I’m not sure I want to die of a heart attack if I live to old age. I thought maybe I’d use a gun to relieve my suffering so that everything would end quickly, but I’m too scared. Are there any recommendations on how to die without suffering or something like that? Maybe I should leave this world during a happy dream?
Or should I humble myself and go through suffering before I die?
I’m clarifying: it’s not that I want to commit suicide when I’m young or right now, no, I mean when, let’s say, I have one day, a week or a month left to live suffering from an illness, or I know that after a while I’m going to have a heart attack that will definitely kill me.
Hi deadymouse,
If this really is something that bothers you, perhaps you could discuss it with your GP? They should know what your options are and can probably advice you better than random strangers on the internet.
You seem to have misunderstood the question a little, I meant when you know for sure that you are about to die, in a day, an hour or even a minute from a heart attack, for example, or from hunger, but you don’t want to suffer from this, you want to make this process easier.
You don’t ever know for sure. I’ve seen people with “less than a day left” take months, and people fully healthy drop dead from completely unknown health issues.
Another person said it, but I’ll repeat: you don’t know.
People who provide hospice care will tell you that many people have a “good” day right before they die. After weeks or months of decline, they are suddenly lucid and communicative. Families think this is a sign of recovery, but the workers know it’s a sign of the end. The patient is normally gone the next day.
A good friend of mine died of cancer in April. He was diagnosed a bit over a year earlier, and he went through multiple windows of “you’re cancer free!” to “you probably have a month left.” And there were many days the pain was so severe that he wished he would die already.
Six months before he died, he’d tell me, “I think this is it. I don’t think my body can go on.” And then he’d keep going.
If people could tell, I think our culture and our medical systems would look very different.
I get the point, reduce the suffering when you’re at the moment. This is what I don’t look forward to as well, not death itself, but dying in whatever form it takes. But know that any suffering is also finite, even the long ones, and hopefully you can avoid the few longer versions.
But for now, live for the moment. You get one shot at this, so don’t spend it worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet. Enjoy life, observe the details around you that we tend to block out as noise. Find ways to record and pass them on to others.