Overdose - what happened, did swim almost die? collection of cocaine O.D. experiences &questions

[invictvs]

Please help my "friend":


Idid coke 3 weeks ago with someone who knew what he was doing. He walked me through everything and babysat me through the 18 hour extravaganza... great high, great energy, only noticeable discomfort was slight lower back pain which may have been from sitting at the coke table blabbingfor hours on end.


2 Weeks went by and I got my hands on an 8 ball from the same dealer, the coke seemedrelatively close to pure (numbed my gums, teeth, etc. was cystalline rocked, had an ether taste, etc.).


Rather than partying all night with it i start fucking around with it during the workweek, approximately 10-20 lines a day. That went Monday through Thursday. Friday morning, for some fucking stupid reason i decided to do 3 huge lines. Everything was great then all in the sudden i get this feeling like i'm going to die, or at least black out. To make matters worse I'm driving in rushhour traffic on my way to work. I notice my heart racing, i pull over and take my pulse it's roughly 150 BPM. Also i noticed I couldn't swallow or breath through my nose! So i start panicking, which only made it worse of course. The only thing that seemed to help was rapid breathing.


I've tried to do the rest of my 8 but I get so freaked out that I get that feeling like I'm gonna pass out everytime i do a line now! I've tried everyday this week to no avail, I plan on giving it a rest of course.


I've done meth only once before, maybe more from dirty E pills. Can anyone tell me (from experience or from a physiological perspective) what the fuck happened?

[ToxicMind]

Well you said you were doing it all week, mon-thurs. Did you sleep at all? Sleep deprivation could make you feel like you want to faint. Did you eat? Malnutrition can also make you feel week. If it's not that then your heart was probly justtrying to keep up withallcokeand maybe being pushed to hard. If i'm up for a few days on coke I find it helps to take a small benzo every 12hrs or so, to keep a balance, and so your heart does not feel to overworked. It also helps with the anxiety, so you dont stress out about your breathing, ect. Worrying about thing can make them seem worse. Just rest, eat something, and you should feel better in a day or two. -K

[hippie_lain]

Good coke can do that to you with an 8 ball. I did a ball in 2 1/2 days and felt HORRIBLE for 2 days. The breathing thing is also very commen for me. Even with a gram I have trouble breathing.

[daftcrew]

Yeah i've ad a similar problem before. To the point where my heart was starting to hurt cos it was being over worked. Just give it a rest for a few days. Next time you have it try and think positive dont let it trip you out before you've even had a line.

[Inkmanr6]

150 bpm is HIGH. I actually got hospitalized for a heart rate of 150 when I did alot of ritalin and codiene. Give your heart a rest...It's going to be sore. Coke always makes my heart beat so fast and makes it sore so I actually gave it up. More suited to opiates I guess. The best thing in that situation is to try and stay really calm...not always so easy but so important. You can have a panic attack and start to go numb or pass out.

[BigDANE]

Perhaps you should consider lowering the frequency and volume of your coke use.. I know it's hard but instead of using the yey during the week, save the majority of it for the weekend when you don't have more important shit to do.. Either that or cut way back, 10-20lines a day seems like a lot to me at least. If i could find some decent shit I'd do like 5lines a day just to make things more interesting, 10-20 sounds like partying to me more than a normal business day.

[invictvs]

"thanks for the advice everyone, it was right on. I gave it a 48 hour break and cut way down. Today I only had 4 lines and the magic is back. I'm new to blow so I guess I'm still figuring out what my limits are. Toxicmind, i think you nailed it when you said i may have been malnutrition/fatigued. I should have quit these crazy bodybuilding diet (CKD)i was doing when i started blowing... stupid me.


That 'oh shit i'm gonna die' incident really does put things in perspective, in a self-modulatingway, I'm glad it happened. I'm Still curious what exactly happened in terms of simple physiology, tachycardia? loss of oxygen to the brain? hypoglycemia?"

[Patrick131]

I am 25 years old and beginning around the age of 22 I became arecreational cocaine user. My friends and I would probably consume about two grams or so a month in periodicdoses here and there before going downtown. I never had any problems and the amount that I ingested never really increased beyond a gram over a 24 hour period. In all, i've probably consumed a total of 8 grams in my lifetime from the age of 22 until now (which isn't that much i guess). However, there was a few times that I experienced distress similar to what Invictvs described in his post.


Those sysmptoms peaked one night when I had taken a bunch of Adderall. I was not taking cocaine with the adderall, but i took a lot of adderall by itself nonetheless. My heart began to palpitate and it was beating around 150 beats a minute. This went on for about 4 hours and then it subsided. Even though i think i recovered ok, i was really scared after that incident.


I have not done cocaine in aboutfive months and I no longer have a prescription to obtain adderall (nor do i want to do it anymore). However, I did crystal meth about a month ago for maybe the third time ever and those symptoms re-emerged at a great magnitude (duhh). I did about a quarter gram over a three hour period and i felt great for about twelve hours. After that, i thought that I would simply begin to slowly come down and that would be it. Instead, my heart began to pound excessively, i was having trouble breathing, and i was really worried. Then my paranoid thoughtsbrought me back to all those nights on coke and speed and i worried even more. I called my friend and he said that i was simply thinking about ittoo much and that i needed to try and relax. I was so close to going to the ER though even with him consulting with me.


Anyways, I have been sober (minus the ice binge about a month ago)of coke and speedfor about five months and i feel great. I work out a lot and Iam in goodshape. Today at the gym, I wasn'tthinking and I drank one of those super-speedy drinks they sell at the front of the place. I finished a set and stood up only to feel like i was going to stop breathing- and it wasn't a typical dizzy feeling you get when you possibly over-exert. Instead, i was scared for my life fora few seconds because I felt dizzy, disoriented, and my right ear was ringing. This lasted about 15 seconds. I couldn't breath at all.Then i went to the locker room, got my stuff, and left.


Basically the drink has a lot of caffeine and other stimulating ingredients in it. My question is should i go to the doctor and get checked out? I know my health is more important but i don't have good insurance and i am afraid that they are going to want to do a bunch of expensive tests. I can safely say that I have no desire to do ice ever again- it simply keeps me upway too long and it is too dangerous given my circumstances. I know that I can turn it down if offered and I won't have any qualms about it. Coke is another story but iwill be able toabstain because of this situation.


Is my heart simply weakend? Could i have already suffered a mild heart attack? Is part of my heart tissue damaged? Should I just steer clear of stimulants of any kind? Will this problem ever subside with abstinence? Any posts will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[invictvs]

Shit it happend to me again. This time I made sure I was sleeping well, and eating right. Patrick131, I think I know exactly what your saying. The more you worry the worse it gets. I believe the medical term is "tachycardia" = fast beating heart. I've researched this to death as I'm eager to return to my brand new 8 ball. From what I gather charlie prevents the re-uptake of adrenaline with some sort of blockage mechanism. Well, when we overdue it, the adrenaline piles up causing our hearts to beat in the 150 BPM range. I was counting 25 beats per 10 second interval while watching TV and guess what fuc**ng comes on the screen? "The JOhn Belushi Story", and believing in ironic conincidences i start freaking out even more after I saw that. I went outside and walked around the block like 10 times, the fresh air seemed to help. But that feeling like your gonna die is so damn scary.

[paulywould]

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Invictvs, coke increases adrenaline. It prevents the reabsorbtion of dopamine in your brain which gives the "high". The amount you did is high for someone just starting out, others have done a ball in a night. The point is, the way it affected you. 150bpm is high, 180 is near fatal. Aside from the general stimulant effect that you got from the coke you most likely got some anxiety. Even thinking your heart is beating too fast can make your heart beat too fast. Upon shooting just a little too much coke and worrying about ODing I discovered a trick to help with the heart beat. Look at your watch and take a slow controlled breath in and out every 5 seconds. Deep, but don't strain yourself, naturual deep. After about two minutes you should be fine. Ohh yeah, try to think of something calming too. It works, and it will make the rest of the night much better.


By the way, You will never recieve anything close to pure coke, if your lucky as hell you might get a little less than 20% coke. Hospitals use 5% and 10%. By the time it is imported to you from South America it has been stepped on more times than you could count. Dealers say pure, that just means it's not pure baby powder.


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[Patrick131]

Yeah that's cool Invictvs, I hear what you're saying. I think both you and Pauly are right with what you guysare saying about adrenaline and dopamine with respect to coke. I am simply going to chill out since it obviously affects me a lot more than other people. I am not sure about coke but i know that meth triggers the "fight or flight" response in the body and turns this mode on throughout the duration of the high, resulting in a surge of adrenaline. After years of this repeated increase in respitory activity combined with constricted veins and arteries, the heart grows weak because it has to work harder in order to satisfy all of your muscle tissue in your body with blood. Something like that- i am not a Doc. Take care Invic and be safe.

[invictvs]

Pauly, I'll definitely try that breathing maneuver if it happens again,thanks for the tip! Both of those times I used a hyperventalation breathing excercise that probably didn't help my heart rate but kept the going unconcious feeling at bay. Your correct about the purity caveat, I guess what i meant to say was my stash was "better than average" in terms of potency (from what I've seen others get).


Patrick131, did the heart problemshappen after you took more than you normaly would? I notice your into working out, were youby chance taking any bodybuilding drugs prior to these problems? Over the last couple years I've tried a vast array of bodybuilding drugs, nothing crazy (t3, clen, bromo, ephedrine, 200mg test/week). I'm wondering if that caused the blow related heart problems.

[Patrick131]

The only supplement i've ever used is creatine and I tend to cycle that on and off. I generally try to stay off of "speedy" type supplements such as ripped fuel and ripped force because they are all caffeine and other crap that simply just borrows energy from your body that you have to eventually replace. You raise a good point though because that would definately be something to consider as the source of distress when using yey.


With the yayo, it is probably the fact that I did too much in too little of an amount of time and I remember that last time I did it (about six months ago) I did it on an empty stomach all night. The crystal meth that I did about a month ago was where I had the real scare, the feeling of "impending doom" that we've talked about; where you feel like your going to die and shit. But I explained that feeling to my buddy who I did the ice with and he said that he felt exactly the same way and that I was just freaking out because I wasn't used to it.


For now, I am going to stay clear of ice as i have no desire to ever do it again. I have friends who love it and I guess it just works for them. I tend to prefer drugs that I can at least go to bed on after a day or two. Invic, another thing wasthat one time with the yayi remember we got it from another guy and we made the amatuer mistake of "assuming" that it was the same potency as the shit we usually got (which sucked). We started doing our usual fat rails and you know the rest. Always test each bag with a small amount before killing it, even if you get it from the same person...

[metalex86]

Ican rememberthe first time i did coke, i had a really big line.When it kicked in my vision started to go and my legs went numb so i collapsed, i had to get onto a bus which just arrived so i struggled on, barley able to stand, paid and sat down. When i was sat down my vision almost totally went, i couldnt see out of the bus windows at least (and it was still light), i couldnt feel my arms or legs and my hands seazed up into this wierd possition and i couldnt move them. after about 15 minutes my vision came back and i went into a cold sweat. I've always wondered if anyones ever had this happen to them and what exactly it was, was it an OD because i dont see how it could have been, since then i've never been effected by coke that way.

[sands of time]

Patrick, I am a daily coffee drinker, probably four cups a day, and I do get the spins if I stand up to fast, ect. Caffiene doesn't really cause any problems, but it can give you that feeling. For anyone with heart problems, it wouldn't be a bad idea to stay away from caffeine, or at least cut back. Caffiene is very safe though. Ephedra and other stimulents have been shown to cause more problems, however, and that drink probably had a bunch of that stuff in it. Personally, I think daily ephedra use poses some risks definately more than caffiene, but not enough to warrent a ban.

Invictvs: About the coke... As we all know, cocaine puts a great deal of stress on your body, especially your heart. Expect your episode to happen again if you cunsume as much as you did for that period of time. 20 lines a day is quite a bit. Your episode probably was not life threatening, but think of it as your body telling you to slow down with that stuff. If your going to keep doing coke, I would recommend that you keep it as a recreational weekend type thing. If you want a stimulent for work, caffiene has worked well for me. A low dose of amphetamine might also hold you over, but again, that is also hard on your heart. A low dose should not cause to many problems, but eventually you will build a tolerance. Stay safe...

[Patrick131]

Sands, I hear what you're saying about the caffeine cause it tends to effect me a lot since i don't use it that often- even when I have to get up early. Not to sound overly-histrionic but this was such a weird experience at the gym. It wasn't like I was dizzy but rather I just couldn't breath for ten or fifteen seconds, to the point that I thought i was really going to faint. I was scared shitless. I got my shit and left immediately and just went home and laid down. More than likely I am making a bigger deal out of it than it was, but when I looked on the bottle, it said that the drink contained 210mg of caffeine along with god knows what else (a mountain dew has 65mg- 12ounces). You're probably right about it containing ephedra and other stuff cause i've never had a bad experience when i've used caffeine. Those drinks are just bad news i guess.

[Patrick131]

Metalex, were you drinking alcohol or mixing any other drugs when you did the coke? Also, how much do you weigh? A very good friend of mine back in high school got his hands on some yey and he had a very similar experience like the one you described but, although he was distressed, he didn't have to endure the paranoia andweirdness of getting on a bus. Instead he passed out for about 20 minutes on his bathroom floor, lips purple, and his breathing was all fucked up. I do remember him not being able to stand up and losing all compusure.


As his best friend I seriously contemplated taking him to the ER cause he looked really bad. A lot of people there were also tripping on liquid so I had to stay in the room with him so as to not wig them out. And i know that he didn't do that much, maybe two little lines.I do know that he drank a lot of whiskey that night and heis a little guy, back then he only weighed about 140 pounds. He eventually came out of it, but i remember his hands making weird movements like somebody with MS would and his armswere also waving around like he had a nuerological disease.


Also, do you have any drug allergies (i.e, codeineparticularlyand other pain killers more generallyby any chance)? This may sound weird but many people who are allergic to codeine and its derivatives also have very violent and unusual reactions to the smallest amounts of cocaine. Sorry but I don't have nor know the nuerological mumbo-jumbo to validate this but i am sure it can be put into google like other stuff. My buddy pukes violently at the first ingestion of codeine, and he seemed to show similar symptoms when he did the coke. Hope this helps a bit.

[AZMEO]

to break it down for you


Acute: vasoconstriction (heart attack) rare; heart arrhythmia heart attack and sudden death occurrence is rare.


Chronic use: Elevated blood pressure leading to cardiomyopthy (enlarged heart) and kidney damage. Also a heart block may develop (pacemaker).


I’m 36 years old and have none of these problems and my heart is very healthy in spite of heavy use when I was younger. It must be noted that people who use more frequently are more likely to develop problem than those who just binge on occasion was a binge user. You need to give you body a rest and don’t use all the time.

[sands of time]

That does sound like a serious problem. I, myself, would have just went home and thought nothing of it, but I know that wouldn't be the right thing to do. I'm still not convinced that the caffeine was what pushed you over, since 200 mgs of caffeine is about equal to two cups of coffee, but I suppose if you don't take in caffeine regularly you would be much more sensitive to it. If the drink had ephedra that would make more sense, since there have been cases of deaths as a result of people taking to much ephedra and working out.

Please note, I am not a doctor! I work with doctors daily, but that doesn't mean I know more than anyone else. If you have this problem again, you may want to talk to your doctor.

[Patrick131]

Thanks evreybody for your posts!!

[Spacebeef]

SWIM snorted the usual amount (well, maybe a little more). The rush was intense, the euphoria was really high. Then SWIM started having convulsions? SWIM doesn't know how to explain them. SWIM's head was swinging from left to right for a couple of minutes, then switching from front to back. SWIM could move, SWIM could see everything, but SWIM did not pass out. SWIM thought he was going to die. SWIM thought my heart was going to stop. But I don't think SWIM had a seizure, because SWIM was aware of everything and SWIM remembers everything.

SWIM was in a hotel room. SWIM managed to call reception and ask for an ambulance. Police had to force the door. They found the cocaine but threw it in the toilet. SWIM was found half-naked on the bed with a bathrobe (how humiliating). By the time they arrived, the convulsions stopped. But SWIM was having chest pains.

SWIM spent the next 6 hours in a hospital. SWIM's heart rate was around 120 BPM so they gave SWIM a massive dose of Valium IV. 5mg each time, around 6 or 7 times.

SWIM left the hospital at 6 am. SWIM was fine. It was against SWIM's doctor approval but they can't keep SWIM from leaving if SWIM doesn't want to stay.

I also forgot to mention that SWIM took 6mg of clonazepam before taking the cocaine.

SWIM doesn't know if that's what caused the convulsions? The convulsions (could not control head, legs were shaking) lasted for about 20-30 mins. Then stopped.

SWIM wants to try it again but doesn't want this experience to happen again. So SWIM will take smaller lines and take it easy.

[luckyatl13]

how much did he take? gram wise.

[Spacebeef]

Good question. It was his first lines for the night. He usually takes big lines. I'd say. At least between 400-500mg

[TXRoughneck]

It was a seizure, but strange that it happened after taking clonazepam (Klonopin). I had always thought they were so similar to diazepam (Valium) that they would also work to back out of OD. Are you on any other medications like Wellbutrin (bupropion)? My buddy SWIX has seen many interactions between Wellbutrin and other anti-anxiety/depressants and C.

[FutureMovieStar]

Originally Posted by Spacebeef

SWIM snorted the usual amount (well, maybe a little more). The rush was intense, the euphoria was really high. Then SWIM started having convulsions? SWIM doesn't know how to explain them. SWIM's head was swinging from left to right for a couple of minutes, then switching from front to back. SWIM could move, SWIM could see everything, but SWIM did not pass out. SWIM thought he was going to die. SWIM thought my heart was going to stop. But I don't think SWIM had a seizure, because SWIM was aware of everything and SWIM remembers everything.

SWIM was in a hotel room. SWIM managed to call reception and ask for an ambulance. Police had to force the door. They found the cocaine but threw it in the toilet. SWIM was found half-naked on the bed with a bathrobe (how humiliating). By the time they arrived, the convulsions stopped. But SWIM was having chest pains.

SWIM spent the next 6 hours in a hospital. SWIM's heart rate was around 120 BPM so they gave SWIM a massive dose of Valium IV. 5mg each time, around 6 or 7 times.

SWIM left the hospital at 6 am. SWIM was fine. It was against SWIM's doctor approval but they can't keep SWIM from leaving if SWIM doesn't want to stay.

I also forgot to mention that SWIM took 6mg of clonazepam before taking the cocaine.

SWIM doesn't know if that's what caused the convulsions? The convulsions (could not control head, legs were shaking) lasted for about 20-30 mins. Then stopped.

SWIM wants to try it again but doesn't want this experience to happen again. So SWIM will take smaller lines and take it easy.

Either:

1. You didn't investigate the cola before snorting it and you made your usual lines but didn't realize you got some really really good stuff. Or the rocks you cut into lines happen to be really good rocks while most of the cut was left in the bag (this happens when the guy who cut it doesn't throughly mix the cut in when he re-bakes the cola - or some jackass is cutting like an amatuer by just throwing some cut in a bag with cola)

2. It was the reaction to the previous pill you took.

I have expierenced a situtation where I took 2 big lines of REALLY good stuff, and I was sitting in the bathroom pukeing my guts out sweating buckets and a very very fast heart rate. I thought I was going to die. That will never happen again.