Dehydration

Yes this is another Terri Schiavo post. She hasn't received any meaningful food or liquids in 11 days. This perplexed me because I had always heard the "without water you will die" number set around four days. So are people sneaking her water or is she receiving liquids with her morphine?

Yes this is a very morbid topic given current events. But it turns out that dehydration is heavily dependent on environmental conditions. It can kill in hours with heat, humidity, and intense physical activity. In very comfortable surroundings, people can last as long has Terri has. However Terri is currently in the "a week or more" section of the cycle so she probably won't last much longer.

Oh and one thing that came up a lot researching this intellectual itch, lots of hospices use starvation/dehydration as a "humane" way for terminally ill patients to die. They prescribe morphine. The hunger pains last about a day (and the morphine dulls them) and then your body adjusts and they stop. If you've fasted for more than a day you have probably experienced this. I did a 48 hour fast a while back and sure enough, once you miss a few meals it gets easier. In some cases the dehydration can actually help the patient feel better because it alleviates congestion.