I'm in need of a medical opinion. I have a character who contracts a disease from her (non-exclusive) partner while living homeless and taking a variety of street drugs. I'm looking for a disease she could have contracted under those circumstances which would steadily worsen over a period of ten to fifteen years, eventually resulting in a very messy death--as it's currently written, the character experiences hemmorhaging and convulsions, and then death. I'm wondering if this is at all realistic, or if I need to start looking for new symptoms. Any ideas? Thanks in advance ...
Diagnosis needed ...
- Thread starter reni
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Well, HIV/AIDS (Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is pretty much your best answer here. See, it's not actually the AIDS virus that kills people -- it's all of the OTHER things that the body becomes susceptible to that it can no longer fight off without an immune system. Some die of pneumonia, others of cancer or horrible internal infections, and still others catch strange illnesses, little-contracted things like Tuberculosis. It just depends on what you want to give them as a side problem. Ten years is pretty common for an AIDS victim to catch and die of something. You might wander over to the Mayo Clinic site on AIDS and see if anything grabs you.
Syphilis... left untreated it can cause brain damage and a host of other serious health problems that could lead to death.
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My suggestion would be to go with Hep C.
The seizures could come from drug withdrawal which, for realistic purposes, would need to be withdrawal from ETOH (alcohol) or from Benzos (Benzodiazepines).
As for the hemorrhaging, how about an additional infection with a Hantavirus?
Sincerely,
psy7ven
The seizures could come from drug withdrawal which, for realistic purposes, would need to be withdrawal from ETOH (alcohol) or from Benzos (Benzodiazepines).
As for the hemorrhaging, how about an additional infection with a Hantavirus?
Sincerely,
psy7ven
Thanks for all the suggestions, everybody. I'll look into these and see if I can piece a few horrible ailments together for the desired effect. Thanks a lot!
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You could also try having your character use LSD becuase they can have a hallucination years after taking the drug and end up dying. I know many times they have hallucinations in the car and drive off the road or walk off a roof or something similar. They can also go slowly crazy, that wouldn't be contracted from the partner, but it could make for interesting symptoms.
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