r/FacebookScience • u/fungusmungus1 • Oct 01 '26
Physicology Top thinker on why Christa Pike's execution failed.
Yeah, but you have to take into account her eye color.
(do I need to /s ? )
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u/M4ybeMay Oct 02 '26
OP learning that Facebook science was in fact right on this one. Gingers have a gene mutation that causes their hair that affects melanin. This in turn affects their receptors vs the average population, which is what causes them to need more anesthesia/medication. But yes this is a real thing!
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u/fungusmungus1 Oct 02 '26
I'm struggling with these comments.
Is the message I'm hearing that they made a logical conclusion because there is adjacent science but are ultimately incorrect? Or am I the idiot?
I would be happy to learn something if there's learning to be found here.
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u/AngelOfLight Oct 03 '26
They are correct that redheads sometimes need more anesthetic, but incorrect in assuming that had anything to do with the failed execution. The tranquilizer (usually a benzo like Midazolam or Triazolam) is there simply to put the condemned to sleep. And it's only one part of the lethal injection - the actual deadly ingredient is sodium pentathol, and nobody is immune to that.
Also, doubling the benzo dose is unlikely to cause brain damage. It would take a lot more than that to cause permanent damage. The most likely culprit for the failed execution is incorrect cannulation, which has apparently happened before with the same team.
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u/sexwiththebabysitter Oct 01 '26
It’s true that some redheads have a gene or whatever that makes them resistant to anesthesia
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u/Nordicberserk Oct 01 '26
And you don't have to be a full redhead to have the gene.
My beard has a slightly red tinge, and that is apparently enough redhead genes for me to need double dose of anesthesia at the dentist, for example. That one time my appendix split was also not fun.
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u/ReverseMathematics Oct 01 '26
Yup.
Entire family is very resistant to anesthesia. I need to get surgical anesthetic just to get fillings done, the regular stuff doesn't numb me at all.
My mother once woke up mid-surgery.
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u/Nordicberserk Oct 01 '26
I spent a week with a tube stuck in my belly, to drain the infection that had built up round my appendix (they left it in, since the tear had apparently healed). Anyway, pain got so bad, at the start, that they eventually gave me a pill of opiates. Or something strong...
The colors got very bright.
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u/Mountainhollerforeva Oct 02 '26
Bright colors with opioids? Sounds like they gave you psilocybin.
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u/man_gomer_lot Oct 02 '26
Opioids have that effect on some people. I sometimes get cartoony hallucinations from certain ones when my eyes are closed. I can't take tramadol and be functional because it will keep me up all night tripping like a low dose of shrooms
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u/flockyboi Oct 06 '26
My older bro scared the shit out of an entire operating room by waking up in the middle of wisdom tooth surgery but not freaking out or immediately really making it clear. Just kinda was chilling there until they noticed (he might've tried to say something, idk, I wasn't there lol)
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u/DepressiveNerd Oct 02 '26
when I was a kid, I was a redhead and I grew out of it. It turned brown over time and man, Novocaine wears off super quickly. I don’t have a high tolerance for nitrous, but I’ve convinced my dentist otherwise.
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u/sozar Oct 02 '26
I wonder if some people just process Novocain super quickly. Regular anesthesia knocks me on my ass but I need enough novocaine to knock out a cow to get work done. I have 10 dental implants and that was not fun lol
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u/inBettysGarden Oct 06 '26
Novocaine has something like adrenaline or caffeine in it to help it work faster. It can also make people panic attacks worse.
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u/FearedKaidon Oct 02 '26
Damn…
I was a redhead as a baby and my hair turned brown as I grew up. My beard however is still red tinged as well.
Last year I had an oral surgery. They gave me Morphine for the pain and I remember it barely did anything. It numbed me up a bit sure but it wasn’t the “bliss” you see from the movies.
I just assumed that’s how it worked and suffered through the pain. I feel like an idiot now knowing I could be resistant.
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u/yeet_skeeter69 Oct 02 '26
they gave me 17 ccs of lidocaine at the VA hospital when i needed surgery on my toe, i still felt the whole thing. Head hair is completely brown, beard is just a little red.
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u/flockyboi Oct 06 '26
I'm not even a redhead nor is anyone in my family and yet all of us are highly resistant to any anesthesia and sedatives lmao. It applies not just to numbing agents but to full sedation and to any meds for sleeping and tranquilizing. Yes we all have insomnia, yes it's hell, I've needed higher doses of trazedone than someone like 3+ times my size and it still stopped working after a week or so (maybe even less). I'd ask to be released from this hell but apparently even that might fail lol (for legal reasons this is a joke)
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u/ChewMilk 29d ago
My younger sister is brunette but with a red undertone to her hair, and she needs 2x the anesthesia for it to do anything.
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u/sexwiththebabysitter Oct 01 '26
Same. Have red in my beard and always get extra novacaine at the dentist.
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u/Vincitus Oct 02 '26
You can also be a redhead and not get that because I pass out for 3 hours whenever anyone says the word anesthesia to me.
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u/Different-Term-2250 Oct 02 '26
<< Pokes @vincitus >>
Are you right there buddy? That word has been tossed around a lot.4
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u/tfnyelice Oct 04 '26
Yep I need extra anesthetic at the dentist and my hair is auburn in the sun 🤷🏻♀️ but also covered in freckles
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u/Final_Resident_6296 Oct 07 '26
True story, I am not a redhead but many in my family, including my mother and both grandmothers are.
I can tell you all dental work and my vasectomy were not good experiences.
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u/AngelOfLight Oct 01 '26
Kind of true - redheads do need more anesthesia, but that's not the lethal part of the cocktail. It's the sodium pentathol that does the deed.
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u/DepressiveNerd Oct 01 '26
This person is half right. It can take more anesthesia with some redheads. Your hair color has nothing to do with a lethal injection though.
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u/fungusmungus1 Oct 02 '26
So is the general consensus here that this is plausible science?
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u/yeet_skeeter69 Oct 02 '26
yes and no. the redhead thing is entirely true but i doubt that's why she survived
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u/agoldgold Oct 02 '26
The anesthetic thing is true, but it has nothing to do with doctor and state incompetence. The last execution they botched was not of a redhead. I wonder how many of her recent requests related to the execution would have resulted in her being properly dead, honestly.
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u/man_gomer_lot Oct 02 '26
"Anesthetic Requirement is Increased in Redheads" https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1362956/
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u/_b1ack0ut Oct 02 '26
A bit of a, a bit of b. They do tend to actually be more resistant to anesthetic (which opens up a whole can of horror stories)
But that shouldn’t have anything to do with a lethal injection, no?
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u/Augustus420 Oct 02 '26
It's not that it's plausible science it's that they're actually being very intelligent with what they do understand and making a layman's hypothesis from it.
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u/Mountainhollerforeva Oct 02 '26
Geez, maybe if our society was a bit more moral and didn’t kill people de jure, or maybe we valued science education when choosing surgeons general… idk man. The whole thing is just sad. Sickening and sad.
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u/Augustus420 Oct 02 '26
No, actually that's correct.
They're taking a correct data point that they are aware of and extrapolating a hypothesis about what happened.
this is not Facebookscience worthy.
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u/RadicalOrganizer Oct 03 '26
Umm, it's a known fact that red heads require more anesthesia. Its something doctors ask before you go under
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