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What have you seen more of? Characters who get stabbed and bleed a swimming pool worth of blood, or characters who get stabbed and only ooze out a teaspoon before collapsing dramatically? Writing blood loss can be a difficult thing if you don't know what you're talking about, so this is a friendly murder-free guide on how to make your characters bleed!
Note: This guide is best used if you have a newer computer and not an ancient Windows XP because I'll be using a lot of symbols that may or may not appear on your screen.
Also, I'll be using liters, not gallons. Sorry, people who use the imperial system. Here's a converter.
The Basics
▆ = one liter of blood
▃ = half a liter of blood
(excluding medical conditions)
Note: This guide is best used if you have a newer computer and not an ancient Windows XP because I'll be using a lot of symbols that may or may not appear on your screen.
Also, I'll be using liters, not gallons. Sorry, people who use the imperial system. Here's a converter.
The Basics
▆ = one liter of blood
▃ = half a liter of blood
Statistically, the average person has around 5 liters of blood in their bodies.
But in some cases, people can have as much as 8 liters of blood in their bodies.
▆ ▆ ▆ ▆ ▆
This is going to be our human being, with 5 liters of blood. Take note that smaller people don't have as much blood as bigger people, so the affects of blood loss will come to them faster. Bigger people have more blood, so it will take longer for the symptoms to take affect. People who are more healthy tend to less affected as well, but anyone who has a fast heart rate will lose more blood. Common sense.
You got stabbed! That was a 'sharp' turn of events!
▃ ▆ ▆ ▆ ▆
Losing half a liter of blood is actually 10% of your total blood volume. Typically, there is no change in vital signs and fluid resuscitation and there is still a pulse and a steady heart rate. Characters will still be able to breathe normally. Not in any immediate danger and will survive.
Still-lett-o here? You got stabbed again! Lost another half a liter of blood!
▆ ▆ ▆ ▆
Losing 1 liter of blood is 20% of your total blood volume. Characters will still be perfectly alert and have a pulse. Their heart rate will start to increase to about 100+ beats per minute. Their blood pressure and respiratory rate will rise if they are elevated, so it's best to keep them lying down. The skin might start to look pale or cold to touch and the character's behaviour might start to change. Worrying, but they won't die.
Just keep stabbin', just keep stabbin'...
▃ ▆ ▆ ▆
You have just lost about 30% of your total blood volume. Characters will start to become more anxious and confused as mental status worsens. This is when their pulse stats to weaken and blood pressure is decreased. Character's respiratory rate rises to 30 or more breaths per minute. Fluid resuscitation and blood transfusions are usually needed here, so depending on what treatment the character receives... they'll be fine.
What was the 'point' of this experiment, again?
▆ ▆ ▆
Lost 40% of your total blood volume. Characters become lethargic and even more confused. May not be responsive to other characters or events. Their pulse becomes even weaker and heartrate soars to 120 beats per minute. Breathing becomes shallow and fast. Aggressive resuscitation is needed to prevent death.
It was knife to meet you.
▃ ▆ ▆
This is 50% of your total blood volume. At this point, they're unconscious and will not respond to anything. Their pulse will disappear and heartrate becomes 140 beats per minute, which is basically a person in the middle of an intense workout, blood pressure is at its lowest and breathing is very shallow and very fast. Unless they're some sort of god, they're going to die.
Any more blood and the characters is not going to survive. Presuming this isn't a world of magic and characters don't need to blood to survive or something. Anyone who loses more than half their body's blood can have friends start preparing their funeral, as they will die of blood loss or shock.
But in some cases, people can have as much as 8 liters of blood in their bodies.
▆ ▆ ▆ ▆ ▆
This is going to be our human being, with 5 liters of blood. Take note that smaller people don't have as much blood as bigger people, so the affects of blood loss will come to them faster. Bigger people have more blood, so it will take longer for the symptoms to take affect. People who are more healthy tend to less affected as well, but anyone who has a fast heart rate will lose more blood. Common sense.
You got stabbed! That was a 'sharp' turn of events!
▃ ▆ ▆ ▆ ▆
Losing half a liter of blood is actually 10% of your total blood volume. Typically, there is no change in vital signs and fluid resuscitation and there is still a pulse and a steady heart rate. Characters will still be able to breathe normally. Not in any immediate danger and will survive.
Still-lett-o here? You got stabbed again! Lost another half a liter of blood!
▆ ▆ ▆ ▆
Losing 1 liter of blood is 20% of your total blood volume. Characters will still be perfectly alert and have a pulse. Their heart rate will start to increase to about 100+ beats per minute. Their blood pressure and respiratory rate will rise if they are elevated, so it's best to keep them lying down. The skin might start to look pale or cold to touch and the character's behaviour might start to change. Worrying, but they won't die.
Just keep stabbin', just keep stabbin'...
▃ ▆ ▆ ▆
You have just lost about 30% of your total blood volume. Characters will start to become more anxious and confused as mental status worsens. This is when their pulse stats to weaken and blood pressure is decreased. Character's respiratory rate rises to 30 or more breaths per minute. Fluid resuscitation and blood transfusions are usually needed here, so depending on what treatment the character receives... they'll be fine.
What was the 'point' of this experiment, again?
▆ ▆ ▆
Lost 40% of your total blood volume. Characters become lethargic and even more confused. May not be responsive to other characters or events. Their pulse becomes even weaker and heartrate soars to 120 beats per minute. Breathing becomes shallow and fast. Aggressive resuscitation is needed to prevent death.
It was knife to meet you.
▃ ▆ ▆
This is 50% of your total blood volume. At this point, they're unconscious and will not respond to anything. Their pulse will disappear and heartrate becomes 140 beats per minute, which is basically a person in the middle of an intense workout, blood pressure is at its lowest and breathing is very shallow and very fast. Unless they're some sort of god, they're going to die.
Any more blood and the characters is not going to survive. Presuming this isn't a world of magic and characters don't need to blood to survive or something. Anyone who loses more than half their body's blood can have friends start preparing their funeral, as they will die of blood loss or shock.
So where can I bleed?
Brilliant question, let me indulge you.
From the mouth
Brilliant question, let me indulge you.
From the mouth
- Hematemesis – vomiting up fresh blood
- Hemoptysis – coughing up blood from the lungs
- Hematochezia – rectal blood
- Hematuria – blood in the urine from urinary bleeding
- Intracranial hemorrhage – bleeding in the skull.
- Cerebral hemorrhage – a type of intracranial hemorrhage, bleeding within the brain tissue itself.
- Intracerebral hemorrhage – bleeding in the brain caused by the rupture of a blood vessel within the head.
- Pulmonary hemorrhage - usually linked to a more massive condition, or when 30% of the lungs is bleeding.
- Postpartum hemorrhage - loss of more than 500ml of blood within the first 24 hours of childbirth.
- Breakthrough bleeding - mid-cycle bleeding usually caused by combining oral contraceptives.
- Ovarian bleeding
- Upper gastrointestinal bleed - bleeding arising from the esophagus, stomach, or duodenum. can result in vomiting or bloody poop.
- Lower gastrointestinal bleed
- Occult gastrointestinal bleed - gastrointestinal bleeding that is not visible to the patient or physician and is the result of postivie fecal occult blood tests or iron deficiency anemia.
(excluding medical conditions)
- Abrasion - or a graze, is superficial damage to the skin. usually doesn't go any deeper and mild grazes do not scar. but more severe ones can affect the tissue.
- Excoriation - the outer layer of skin being removed, usually caused by a medical condition.
- Hematoma - caused by damage to a blood vessel that in turn causes blood to collect under the skin.
- Laceration - irregular wound caused by blunt impact to soft tissue overlying hard tissue or tearing such as in childbirth. can also be another word for an incision
- Incision - a cut into a body tissue or organ, such as by a scalpel, made during surgery.
- Puncture Wound - caused by an object that penetrated the skin and underlying layers, such as a nail, needle or knife
- Contusion - or a bruise, this is a blunt trauma damaging tissue under the surface of the skin
- Crushing Injuries - caused by a great or extreme amount of force applied over a period of time. the extent of a crushing injury may not immediately present itself.
- Ballistic Trauma - caused by a projectile weapon such as a firearm. this may include two external wounds (entry and exit) and a contiguous wound between the two