Health - Fatal ketamine overdose?

[enquirewithin]

Drugs blamed for American's death

Darryl Heeralal

Friday, April 21st 2006

AMERICAN Richard Lange overdosed on drugs and died, a pathologist has found.
A post-mortem yesterday concluded that 32-year-old Lange died from an overdose of ketamine, a general anesthetic used in animals and humans.
Lange, of Cayman Drive, Preston, Texas, was found dead in a room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Port of Spain, on Good Friday.
He had been seen alive two days earlier.
Syringes were found near his body, police say....

[-k4ge]

Correct me if I am wrong, but would that not take alot of ketamine?

[Jatelka]

SWIK4 is NOT wrong.

Ketamine causes less respiratory depression than other anesthetic agents. But dose-dependant respiratory depression DOES occur, particularly with iv route and with quick/large bolus doses. Ketamine can also compromise the airway by causing spasm of the larynx.

From e-medicine: "Ketamine has a wide therapeutic range, making overdose difficult. Patients have recovered uneventfully after receiving 10 times the normal dose. The median lethal dose (LD50) observed in animals is approximately 100 times the average human intravenous dose and 20 times the average human intramuscular dose."

Therapeutically the starting dose for anaesthethetic purposes (intra-muscular) is 4mg/kg for adults. Full dissociation typically occurs in the 4-8mg/kg range. For analgesia (intra-muscular) the starting dose is 1mg/kg.

Intravenously the starting dose (full dissociation) is 1mg/kg with a quoted range in the literature of 0.25-11mg/kg.

According to a literature review by ecstacydata.org there have been only 2 fatal od's with K alone (and one of those was a murder!).

[enquirewithin]

US citizen found dead in Trinidad died of drug overdose

Monday, April 24, 2006
by Stephen Cummings
Caribbean Net News Trinidad Correspondent


PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad: A pathologist's report in Trinidad has revealed that US citizen, Richard Lange, who was found dead in a Port of Spain hotel died from a drug overdose.

A post-mortem was conducted on the body of 32-year-old Lange last week and the report concluded that he died from an overdose of ketamine.

Ketamine is known to be general anesthetic which is used in animals and humans. The drug is also reportedly categorized as a "club drug" used by teens and adults at dance clubs and rave parties.

Side effects of usage of the drug include delirium, amnesia, depression, and long-term memory and cognitive difficulties.

Lange, of Preston, Texas, was found dead in a room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Port of Spain, on Good Friday.

Hotel employees were alerted to the death after they encounted a foul smell coming from one of the hotel's rooms located on the thrid floor.

Lange was last seen alive two days earlier.

[enquirewithin]

Interesting! I am not sure that the above account is necessarily reliable, because ketamine overdoses are so rare.

[devil]

That guy must have had some serious medical issues. I think normally, you would definitely pass out before you can even get remotely close to dangerous levels. I suppose you can set up a drip IV to OD.

What a way to go though!

[fatal]

I dont remember ever having ODd on ketamine...

Reputation Comments on this post:

Self Incrimination

[Beltane]

K is safest around. normally takes 1CC to get off great, 240CC's to kill avg person. Got that from some book somewhere.

- B

[enquirewithin]

Originally Posted by Beltane

K is safest around. normally takes 1CC to get off great, 240CC's to kill avg person. Got that from some book somewhere.

- B

Wouldn't that be a big syringe?

[Beltane]

Originally Posted by enquirewithin

Wouldn't that be a big syringe?

Biggest I've seen personlly is 5ml, so that's be almost 500 really big syringes.

- B