need drug information for novel

echocrush · 22nd July 2005, 7:54 PM

I need a drug that can be used to sedate an elderly woman in order to keep her alive but make it seem like her health is just failing... or another plausable scenario. This could be a poison, a drug, even a hypnosis or something else.... maybe even a doubling up of prescription medicines.

The elderly woman appears to just be suffering from old age, symptoms are not serious enough to require medical intervention but enough to keep her alive but incapicatated so someone can manipulate her financially... the person wants to keep her alive, but needs her to be pretty much under her control.

I do know that Elder abuse cases are common where caretakers keep them alive and just keep them away from family and friends or anyone who might suspect something is going on... I suppose this could work, but my elderly woman needs to be in good enough health later on in the story to exact her revenge.

A Fly onThe Wall · 22nd July 2005, 8:05 PM

Try google ..

I know it's for a novel but still

echocrush · 22nd July 2005, 8:20 PM

Google is good if you have an idea of what you need... but I don't know enough about drugs or their effects to know where to start. I tried rohypnol, I figured since it's a date rape drug the effects would be similar to what I need... but there isn't much on long term use.

The time frame I am looking at right now is my main character is sent away for about 18 months, so her grandmother is being slowly robbed in this time... I can't decide if she is being drugged or whatever for the whole time or if the antagonist gets desperate just for the last 6 months or so...

Outcast · 22nd July 2005, 8:35 PM

The online Merck Manual has a section on aging and drugs and has several drugs listed whose principal side-effect is to cause confusion.

echocrush · 22nd July 2005, 8:38 PM

And lol I promise I wont hurt the old woman, she is based on someone I love very much... and she will recover and the perpetrator will pay for their crimes!!!!

Confusion is good, I'll check that out...

A Fly onThe Wall · 22nd July 2005, 8:42 PM

I googled " chemical used to fake illness " and came up with some interesting pages.

" Psychiatric drugs are chemical straitjackets, controlling, not curing"

Try this.. It is a book written by the germans on chemicals to take to fake an illness

" Sportvorschrift für die Kriegsmarine "

It seems to me maybe arsenic or maybe antifreeze ..

I don't know .. this is the best I could come up with and google is where I found it.

Good luck and I hope you novel works out

soccorsilly · 22nd July 2005, 10:58 PM

AHA---the old "writing the novel" trick!

A Fly onThe Wall · 22nd July 2005, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by soccorsilly
AHA---the old "writing the novel" trick!

I just loved the cone of silence ...

echocrush · 23rd July 2005, 4:29 PM

I know... when you ask a question like this on the nanowrimo board no one even flinches... but you see one here and get a little worried. LOL...

But since Nano hasn't kicked in again I go to my second favorite source! I would hate to think that someone actually would do this to an old woman but since this is based on an experience my grandmother had... there are people who will do terrible things to take advantage of the elderly

However... before someone takes advantage of an old lady they should always make sure there is a loving family to catch them!

E-Roc · 5th August 2005, 11:18 PM

you could cause confusion with levodopa (sinemet) which is rx only. its typically used to control parkinson's disease. a cheaper way would be to spike the old lady's food or drink with the street drug LSD. i would probably lean towards small doses of LSD and if you needed to reverse the effects of either you could use chlorpromazine (thorazine)...just my 1.5 cents
good luck with the novel.

NYCmitch25 · 6th August 2005, 1:35 PM

Hasn't this plot been done and re-done a few too many times in the past? -- from the Princess Bride to more recent movies which were so good that I don't remember the names? I mean really, Why don't you just throw in a car chase scene or a cold war plot while you're at it ?

Maybe you can take something like Gamma hydroxybutyrate and make it sound as if it can be altered to do some special affect, then work in how the charactor learned this secret.

echocrush · 9th August 2005, 5:03 PM

Ahhh but you misunderstand... this is not the plot, merely a subplot... I was going to tell you what the plot is, but I'm not even sure lol.

It's life in a small town with all of the corruption and trials, it is about soul mates in the truest sense of the word, a gay teenager who commits suicide and an empath who loves him. They aren't lovers, but a deeper connection binds them even after his death. She only returns home after he "calls" her there and she finds her grandmothers health failing. Then stumbles across some information about his death and some strange connections between her grandmothers illness, her friends death... etc. etc... and it has a mouse. Tee Hee

I'm just really picky even about the smallest details, even if it never makes it into a novel I want to be sure it "could" happen... so is that better?

NYCmitch25 · 9th August 2005, 5:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by echocrush
Ahhh but you misunderstand... this is not the plot, merely a subplot... I was going to tell you what the plot is, but I'm not even sure lol.

It's life in a small town with all of the corruption and trials, it is about soul mates in the truest sense of the word, a gay teenager who commits suicide and an empath who loves him. They aren't lovers, but a deeper connection binds them even after his death. She only returns home after he "calls" her there and she finds her grandmothers health failing. Then stumbles across some information about his death and some strange connections between her grandmothers illness, her friends death... etc. etc... and it has a mouse. Tee Hee

I'm just really picky even about the smallest details, even if it never makes it into a novel I want to be sure it "could" happen... so is that better?

I CLEARLY stand corrected, that sounds excellent!!!!

You know, what about the methods they use to medically induce comas in the hospital, do you know any details about that ?

10th August 2005, 11:00 AM

Instead of an oral or injection drug what about an inhalent? If the old woman is using an inhilator at home (for emphasema or some other lung disease) then substituting a lasix-based pain killer instead of ibuterol or whatever could leave the woman disoriented, lethargic and easily manipulated, but once stopped she would recover.

Or, crush up apple seeds and have her eat those every day -- or a salad made with apple seeds. Apple seeds contain arsenic in low doses, but for a frail old woman the effect could be enough to make her slightly sick and easily manipulated and it would be difficult to trace because the dose is so low and unprocessed.

Mz. Pixie · 10th August 2005, 2:52 PM

There is a drug they use in ICU to put you into a coma- like if you have to be on the vent and you're struggling against it. They had my mom on it one time. It's called Diprovan. It's milky white and they put it in a little vial connected to the IV. The wierd thing about the drug- once they turn it off, the people wake up fairly quickly and alert.