Hello Aunt Scripty! I have a character (healthy, in her early 30s) who needs to die with little to no warning, in one of two scenarios. The first is something so sudden that it kills her within the few hours it takes her spouse to run some errands. The second (which I prefer) is where she complains of feeling a symptom (but nothing too severe) and deteriorates so quickly she dies before getting any medical attention/gets it too late. Thank you for your help!
Hey there nonny! I can definitely
If you want some good, general precursor-to-a-sudden-death symptoms, I have two groups for you, depending on what you want your character to die of in the end.
Option A: Brain Bleed (aneurysm). Headaches, frequent and painful. Maybe the character is a migraine sufferer but these are “different,” worse, more severe. Especially have them localized to one part of the head. This way, when the aneurysm ruptures (maybe while she’s working out?), the pressure rises, the aneurysm bursts, and she’s got an arterial bleed inside of her skull. If you need a formal diagnosis, it would be subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Option B: Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (dysrhythmia). WPW is a dysrhythmia that can be fatal. She would feel chest tightness, dizziness, short of breath, and like her heart is beating way too fast. These symptoms are usually ignored by those in their 30s, especially if they’ve gotten similar sensations from anxiety before. The problem with WPW is that the heart can beat so fast it can’t fill, and your character will feel these sensations, get dizzy, black out, collapse, and never get up again.
Option C: Pulmonary Embolism (blood clot in the lung). This one requires some form of risk factor. Either she needs a broken bone that didn’t heal about a week before the injury, or she needs a significant blood clot in her leg. (She would complain of warmth and pain in the back of a calf that could hurt quite a bit, but if she’s stubborn and doesn’t go to the doctor...) What happens in the first is that a bit of fat breaks off and travels to the blood vessels that feeds the lung; in the second part, it’s a blood clot. Same thing, really. Either way, the blood can’t oxygenate because the clot/marrow is blocking the circulation. The death would involve lots of shortness of breath and gasping, as well as significant chest pain.
I hope these are what you needed! Thanks for the ask!
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