Venom Capacitance

One of the biggest dangers to Scholars moving through less urban areas is the wildlife. Scholars working in xenobiology prepare for parts of that danger by using a Venom Capacitor. A Venom Capacitor allows someone to mix and inject smaller, safer doses of natural poisons and venoms. Scholars are expected to build up a tolerance to all the plants, snakes, and bugs in their area. In most cases, the Venom Capacitor successfully samples these poisons and venoms and poses very little danger to the Scholar beyond temporary pain and nausea.
However, every so often, things go badly wrong in the use of the Venom Capacitor. Sometimes, this is user error-- someone injects a venom that they forgot to dilute, or leaves a vial for so long that it denatures. But beyond simple mistakes, some venoms combined with some people can lead to very bad outcomes. "Venom Capacitance" is the casual collective term for all of the side effects and severe outcomes.

Causes

Venom Capacitance can be caused by a number of issues. Scholars with a history of blood disorders or allergies are at high risk of negative outcomes, especially with hemotoxic or neurotoxic venoms. Scholars with any type of current bacterial or viral illness, including dormant illnesses, may not have the strength to deal with the initial dose of venom. If a Scholar is under a tight deadline to get ready and get going into the field, they may be inclined to dose multiple venoms at one time, and that almost always ends badly. And sometimes, even under a normal dosing schedule and with a perfectly healthy Scholar, some genetic factors or environmental quirks will go terribly wrong.

Symptoms

Symptoms of Venom Capacitance, unfortunately, don't always follow from the cause of the issue. Because of the base chemicals in the Venom Capacitor to make venoms less dangerous, the most common symptoms are severe nausea and vomiting. Other gastrointestinal symptoms, like diarrhea, bleeding, pain, and tears and ruptures in the GI tract, are present in about half of all Venom Capacitance cases. Other, rarer symptoms can include a wet cough, blood clots, nerve spasms, jaundice, loss of consciousness, and death.
In most cases, the symptoms develop over the course of about a day. Moderate symptoms come through in the first 3-4 hours, followed by 1-2 hours of respite, and then gradually increasing symptoms over 6 hours until they reach their worst, where they stay for the course of the illness. If someone makes it through 48 hours, they will gradually improve, unless permanent damage was done to their body (like tears in the GI tract or blood clots causing thrombosis).

Treatment

No one has developed any direct treatments for Venom Capacitance. Symptom management is the best that most people can do. This means anti-emetic medicines, muscle relaxants, blood thinners, and breathing supports if necessary. A standard treatment regimen is 4mg ondansetron every four hours, 4mg loperamide initially and 2mg every 4 hours following, and high dose IV fluids. There is some debate about including a blood thinner like heparin in the standard treatment. On one hand, GI bleeding is not uncommon in this condition, and blood thinners would make that worse. On the other hand, blood clots are not an unheard-of complication, and unlike other symptoms, are much more difficult to notice before they cause serious damage like a stroke. Blood thinners shouldn't be used for Venom Capacitance without a highly trained physician present.

Prognosis

A Scholar who makes it through the first 48 hours of Venom Capacitance without becoming comatose or rupturing an organ will recover fully. With the most serious cases that persist past 48 hours, there is about a 50% lifetime recovery rate. If someone is going to die, it is usually unclear from their presentation if they'll die quickly (within a few days) or linger for up to a month. Peripheral nervous system involvement (with spasms or paralysis) doesn't preclude survival, but central nervous system damage (with comas or recurrent seizures) is not a good sign.

Prevention

Technically, Venom Capacitance could be avoided by deciding not to use the Venom Capacitor. This is the best option for someone who won't be working in nature, and the only option for someone who has had Venom Capacitance in the past. For those who need venom resistance for their work, standard preventative measures include disease testing up front, avoidance of food that could spoil, and in some cases prophylactic prescription of ondansetron. Some Scholars avoid any physical activity that could cause nausea, like sailing on a boat or riding roller coasters, but there isn't any strong evidence that vomiting from these things (as opposed to vomiting caused by a virus) leads to Venom Capacitance.

Type

Chemical Compound

Origin

Engineered

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Uncommon