We remember this not only on the night of ghosts and horror stories, celebrating Halloween. After all, by and large, all the legends, sinister pointed headdresses and pumpkins with lanterns are absolutely harmless. We think about this when we watch another “horror movie” based on real events, or when we utter the seditious expression “die of fear.” Is death by horror really real? Let's ask the experts.
New York doctor's opinion
Robert Glatter, a practicing physician at Lenox Hill Hospital, often encounters unusual situations in his work. In his time, the doctor had to see everything, including death from severe fright. We all know about the release of adrenaline in response to fear. This feature of the body helps to cope with force majeure situations, escape from invaders and temporarily not feel pain. In cases where we need to flee, the adrenaline rush really brings us invaluable benefits and seems to triple our strength.
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However, if a person has to deal with retaliatory actions of the enemy, the level of the hormone can become prohibitive. The heart beats at an accelerated rate, the pupils are dilated, and the muscles are literally paralyzed by a powerful blood flow. According to Dr. Glatter, this condition cannot be controlled or corrected.
The situation in the world and in Russia
Pneumonia is a disease for which clear medical statistics are kept. Globally, there are 1.2% deaths per 10,000 people infected. The disease ranks fourth among the most common causes of death.
Patients of all ages are dying. Children and young people account for 1-3% of episodes. In the case of elderly patients, the rate is significantly higher - 40-50% of episodes.
Russia also keeps statistics on mortality from pneumonia. Every year, the pathology is diagnosed in 4-5 million people. The incidence rate in different age groups is not the same: 15-45 years - 1-5 episodes per 1000 people, after 60 years - 10-20 episodes per 1000 people, after 70 years - 50 episodes per 1000 people. In 2020, 31,002 citizens died from this disease in the country, in 2020 - 26,083, in 2020 - 25,642, in 2020 - 28,004. In 2020, 4,125 people died in the first two months alone - 15% more than for the same period in 2020.
Increased adrenaline levels can stop the heart
The action of the hormone is based on the principles of a protective reaction. However, it comes with some fatal complications. For example, adrenaline increases the flow of calcium molecules to the heart. When a trace element penetrates the heart muscle, all the cells of the organ instantly contract, causing it to turn to stone. If the danger to life is too great, more and more calcium is delivered to the heart. This leads to the fact that the human “motor” will never be able to relax.
In addition, an increased release of adrenaline causes arrhythmia and a decrease in blood pressure. Instead of beating as usual, a person’s heart experiences feverish tremors. If a state of fear paralyzes a person for a long time, eventually the heart stops pumping blood and the brain shuts down.
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Why might the risk of death increase?
Pneumonia is a disease in which deaths are becoming increasingly common. The likelihood of death increases significantly if a person is at risk and has a concomitant disease:
- tuberculosis or emphysema;
- chest injury;
- heart problems;
- vascular atherosclerosis;
- immunodeficiency of any etiology;
- diabetes;
- complications arising from diabetes mellitus;
- glomerulonephritis in chronic form;
- renal failure.
Pneumonia often ends in death in patients who abuse alcohol, are addicted to drugs, or smoke for many years. The course of the disease is negatively affected by the unfavorable environmental situation in the region of residence. Living conditions are also of great importance.
Unfortunately, death from pneumonia is not uncommon during infancy. The disease poses an increased danger to children who were premature or born weakened. Also, special attention should be paid to children who have problems in physical development (insufficient weight and height for a certain age).
When waste products of dangerous microorganisms enter the bloodstream, toxic shock occurs. A person may experience acute heart failure. There are often situations when renal filtration ceases to occur. As a result, acute renal failure and other serious pathological processes may develop.
In a young patient, death can occur as a result of Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome. With such a deviation, the child exhibits insufficiency of the adrenal cortex, which leads to the cessation of the release of glucocorticoids and adrenaline. Sometimes blood pressure drops to zero. As a result, breathing stops and clinical death occurs.
Death with any pneumonia can occur due to the formation of an abscess and bulla. The patient suddenly becomes ill. Blood pressure drops significantly, coughing produces sputum with an unpleasant odor, and fever may occur. In such a situation, the doctor recommends surgery.
What are the dangers of disorganized heart contractions?
A person held hostage with a gun pointed at his temple experiences disorganized heartbeats. In this case, a terrible situation can transform into a deadly one. If you think that only people with poor health suffer a terrible fate, you are mistaken. A person about whom it is customary to say that he is as healthy as a bull is also not immune from death if he gets into such a scrape. Although, according to the expert, people experiencing problems with the cardiovascular system may be primarily considered to be at risk.
Features of the development of pathology
Pneumonia is a disease dangerous to health and life, so more and more people want to know whether it is possible to die from such a pathology. The disease can cause serious complications that lead to poor health and death. In most cases, death occurs due to untimely and illiterate treatment. Sometimes death occurred 2-3 days after the onset of the disease. What happens in the body before death occurs?
Attention! Some patients are diagnosed with complications such as myocarditis, respiratory distress syndrome, pleural emphysema, and pleurisy.
Once in the lungs, the bacteria begins to multiply. A dangerous microorganism leaves many waste products in the body. The immune system reacts to foreign cells - it secretes fluid, which must be removed from the air breathing organ by coughing. However, when the patient does not take certain medications, waste products are not eliminated from the body. As a result, an optimal environment is formed for increasing the number of dangerous microorganisms.
Due to the proliferation of bacteria, ventilation of the lungs is disrupted, and gas exchange also worsens. This leads to a deterioration in the gas composition of the blood - waste products of dangerous microorganisms penetrate into the bloodstream. Destructive processes are launched in the body. Problems arise with the kidneys, heart, and blood vessels. Once the immune system fails, death occurs.
Attention! Do not self-medicate. In this case, the risk of death increases many times over.
Be careful when you want to scare someone
Before you play a prank on your relative or neighbor, know that you may be held responsible for the unfortunate outcome of your actions. Don't even try to scare people by ringing their doorbell, hiding, and then jumping out screaming! If (God forbid) something happens, you may be considered legally responsible.
There is a known case in which an 85-year-old man died of fear in Detroit. He was driving his vehicle during a heavy downpour and suddenly saw a tractor-trailer appear out of nowhere in front of him on the road. Relatives of the deceased sued the transport company and argued that the ill-fated tractor had no visible lights. The court considered that the elder literally died of fear. As a result, the relatives of the deceased received 300 thousand dollars in compensation.
Can you die from overeating?
We take holidays like New Year quite seriously. Everyone always has a table set with a large number of different dishes, guests, gifts, etc. Not everyone can afford to eat this way every day. And, sitting down at the festive table, you want to try everything, and, at the same time, leave room for a cake with tea. It is at such moments that thoughts pop into your head like: “Is it possible to die from overeating?”
Of course, nothing prevents you from preparing a bowl of Olivier salad, but why, if most of it remains after the New Year and is eaten with the last of your strength over the next week. But is it possible to die by “stuffing” a whole basin of your favorite delicacy into yourself?
Doctors for whom the problem of excessive food consumption and subsequent complications are commonplace are ready to share their thoughts about deaths due to overeating.
And the first doctor in line is John O. Clark from the medical school at Stanford University.
“It is very difficult to eat to the point of dying, and yet it is possible. The human stomach is characterized by phenomenal strength and elasticity, and is also capable of withstanding enormous loads, which is why they rarely burst. Your stomach adjusts to the amount of food you eat each day and is quite capable of handling unusual amounts of food, but if you overdo it and stretch your stomach too much, it will cause vomiting. Gastric rupture is not very common because your stomach expands faster than you can absorb food. After the next meal, your stomach expands by about one liter, but of course, it can increase in size even more. If you're familiar with hot dog or burger eating competitions, you've probably wondered how these people fit in so much food. The fact is that their stomach is extremely capable of expansion, which in itself is an amazing fact. The average person simply cannot eat 50 or even 60 hot dogs at a time, unlike participants in such competitions. And despite the amount of food that people eat at such events, they do not end up on the hospital bed due to a ruptured stomach. At least this fact has not yet been recorded.”
Overeating most often causes vomiting, which can lead to another problem. And in his lifetime, John O. Clark did not encounter stomach ruptures from overeating, but it can cause Boerhaave's syndrome. “The idea is that vomiting causes your esophagus to flip from side to side, causing it to rupture. A similar gap is called Mallory-Weiss and also poses a potential threat. Although this rupture can cause heavy bleeding, it is not such that the person will die. Of course, this is provided that the victim is provided with timely medical assistance. If something like this happened far from civilization, the person, in theory, could die.
You can also end up in the hospital from overeating foods that contain large amounts of metals or minerals. An overdose of, say, lobster meat can cause a negative reaction in the body due to the large amount of iodine in the crustacean. According to my friend, he had to eat about three kilograms of lobster in order to get an overdose of iodine,” the doctor noted.
But here is the opinion of another specialist, the chief physician from the University of Illinois, Barbara Jung.
“It is possible to eat yourself to death, but in the long term. Obesity is a very serious problem today, which is common in developed countries. For example, in the United States they believe that the high mortality rate is associated precisely with the problem of obesity and associated complications: diseases of the cardiovascular system and cancer.
In theory, you can die from overeating by eating food that has a low temperature. Large amounts of cold food can cause hypothermia and, as a result, death. If you have eaten much more than your stomach can accommodate, then you should not be afraid of its rupture. Once your stomach is full, food can only move in the opposite direction, causing you to vomit. So it poses a potential danger, because complications can cause suffocation (if it gets into the respiratory tract) or bleeding due to a rupture of the esophagus. The latter case, although rare, is still possible.”
Professor of pediatrics at the Kansas Medical Center, Merlin Butler, says that forcing yourself to eat large amounts of food is much more difficult than it seems.
“This is more of a phenomenon than an everyday occurrence. A prime example is Prader-Willi syndrome. This disease is one of the causes of obesity, although it is quite rare. Only 400 thousand people worldwide suffer from this syndrome. The disease is congenital and manifests itself as soon as the child begins to eat. As a rule, such people are born very weak and are not very active. Next, the child begins to develop an abnormal appetite, which is why excess weight appears. The danger of this syndrome is that appetite is in no way controlled, and a person eats almost anything. This continues until the person falls asleep or the stomach or esophagus ruptures. Death due to gastric rupture is common among those with Prader-Willi syndrome, so yes, death from overeating is possible.
The main danger of this disease is that a person is not able to control himself and can eat anything, including a dangerous object. There have been cases when children jumped out of windows when they heard the horn of an ice cream machine. The brain of a person with Prader-Willi syndrome constantly sends out impulses that encourage them to consume food in incredible quantities without causing a feeling of fullness. It is difficult to combat such a problem, but it is possible through strict diets and a controlled environment.”
So, it is still possible to die from overeating, but only because of a congenital syndrome that causes uncontrollable appetite. Therefore, there is no need to be afraid of eating to death at the holiday table; the process of vomiting, which can cause bleeding of the esophagus, poses a much greater danger. However, it is very difficult to die from this. Therefore, when sitting down to a festive dinner, you should remember one immutable truth: “Everything is good, but in moderation.”
