Medical Question

[samtyr]

I have a character who needs to be knocked out for a short time. I know that smelling salts are relatively common but is there a similar "sleeping salt" (for lack of a better term)?

I am assuming that chloroform would be the best choice but would it be possible to use ether? Also, are there any special interactions regarding chloroform or ether with smelling salts that need to be considered?

If there is a third choice that I am unaware of, I would appreciate knowing of it.

[surgicalsteel]

The way that smelling salts work is that they irritate the nasal mucosa so much that they trigger an inhalation reflex - I'm not aware of any interactions with chloroform or ether. I'm not aware of any 'sleeping salts.' Either chloroform or ether would work - any of the inhalational anaesthetics would work, too, but they're going to be a little harder to transport.

Does it have to be inhaled? Or can it be something slipped into your character's drink?

[samtyr]

I'm using "sleeping salts" more as a slang term: 'smelling salts' wake one up, "sleeping salts" knock one out.

"Does it have to be inhaled? Or can it be something slipped into your character's drink?"
--The scene is a fight-in-progress that is being broken up. A and B (guards) have restrained D (a member of the royal family); C (another guard) is to use the "sleeping salts" to knock D out just long enough to get him home so that the family can deal with him.

[surgicalsteel]

Feb 18, 2010 11:11:09 GMT -6 samtyr said:

I'm using "sleeping salts" more as a slang term: 'smelling salts' wake one up, "sleeping salts" knock one out.

I understood that. I'm just saying I don't know of any such substance other than something like chloroform or ether.

Feb 18, 2010 11:11:09 GMT -6 samtyr said:

"Does it have to be inhaled? Or can it be something slipped into your character's drink?"
--The scene is a fight-in-progress that is being broken up. A and B (guards) have restrained D (a member of the royal family); C (another guard) is to use the "sleeping salts" to knock D out just long enough to get him home so that the family can deal with him.

Hm. Ether or chloroform would work - although they'd have to be careful to not inhale any of it themselves. Or if this is a fantasy setting, you could just wave the wand and say it's some magic potion that they're using - but I would think that again, they'd need to be careful to not inhale the stuff themselves.

See, 'smelling salts' don't actually have a stimulant (a 'wake up' drug) - they basically just smell so bad that your body's startled, and it's the startle response that wakes you up rather than a direct effect of the smelling salts. Ether or chloroform will put anyone out who inhales enough of either one - they act as central nervous system depressants. The worst that'd happen to your guards inhaling smelling salts is that they'd think it smells really bad. If they inhale whatever you choose to use to knock out your character D, the guards could end up being knocked out by it themselves, which would sort of defeat the purpose.

Another thing you could think about using? Simply having one of the guards whack character D upside the head hard enough to knock him out - which is really no more dangerous than having an untrained person administering a CNS depressant. A whack that's too hard/in the wrong place can kill you - but so can your sleeping agent.

[surgicalsteel]

Just thought of this - a dart gun sort of thing could also work. Things like curare and belladonna can be lethal, but they were also once used for 'chemical capture' of large game. The dose makes the poison.

A dart gun would let you get one of those things into his system - or perhaps your guard doesn't even use the 'gun' part and just jabs your errant royal with the dart.

[samtyr]

Oh, I like the dart gun idea! Thank you!