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In my story my character David suffers from a genetic disorder which makes his skin burn when exposed to the sun. Throughout his life he tries to look for a way to cure him of his disease. After a while he meets a doctor that gives him an experimental treatment to try to cure him. Although he’s not cured, the treatment does change him. He gained numerous abilities like enhanced strength, speed, regeneration, enhanced senses, and an increased lifespan.

During my story I wanted to include or at least hint at any real possible medicines that give people these sorts of effects. So I’d like to know if there are any drugs or substances “that if combined” can make someone superhuman?

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    $\begingroup$ With all due respect to the respondents... asking how to describe magic via science is a popular question on this site, but it almost always fails because... well... magic. Despite the responses, no, there is no such drug(s). If there were such a drug, you'd be hearing about it on the nightly news including interviews about doping with the International Olympics Committee. At best, if you look up athletic doping scandals, you'll find a list of performance-enhancing drugs - but you'll find nothing that makes someone "superhuman." (*Continued*) $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Jul 8 at 6:47
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    $\begingroup$ Nanites are a great sci-fi bio-enhancer. $\endgroup$
    – Monty Wild
    Commented Jul 8 at 6:48
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    $\begingroup$ ... It's worth noting that there's a reason comic book writers use creative, interesting, and implausible reasons for their character origin stories - they know perfectly well that superpowers don't and can't exist, which means that trying to crowbar them into science ultimately fails by distracting the reader. Instead, they opt for creativity and imagination. $\endgroup$
    – JBH
    Commented Jul 8 at 6:48
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    $\begingroup$ @JBH though I agree magic makes things difficult, we can still approach it. Magic does not exclude physics or technology. Creating a fireball out of thin air is impossible, but the effects of it being thrown can be explained by physics, if enough information is given as a basis. I think it was you as well who mentioned in a meta post that we should tackle more questions instead of dismissing them outright. My first sentence dismisses the magic and medicine, but I try to approach it as scientifically as possible. With current technology it is absolutely bonkers, but if we dream... $\endgroup$
    – Trioxidane
    Commented Jul 8 at 13:05

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Genetics

Medicine isn't magic. Treatments can't give you superpowers. As TheDemonLord says in their answer, it unlocks strength you already had at best. Unfortunately these limits on your own strength are for good reasons, damaging yourself in the process. You want to be able to be strong or happy the day after as well. With removing these limits, you can't be sure of that at all. Not to mention that the senses are more easily physically capped. Finally, there are good reasons to not mix many drugs. Though I can comfortably tell you, no mix of drugs will give you superpowers, nor will any out of control radiation therapy or the like.

If we're going sci-fi already, I would opt for genetical changes. Not only would this be able to tackle the actual disease, but the scientist can on purpose change the user in different ways. Nature has evolved to always renew itself to be able to tackle the next challenge the environment throws in nature's way, removing the need for life longer than one or a few times reproduction. In addition, it is survival of the fittest,not strongest. Nature saves energy where it can, which is why muscles atrophy when not used, or memories fade.

With genetics you could, theoretically, control it all. You can remove the limits or reduce other effects. Atrophy of the muscles slowed down to a crawl. Muslce growth becomes easy, making 'superhuman' strength feats much more easy. You can start tampering with how the eyes grow, increasing the rods and cones to resemble that of a jumping spider or eagle. You change the brain to (temporarily) be in a state of increased flexibility, like when you were very young, to be able to quickly adapt and learn all the new inputs and outputs, as to not overwhelm the person with new, poorly understood information. Maybe make much of the brain much more dense, as the frontal lobe is more like swiss cheese compared to the brain stem for example.

It would require a knowledge unheard of in science to pull that all off, tailored to the specific person. It wouldn't be a 'take today, resulting tomorrow' thing either. You probably want several phases where growth or changes are induced, capping them later. Many would also require action of the person as well, as for example proper muscle growth is also based on (micro) damages of the muscle cells sustained during activities.

That would mean it is a very intentional act on behalf of the scientist, adding in these changes in the cocktail put into the bloodsteam. The scientist might try to cure the disease as well, but simply not yet be as knowledgeable yet about this specific topic.

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I mean Adrenaline + Testosterone + Other steroids will do a lot for increased Speed, Strength, Regeneration (to a degree) and Enhanced Senses.

The latter taken over time will increase all your basic attributes (Strength, speed etc.) and help you heal faster (which is why Steroids are prescribed for healing injuries)

Being able to dump a massive amount of Adrenaline into your system when you are engaged in superhero stuff can do wonders - There are numerous stories about Mums lifting up really heavy objects to save their children - the medical term is Hysterical Strength

However - Enhanced Lifespan is an issue.

Even if we assume Roid-Rage isnt real (there is some controversy as to whether this is a real thing or not - but I personally believe increased Testosterone = increased feelings of Aggression) - that cocktail of drugs - they are probably going to be dead by the age of 30 or 40.

Think of your body like a Car - if you service it regularly and drive at the speed limit, you might get 200,000 miles out of it before a major component fails (Engine, Transmission etc.) - whereas if you take it to a Trackday regularly and redline it, it will last a fraction of the time. Your body is the same - you cannot push it to the extremes of performance without paying a hefty price.

And as of yet - we have no cure or remedy for aging or for repairing long-term damage caused by things like Steroid use

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    $\begingroup$ The duration of the effect of a dose of adrenaline is measured in seconds, because of how adrenaline works. Yes, injecting testosterone regularly will increase your speed etc. to a certain degree, but definitely not by a lot; it might help an athlete improve their performance, but it will not transform a regular office worker into an olympic athlete. $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented Jul 8 at 9:16

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