Medicines & Drugs that CAUSE Pain??

SabaFromMars · Aug 7, 2012

I'm about writing a scene involves torturing one of my characters, and I don't want to do the usual torturing methods.

I had read about medicines and drugs that reduce the pain (the ordinary types we all know) and about medicines and drugs that induce pain (as a side effect) but is there a medicine that can cause pain? I searched in the term "medical torture" but I didn't find such a thing. I also read some fictional stories about guys who have been tortured by medicines (injecting them with some type of drugs that cause them severe pain), so, is there such a thing in reality?And if so, is there types that can cause pain to certain organs (like heart, kidneys, liver)?

Kerosene · Aug 7, 2012

It's been shown that pain torture doesn't work. Mental torture is much more effective.

You'd be better off to use information and metal games in pulling out information from the person. Physical pain just makes them want to end their life and they'll tell you lies and truth until you stop.

I don't know much about medicines that might cause pain. But it doesn't sound too entertaining to me.
I would suspect anything that'll cause pain, might just kill them in the end. So it's hard to say.

My $0.02

Flagship · Aug 7, 2012

Are they torturing for information or fun or punishment? Because the type of torture you use differs depending.

SabaFromMars · Aug 7, 2012

Flagship said:
Are they torturing for information or fun or punishment? Because the type of torture you use differs depending.

Basically it's for information, but the character "who does the whole torture thing" is very evil that injoys watching the others suffer under his methods, so I wanted it to be painful.

Flagship · Aug 7, 2012

Well as Will mentioned,
"Physical pain just makes them want to end their life and they'll tell you lies and truth until you stop."

Which I suppose doesn't really matter if you don't plan on your torturer getting any useful information.

What time period is this?
I have a friend that is... A torture enthusiast, I guess you could say. I could ask him and get back to you. His knowledge on this subject is frighteningly extensive.

Roxxsmom · Aug 7, 2012

I've got some background in physiology, and I don't know about medicines that cause intense, excruciating pain specifically as side effects, though there are drugs that make people sick to their stomachs, of course, or which can cause confusion, fatigue and disorientation (which may be useful in interrogation).

There are poisons or toxins that cause pain, though they are not drugs, per say. Black widow spider venom, lionfish toxin, some jellyfish toxins etc. can cause intense pain. But they may not be terribly efficient, because the torturer would have trouble controlling the exact degree of pain (since the necessary dose would vary from person to person) and switching the pain on or off quickly at will would be impossible with an injection or dose of some toxin. I think this is why the use of chemicals as a source of pain in torture is not something you hear about terribly often.

And torture, especially via pain, is not terribly effective, as one of the earlier posts stated. People will tend to confess to anything or anything to get it to stop if it is bad enough, or conversely, shut down and go catatonic.

But of course, this has not stopped various cultures and regimes from using it throughout history (and in modern times). Gaining information is rarely the primary reason people are tortured, though it is most often given as an excuse.

CrastersBabies · Aug 7, 2012

Maybe a certain type of poison? Torturer gives poison (which can be very painful and scary) but gives the antidote to stop death. Lather...rinse...repeat?

Pinguicha · Aug 7, 2012

I only know of medicines that cause pain upon withdrawal. I know that when I go for more than one day without Sertraline, I get all sorts of awful headaches and lose all feeling on my hands. I don't know of any meds that induce pain as a side-effect. Although some anti-depressants can give you all sorts of other painful diseases.

Wiskel · Aug 8, 2012

It might help to change your wording from "medicines and drugs" to chemicals.

Medicines go through such an extensive set of checks during devlopment that any with a common / predictable side of pain at the level you're describing wouldn't make it to production, so wouldn't exist as medicines or drugs. They might exist as files down in the basement of drug companies though.

You may find some that do this in overdose, but that's getting hard to control and whatever mechanism is causing the pain might be lethal or hard to reverse.

Toxins are probably your way to go, or things like hot chillies / extract of chillies, rubbing salt in wounds, dripping acid on wounds, those sort of things.

I think i recall someone torturing Jack Bauer on 24 using an injection of some kind, and I think he may have used it on his brother (so somewhere around series 5 where it started going a bit wierd), but I'm struggling to remember the details.

Craig

Torgo · Aug 8, 2012

Wiskel said:
I think i recall someone torturing Jack Bauer on 24 using an injection of some kind, and I think he may have used it on his brother (so somewhere around series 5 where it started going a bit wierd), but I'm struggling to remember the details.

Craig

Yes, they broke out the Scary Hypos at one point - I wasn't too bothered because the guy they were torturing looked a lot like Toby Young - but I think that was a fictional drug.

In season 1, though, Jack is tortured using succinylcholine, a paralyzing agent used for certain kinds of surgery. The scary thing is that it paralyzes your lungs, so unless you're given artificial respiration you're going to die. In this sense it's like a fiddly, more dangerous version of waterboarding - designed to create extreme terror.

(Oh, and torture is both evil and mostly ineffective, but we knew that, right?)

Snick · Aug 8, 2012

I think that Roxxsmom had the answer: jellyfish toxin. It would eventually kill, but it could be used carefully. Other toxins that might work would be whatever wasps and hornets use. That stuff hurts, and the pain or discomfort persists for days. You just have the tirturer have a handy collection wasps to apply as needed.

SabaFromMars · Aug 8, 2012

You'd be better off to use information and metal games in pulling out information from the person. Physical pain just makes them want to end their life and they'll tell you lies and truth until you stop.

I start thinking about this.

What time period is this?
I have a friend that is... A torture enthusiast, I guess you could say. I could ask him and get back to you. His knowledge on this subject is frighteningly extensive.

it sets in the middle 90s... Wow, I'd like to meet your friend *evil grin*

There are poisons or toxins that cause pain

I've searched for that.

And torture, especially via pain, is not terribly effective, as one of the earlier posts stated. People will tend to confess to anything or anything to get it to stop if it is bad enough, or conversely, shut down and go catatonic.

You're right, but what if my character is so stubborn that nothing of the common torture methods have worked with him?

Maybe a certain type of poison? Torturer gives poison (which can be very painful and scary) but gives the antidote to stop death. Lather...rinse...repeat?

NICE! I think you and me have the same evil mind

Medicines go through such an extensive set of checks during devlopment that any with a common / predictable side of pain at the level you're describing wouldn't make it to production, so wouldn't exist as medicines or drugs. They might exist as files down in the basement of drug companies though.

This gives me another good idea! thanks Craig.

I think i recall someone torturing Jack Bauer on 24 using an injection of some kind

In season 1, though, Jack is tortured using succinylcholine, a paralyzing agent used for certain kinds of surgery. The scary thing is that it paralyzes your lungs

Yes, I remember that, it was scary though, and it's scary to write too.

All the ideas and the information are more than great guys. Thank you very much

Flagship · Aug 8, 2012

Spy shows tend to have a lot of information on, well, getting information from people.

They rarely use physical torture.

Catch and release is a common one, where they capture the person they want information from, convince them that the secret they are guarding is in danger, and then let them escape. Then they follow the escapee when he goes to check up on his secret to make sure it's safe.

Unimportant · Aug 8, 2012

There are agents (trade names Neupogen, Filgrastim, Lenograstim, Plerixafor) used to mobilise hematopoeitic stem cells from the bone marrow to the blood -- the person is injected with the agent, the stem cells move from the bone marrow to the blood, and the blood can be collected and the stem cells removed (and the rest of the blood returned to the person). Stem cells are collected this way to be transplanted into someone who needs a bone marrow transplant (or to be used for research).

The side effects of these mobilising agents can be fairly unpleasant. Some friends of mine underwent the procedure and their bones just ached abominably for two or three days.

Medicines & Drugs that CAUSE Pain??

SabaFromMars

Someday, my dreams will come true.

Kerosene

Your Pixie Queen

Flagship

SabaFromMars

Someday, my dreams will come true.

Flagship

Roxxsmom

Raised by Wolves

CrastersBabies

Burninator!

Pinguicha

Has the cutest cat in the world!

Wiskel

practical experience, FTW

Torgo

Formerly Phantom of Krankor.

Snick

SabaFromMars

Someday, my dreams will come true.

Flagship

Unimportant

doggone