

I see... thanks, I'll look into it.

[dragonbat2006]

The geography cone snail might fit the bill for paralysis. It can be fatal, and there's no known treatment, but it isn't always.First symptoms are immediate. If the victim lives the first ten hours, odds are good. "At the very least, the cone shell poison causes temporary paralysis of the limbs and prolonged difficulty breathing." Now there are some minor additional symptoms: numbness starting with the lips that spreads, dizziness, tightness in the throat and pain on breathing. Pulse speeds up and (if you want someone on hand who recognizes the symptoms and knows what could happen), death would occur from respiratory arrest. But if I'm reading my copy of The Deadly Doses correctly, the victim doesn't need to experience everything listed. (Think the "possible side effects" on a medication, when it's unusual to get them all

[p01son1vy]

Thanks, you got me a few definitely worth looking into, but - sorry if I didn't make that clear - I wanted to poison the victim's food. Will the cone snail poison, pancuronium and warfarin still work then? The thing is, the poisoning is a warning. Something that eventually wears off would be better.

[dragonbat2006]

Sorry, according to Deadly Doses, that would be a negative to all three. Sorry! The rhubarb leaves are good though.

[p01son1vy]

Aw shucks, it was such a good lead... well, thanks anyway, you were a great help!
But are you sure about the warfarin? I mean, it's rat poison. I suppose they eat it, no?

[beauty_forashes]

A combination of moonseed (causes paralysis) plus castor beans (cause internal bleeding) came to mind, but you'll have a laundry list of other symptoms too. No toxic plant causes just one symptom, at least none that I can think of. Do google these, however - I'm not that familiar with either plant over here in Europe, and I'm just a hobby herbalist. As far as I know, they cause these things, however, and I think there's an antidote for both, but do some googling to make sure, don't take my word for it. Just a couple ideas you may want to check out.

[beccastareyes]

IIRC, such drugs tend to inhibit blood clotting so if you add another drug to the cocktail, you could be more likely to get side effects. For instance, I know the antidepressant I'm on means that such drugs are more likely to cause side effects*. I know there are drugs that cannot be combined with drugs that inhibit clotting without a much higher risk of bleeding.

* Not enough to be 'do not take these ever' but along the lines of 'if you can, take acetaminophen'.

[spartakos]

A proper dose of a muscle relaxant (such as curare) can induce paralysis while leaving the victim conscious; the trouble is that too high of a dose can cause paralysis of the diaphragm, resulting in asphyxiation. But with artificial respiration, even this is not a serious danger, and victims can recover with no long-term ill effects.