# People committing suicide via asphyxiation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 14, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532 "2014-08-14T18:06:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/21 "2014-08-15T02:51:37Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I’d of thought the method of running a vehicle inside a closed garage would be more popular and peaceful. I’ve always heard it’s like dozing off. Not anymore. Modern automobiles with a properly functioning exhaust aftertreatment system run _extremely_ clean. [Take a look here:](https://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2006/Projects/S0805.pdf) the 1998 Toyota Sienna they measured puts out (at most) 62.5 PPM, which might be [enough to give you a slight headache after several hours of exposure](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CO_poisoning#Signs_and_symptoms). I expect emissions rules and tech have improved quite a bit even since 1998, and so a late-model car puts out even less. If you run your car in a sealed garage, you’ll probably run out of oxygen before CO builds up to lethal levels. I don’t have numbers for diesel engine CO emissions, but my understanding is that they are also quite low because diesels operate with a lot of excess air. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/22 "2014-08-15T02:52:19Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I’d of thought the method of running a vehicle inside a closed garage would be more popular and peaceful. I’ve always heard it’s like dozing off. I hear with the cleaner fuels and catalytic converters you are as likely to wake up with a horrible headache as wake up dead. ETA: Damn you Machine Elf. \ ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/23 "2014-08-15T02:54:28Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > There is a well known how to book on suicide that states that asphyxiation is the best method but it describes a different way involving oxygen replacement. I will not go into details. I have seen it several times. And recently it’s become a more and more popular method. In fact I just had a case where the security guard at a parking structure reported a Subaru had been parked there for an excessive time (we’ve been getting a lot of stolen cars dumped in parking structures). When I approached the car the guy was on the floor in the back seat (😕 Yeah, I don’t get it either) with the bag on his head and the balloon gas piped in. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/24 "2014-08-15T03:37:39Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I wonder that as well. Is it that we the living only see the dead body in its final, peaceful state? Because we never see the panicked thrashing of the person, we imagine it is a peaceful way to go? Maybe - except those in the know have the knowledge that hanging isn’t always “peaceful” and the body left behind is anything but pretty. There are other means of asphyxiation, some of which leave a much more attractive corpse. My sister, for example, was left quite rosy-cheeked by carbon monoxide. > [@mmmiiikkkeee](#): > > It’s a very well-known method, you don’t need access to special equipment or chemicals, you can do it in private pretty much anywhere, and it’s set up and principals are simple enough to perform that a even a person in a distressed mind set can usually pull it off. ^ This. Also, for those who care, you are highly unlikely to hurt someone else while killing yourself by hanging. Some people who have used poison gas in a car have thoughtfully taped warning notices to windows to alert responders of the potential hazard. > [@Hampshire](#): > > I’d of thought the method of running a vehicle inside a closed garage would be more popular and peaceful. I’ve always heard it’s like dozing off. Well… I’d ask my sister but she was a little too successful with that stunt. People who have survived such events (whether deliberately or accidentally getting into that situation) have said that yeah, it was quite a bit like dropping off to sleep but the “hangover” the next day was a hellacious headache. Of course, things other than carbon monoxide in the exhaust might be irritant and cause coughing and the like. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I hear with the cleaner fuels and catalytic converters you are as likely to wake up with a horrible headache as wake up dead. Or wake up with severe brain damage. Some people don’t die but also never really wake up again. It _was_ a little bizarre that my sister’s suicide note specified her wishes that if she was left in a coma or persistent vegetative state she wanted to refuse medical treatment and be allowed to die. I mean, no shit, sis, you’re trying to commit suicide, I think we could have _guessed_ your wishes in the matter. In any case, dead people typically (though not always) piss and shit themselves at some point, when the sphincters relax. Bottom line, it is _really_ hard to leave a pleasant corpse. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/25 "2014-08-15T03:39:18Z")
What options are there for suicide? I suspect if you could pick up cyanide pills at the local 7-11, it would be a very common way to go. But in the absence of that, what do you have? **Gunshot** : In many countries firearms are very difficult to acquire. Risk of “just” blowing off much of your face, or making yourself a “vegetable” using a handgun. More powerful guns are difficult to use on yourself. **Jumping off a building** : Psychologically difficult to do, terrifying in execution, leaves a very unpleasant corpse often in a public location. **Sleeping pills** : Again not foolproof, you might vomit it up or have a high tolerance and suddenly find yourself receiving treatment and therapy, rather than the death you planned for (Oh noes!). Also risk of alerting others when procuring / stashing the pills. **Breathing something other than air** : Not so easy these days as the car exhaust method is largely out. Getting a cylinder of helium is possible, but still needs some set up and calculation, and again there is a risk of someone finding the cylinder and realizing what you are planning (secret balloon animal fetish). Also, awareness of this method and why it’s preferable to, say, drowning, is not so high. I won’t list all the 6 million ways, but those are some of the most common ones. I think hanging compares well, even if it _weren’t_ the case that you pass out in the first few seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/26 "2014-08-15T05:51:25Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I’d of thought the method of running a vehicle inside a closed garage would be more popular and peaceful. I’ve always heard it’s like dozing off. I’ve accidentally inhaled carbon monoxide before, when a neighbor left a grill or charcoal burning for a while - probably wasn’t a dangerous amount of CO, but it was enough to cause a distressing headache and sick feeling. I don’t think CO would be a painless suicide method. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/27 "2014-08-15T11:55:48Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > In fact I just had a case where the security guard at a parking structure reported a Subaru had been parked there for an excessive time (we’ve been getting a lot of stolen cars dumped in parking structures). When I approached the car the guy was on the floor in the back seat (😕 Yeah, I don’t get it either) with the bag on his head and the balloon gas piped in. WAG: He was on the floor in the back seat so it’d be harder to see him before he was dead. If he was sitting up in the front, someone might notice him doing something strange and confront him. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/28 "2014-08-15T15:42:54Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I hear with the cleaner fuels and catalytic converters you are as likely to wake up with a horrible headache as wake up dead. I was annoyed to see in a very recent episode of\* Major Crimes \*that they showed a murder committed by having a person locked in a trunk with a line from the exhaust running into the trunk. I guess, hey, it’s Hollywood - never let facts get in the way of the story. At least some shows get the red skin of CO poisoning correct, but no one ever mentions the evacuated bowels. > [@Broomstick](#): > > Maybe - except those in the know have the knowledge that hanging isn’t always “peaceful” and the body left behind is anything but pretty. I should have made it clearer that I meant asphyxiation/hanging is chosen as a common method because the way it is portrayed in TV makes it \*appear \*“peaceful”. Since most people’s exposure to hanging is via TV, they get the wrong impression. I am under no delusions about the peacefulness of hanging (see my earlier post). Even in the most recent example I have seen (on _Murder In The First_), the jail suicide-by-hanging left a pleasant looking corpse. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/29 "2014-08-15T17:04:15Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I’ve accidentally inhaled carbon monoxide before, when a neighbor left a grill or charcoal burning for a while - probably wasn’t a dangerous amount of CO, but it was enough to cause a distressing headache and sick feeling. > I don’t think CO would be a painless suicide method. I’ve heard that charcoal grills are now the method of choice in Japan. A couple of pounds of Kingsfords turning gray in a Hibachi in a closet produces fatal amounts of CO. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/30 "2014-08-15T18:29:46Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > WAG: He was on the floor in the back seat so it’d be harder to see him before he was dead. If he was sitting up in the front, someone might notice him doing something strange and confront him. Who knows what people are thinking when they decide to bail. They’re obviously not in their right mind. I can’t give names or anything, but this guys circumstances are still a mystery. He lived over 200 miles away and had absolutely zero connection to this area. Never worked here, never lived here, never attended school here, had no relatives here, and according to his family no friends here. They are completely baffled as to why he left work [in good standing with his employer] and (according to the parking structure ticket) arrived in Milwaukee County 5 hours later. There was nothing of any significance to that parking structure, either. No concert or sports venues or theaters. There is a tech school close by but their admin said he had no connection to the school. Perhaps he figured if he was going to check out, keep everyone guessing. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/31 "2014-08-15T19:25:31Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I was annoyed to see in a very recent episode of\* Major Crimes \*that they showed a murder committed by having a person locked in a trunk with a line from the exhaust running into the trunk. I guess, hey, it’s Hollywood - never let facts get in the way of the story. At least some shows get the red skin of CO poisoning correct, but no one ever mentions the evacuated bowels. I’ve seen a lot of dead people. I’ve never seen one shit themselves. It doesn’t make logical sense. Unless you got a turtle head sticking out the total relaxing of all muscular activity does not expel fecal matter. You need a living body to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/32 "2014-08-15T20:13:28Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’ve seen a lot of dead people. I’ve never seen one shit themselves. It doesn’t make logical sense. Unless you got a turtle head sticking out the total relaxing of all muscular activity does not expel fecal matter. You need a living body to do that. I never said they pooped after death. They do whilst they are still alive. it is a effect of CO poisoning. Perhaps you have mistaken me for a screenwriter? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/33 "2014-08-16T22:30:57Z")
Ask a cop or insurance investigator about single-occupant cars running at high speed into a tree/bridge pier/other seriously immovable object with no brake marks. Yes, they go looking for a note or recent increase in death insurance coverage. Knew a person who used this - didn’t take long to get a ruling of suicide, not accident. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/34 "2014-08-16T23:37:58Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > What options are there for suicide? I suspect if you could pick up cyanide pills at the local 7-11, it would be a very common way to go. But in the absence of that, what do you have? > > **Gunshot** : In many countries firearms are very difficult to acquire. Risk of “just” blowing off much of your face, or making yourself a “vegetable” using a handgun. More powerful guns are difficult to use on yourself. > > **Jumping off a building** : Psychologically difficult to do, terrifying in execution, leaves a very unpleasant corpse often in a public location. > > **Sleeping pills** : Again not foolproof, you might vomit it up or have a high tolerance and suddenly find yourself receiving treatment and therapy, rather than the death you planned for (Oh noes!). Also risk of alerting others when procuring / stashing the pills. > > **Breathing something other than air** : Not so easy these days as the car exhaust method is largely out. Getting a cylinder of helium is possible, but still needs some set up and calculation, and again there is a risk of someone finding the cylinder and realizing what you are planning (secret balloon animal fetish). Also, awareness of this method and why it’s preferable to, say, drowning, is not so high. > > I won’t list all the 6 million ways, but those are some of the most common ones. > I think hanging compares well, even if it _weren’t_ the case that you pass out in the first few seconds. Not a building (you could hurt someone), but a cliff. Even if you live in Kansas or some other flat location, you could always take a “hiking” trip to the Rockies and “fall”. Some people might believe you actually fell and not feel quite as bad. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/35 "2014-08-17T02:29:42Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’ve seen a lot of dead people. I’ve never seen one shit themselves. I can only remember one, and it was a very old person who had been quite ill and died of natural causes. Probably dumped before they kicked. I had one where they were dead quite awhile and blew up. Insides just exploded from the gases. At first I thought they were killed by a shotgun blast. It’s quite unnerving to a rookie. The one that was with me ran outside and barfed. Over the last 10 years I’ve been sent to more and more heroin od’s. They foam from the mouth like a rabid dog. It’s pretty gross. Back to the asphyxiation theme of the thread, I got sent to a park once where a county worker found a 9 year old kid hanging from a tree. Little dunce was using a rope with a knotted loop to climb with and swing on. Somehow got his neck in it and _snap_! I think the general public would be surprised how many “hangings” were actually guys doing the choke & stroke. You’d think with the internet people would have wised up to how dangerous it is. Dying while jerking it has to be one of the most embarrassing ways to go. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/36 "2014-08-17T03:12:20Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > What options are there for suicide? Stepping in front of a train seems popular around here (Chicago area), as we have a ton of commuter/freight lines running through. I think it’s a pretty assholish way to go out if it’s planned, considering the engineers get PTSD from dealing with suicides/people driving around the gates to beat the train/vehicles stalling on the tracks/etc., but I know some are impulsive acts. On the autoerotic asphyxiation accidents, I wonder how most survivors deal with telling others about the death. Claim he had a heart attack and just don’t mention anything about the circumstances? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/37 "2014-08-17T03:28:09Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > On the autoerotic asphyxiation accidents, I wonder how most survivors deal with telling others about the death. Claim he had a heart attack and just don’t mention anything about the circumstances? A lot of them just say they died in an accident. Which is kind of true. They meant to choke their chicken and accidentally choked themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/38 "2014-08-17T03:28:38Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Not a building (you could hurt someone), but a cliff. Even if you live in Kansas or some other flat location, you could always take a “hiking” trip to the Rockies and “fall”. Some people might believe you actually fell and not feel quite as bad. That’s all true, but it still has the same drawbacks I listed for jumping off a building: _Psychologically difficult to do, terrifying in execution, leaves a very unpleasant corpse often in a public location._ ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/39 "2014-08-17T04:52:55Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > What options are there for suicide? I suspect if you could pick up cyanide pills at the local 7-11, it would be a very common way to go. But in the absence of that, what do you have? > > **Gunshot** : In many countries firearms are very difficult to acquire. Risk of “just” blowing off much of your face, or making yourself a “vegetable” using a handgun. More powerful guns are difficult to use on yourself. > > **Jumping off a building** : Psychologically difficult to do, terrifying in execution, leaves a very unpleasant corpse often in a public location. > > **Sleeping pills** : Again not foolproof, you might vomit it up or have a high tolerance and suddenly find yourself receiving treatment and therapy, rather than the death you planned for (Oh noes!). Also risk of alerting others when procuring / stashing the pills. > > **Breathing something other than air** : Not so easy these days ads the car exhaust method is largely out. Getting a cylinder of helium is possible, but still needs some set up and calculation, and again there is a risk of someone finding the cylinder and realizing what you are planning (secret balloon animal fetish). Also, awareness of this method and why it’s preferable to, say, drowning, is not so high. > > I won’t list all the 6 million ways, but those are some of the most common ones. > I think hanging compares well, even if it _weren’t_ the case that you pass out in the first few seconds. Cyanide is probably more painful than hanging done right, cyanide seems like several minutes of agony. If you cut blood flow off properly you should pass out in a few seconds with pressure on the neck. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532/40 "2014-08-17T12:05:05Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I can only remember one, and it was a very old person who had been quite ill and died of natural causes. Probably dumped before they kicked. > > I had one where they were dead quite awhile and blew up. Insides just exploded from the gases. At first I thought they were killed by a shotgun blast. It’s quite unnerving to a rookie. The one that was with me ran outside and barfed. > > Over the last 10 years I’ve been sent to more and more heroin od’s. They foam from the mouth like a rabid dog. It’s pretty gross. > > Back to the asphyxiation theme of the thread, I got sent to a park once where a county worker found a 9 year old kid hanging from a tree. Little dunce was using a rope with a knotted loop to climb with and swing on. Somehow got his neck in it and _snap_! > > I think the general public would be surprised how many “hangings” were actually guys doing the choke & stroke. You’d think with the internet people would have wised up to how dangerous it is. Dying while jerking it has to be one of the most embarrassing ways to go. At least with the “choke and stroke”, you can be reasonably sure to say they died doing what they loved! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-committing-suicide-via-asphyxiation/695532.md?page=3)