Health - Ketamine health consequences

[dexbud]

SWIM recently stumbled upon a new article relating to Ketamine health risks... any thoughts?

[top]Ketamine abuse damages bladder, kidneys

Mon Dec 15, 2008 12:17pm EST

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Ketamine, widely abused as a party drug and sometimes known as Special K, can cause inflammation and contraction of the bladder leading to possibly irreversible kidney damage, according to a report from Hong Kong.
Ketamine is mostly used as a veterinary anesthetic. In humans, it causes hallucinations and high blood pressure. It became widely abused in some parts of the world by the 1990s, and has since been banned or classified as a controlled substance in several countries.
"Street-ketamine abuse is not only a drug problem but might be associated with a serious urological condition causing a significant burden to healthcare resources," Dr. Peggy Sau-Kwan Chu and colleagues write in the medical journal BJU International.
In their study, Chu, from Tuen Mun Hospital, Hong Kong, China, and others describe problems that developed in 59 ketamine abusers who were seen at Hong Kong hospitals from March 2000 to December 2007.
All of the subjects had moderate to severe lower urinary tract symptoms, such as urgency, frequency, and difficulty urinating.
Visual examination with a cystoscope revealed an inflamed bladder in 42 of these individuals, and biopsies showed that 12 of them had a more serious condition called interstitial cystitis.
On further testing, 47 patients were found to have overactive bladder or decreased bladder elasticity, the team reports.
Damage to one or both kidneys was seen on ultrasound in 30 patients, and four of them had areas of dead kidney tissue.
"Abstinence from ketamine abuse is strongly advocated before any irreversible damage to the urinary tract occurs," Chu and her colleagues emphasize.
People who've used ketamine recreationally should seek early urological assessment, they advise. This may "help to reduce not only the detrimental effects to the abusers, but also the health costs to society."
SOURCE: BJU International, December 2008.







© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good Warning and a topic that needs to be MUCH more widely disseminated!!!!

[Yata]

I doubt this is from the ketamine itself but instead something which had been used to cut it on the street. Because ketamine is used all the time in hospitals.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	highly unwise and based not on valid reasoning
	Ketamine can have adverse effects on genitourinary systems even under MD care.

[dexbud]

Ketamine is used in hospitals in an acute administration pattern. There is not repeated doses of ketamine over a significant period of time as this article claims the subjects of the investigation were subjecting themselves to. It is absurd to think that this could be attributed to some kind of cutting agent. Ketamine is hardly a benign substance... why would swiy jump so quickly to a thoughtless conclusion such as this? Also, check your reasoning, Ketmine is not used in humans all that frequently, as far as swim knows.

[Djvr16]

Swim recently got over a bladder infection. Swim's seemingly been having a lot of issues and pains, that k has been reported about.

Chest pains, overactive bladder, bladder infections, memory loss, speech problems......

[dexbud]

Are you a ketamine user?

dexbud added 0 Minutes and 31 Seconds later...

Originally Posted by dexbud

Are you a ketamine user?

AH sub SWIY for YOU in prior post

[doppey]

SWIM has also had these problems. As have many people he knows. As much as he doesn't believe the article they are referencing, he has no doubt that these effects can happen from using the drug. The quantities SWIM has seem used are 1-2 average in one sitting for a few days many times a month. Occasional use never seemed to result in these problems.

[Devilsmile]

swims been urinating blood after heavy ketamine use, and now swim can't see the blood but it still hurts, will swim recover? I Don't know.

[dexbud]

This is important information for any would be future or current Ketamine users... use with caution and moderate use! Serious health consequences seem to be readily possible!

[Yata]

I'm not trying to discount the experiences of certain people, but as soon as people start taking conjecture and rumour as fact, well this is how bad drug myths start to get spread around. All I'm going to say is take it all with a huge pinch of salt. Large clinical trials for Ketamine have taken place and even more recently with trials about depression in which users were on ketamine daily. I tend to believe whats been proven with science and if I may be misguided for that then that ignorance may be the downfall of me but even with SWIM's personal ketamine experiences, SWIM's been taking large amounts of ketamine on and off for the past few years.(usualy a couple of G a day for a week or two then another week of rest) the Reason I suspect bad production methods in the far east where ALOT is imported from or cutting agents is because the Ket SWIM's been getting has been Pharmaceutical grade from source known to him and he's had none of these problems mentioned in the article. The article even mentions 'street ketamine abuse', who knows what a bad batch could do.

[dexbud]

SWIM is no longer referencing the article, simply the responses from ill ket users... and certainly, tainted supply could induce further damage, but the seeming widespread regard for the nontoxicity of not only ketamine but many compounds discussed on this and related boards must be checked by the experiences of users as well as scientific literature. SWIY mentions:

"Large clinical trials for Ketamine have taken place and even more recently with trials about depression in which users were on ketamine daily. SWIM tend to believe whats been proven with science..."

OK, references? Show me the articles that document these trials. Please back this up. SWIM does not doubt your reasoning, but SWIM needs citations. Also, science does not prove anything, only disproves.

"as soon as people start taking conjecture and rumour as fact"

This is not conjecture or rumor... look at the experiences of the otherwise healthy ketamine users whose friends replied to this post!

Also, no one is asserting anything as fact, where does SWIY get this idea?

The claim is simply this: look at this media and these essentially 'clinical' responses from fellow users... there is cause for concern over ones health in regards to how this compound (or the preparations that are availible to common users, which is really perhaps most important here) may affect it!

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good reasoned responses throughout this thread you certainly need this rep!

[RaverHippie]

While SWIYata believes otherwise, if you check the forums for k-pains or just browse the ketamine forums there will be countless reports of such symptoms for users who develop addictions to ketamine and go through obtuse amounts of the substance without any breaks like SWIYata described.

Most ketamine likely comes from diversion from pharmaceutical suplies anyways, not underground chemists.

[hijaQr]

Originally Posted by Devilsmile

swims been urinating blood after heavy ketamine use, and now swim can't see the blood but it still hurts, will swim recover? I Don't know.

SWIY will recover. SWIM has been severly hit by this is the recent past, and has been into hospital for a series of cystoscopys to monitor its progress and it has healed quite an ammount in the abscense of ket use. SWIM is positive it would still be a prob if ket use was still going on. There has been no treatment as such, just the afforementioned procedure, but time is the healer. And drink buckets of water. Dont fool yourself into thinking its not the ket or less ket will be ok. You need to stop now while its not a total mess.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Hlepful info on Ketamine risks

[serpent]

i know someone who hasnt taken any for over a year and is still not urinating right.not enough pressure to stream into the bowl apparently and pissing every 10 minutes if they drink beer.this is someone who by their own admission has abused the drug,but it is so easy to do.if you are addicted to something,even knowing that it is causing youharm is not enought to make you stop.
at least the other addictive drugs dont cause that much damage,just a risk of possible addiction.this one is addictive and looks like it can cause major physical damage as well,even in its pure form,if used regularly.
i wouldnt go any where near it ever again after hearing about this.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Important data on Ketamine health impact

[ketamine]

swim has recently been suffering from sleep paralysis. this has never happened to swim before but recently they have being taking more ket, and on a few occasions swim has woken up been unable to move.

[dave-o]

FFS guys, do you have to make a habit of it?

It's not like you can properly K-hole every day for weeks on end. The tolerance builds up too fast.

Have a bit of willpower - ration yourselves to one big trip a fortnight. Look forward to it and enjoy it. Otherwise it just becomes boring.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Very true. Good advice.

[dexbud]

It this true Ketamine SWIMers? Does frequent use of K eradicate its purported benefits/intrigue/pay-off?

Thanks to all who have reported on SWIYs health issues relating to K use... it is important knowledge to share...

Regards

[anfield road]

a friend has being using for 4 months solid every day more or less and has recently started pissing all the time and getting weird pains in his lower parts.
Does this pain heal in time or is it like this for good now?

[CrookedEye]

Only heals if SWIY stops using...

[rxbandit]

Swirx confirms the above allegations. He abused ketamine from December till early April, averaging a gram a day sometimes up to 5 grams in a night. He was convinced he had an STD from the urinary trouble, it is uncomfortable, but does go away for the most part at least for him.

He also notes habitual ketamine can be stressful on interpersonal relationships, and at higher dosages blackouts happen frequently. Swiy can become a keta-zombie without remembering what was said or done, its a little freaky seeing someone at that point. They hear swiy look get confused, respond incorrectly then look absent mindedly away sometime with a robot walk or a stagger if upright. Swirx and his girlfriend almost broke up countless times due to his habit, luckily love has overcome.

Initial dangers: Stairs, walls, and anything else easily fallen into. swims seen a few go down this way, and far more look blatantly blasted.

Memory loss, or confusion: Swirx reports difficulty remembering things and difficulty focusing a day after ketamine.



As to blame adulterants, Swirx knows that a large portion of the K was reportedely smuggled in a container that left the K with an orange color, nasty according to his source. This would likely be a metal and detrimental to anyones health.

Swirx only used nice Racemic crystals and knows his adverse effects were from the actual drug.

Swirx has also experienced pains in the area of his organs that have not been terrible but he has had in the back of the mind that damage could be a possibility... hopefully not.


Ketamine is quite fascinating but whats really at the bottom of that hole.

Reputation Comments on this post:

useful and interesting post

[Bojangles]

swim always has the urge to urinate and does urinate a large amount while on k

[Octo42o]

Well SWIM has been IMing K for the past 4 months and snorting on and off 3 months prior. The purity is straight out of a sealed vile. SWIM has taken maybe two one week breaks spaced out his using, and probably does it 4 days out of the week. SWIM has developed tightness of the deltoids, no severe pains, only to the touch does it hurt. SWIM will shoot around 200cc of it when using, some days he's done a whole vial. The Vial is diluted 1 ml - 115mg. SWIM also experienced the Zombie like state, seeing a women figure, unable to form sentences, complete memory loss, a limp when walking to try and stay balanced, double vision. This might seem uncomfortable to some, but SWIM is still very hard to let go of the Kitty. Because with all the bad SWIM has experienced some very spiritual trips into the hole. No real hangover except some excessive sleeping, but that could be attributed to alot of things, and already suffered sleep paralysis before even starting K, have only had one paralysis since shooting K.

SWIM is ready to give it up for a good while. But recently SWIM was told by and EMT friend that you can just go cold turkey, in sense he said it would be like quiting Opiates, Benzos and Alcohol. So he would have to ween of to not suffer. SWIM was thinking of using Valium or K-pins at a moderate dosing, but the EMT friend told him that it wouldnt prevent the seriousness of the withdrawls. Can someone clarify this for SWIM? The 2 weeks that SWIM took a break the first 3 days were as if he was dope sick, so it does put doubt in his mind now that it might not be as easy as he thought. SWIM needs another opinion before going to a Detox center.

I agree with SWIRX that Ketamine is interesting, the hole is endless, filled with demons and angels. The nearest thing to death, complete deatachment from reality, friends, mind, body and even soul. You can go so deep and then your vision clears and see you've dug uncomfortably far down. SWIM is done digging.

[makiaveli]

SWIM has been on daily K snorting for about 4months.
Dosage varies from 1-4mg up the nose per day to sometimes 8mg.
For the last 1 month he's having K cramps which he didnt know until today.
SWIM thought it was gastric. It was quite bad until he got injection from doctor thrice bcos the doctor thought it was gastritis attack.

So, last saturday was the last day SWIM took k because he had enough of the pain, but now SWIM is having
1) frequent toilet visit which is really bad like 30mins once or every 10mins if he drinks alot.
2) when SWIM finish urine, it hurts
2) abdominal pain

SWIM is really worried about this.

it's been 5 days since SWIM stop and will the pain/frequent toilet visit go away?

[anfield road]

mate swim is the exact same, swim has done ir every day for 6 months odd and is fucked!!

need the toilet all the time, very bad pains in the stomach!!

Swim has just found LSD and has now give up daily snorting off k for once a week!!

DRINK LOADS OF WATER AND OCEAN SPRAY CRANBERRY JUICE!!! FROM swim

please get better as swim is scared about it and is only 20

[Jdubs]

How much risk is there for damage if swim does it 3 or 4 times a year (snorted) spaced out by months?

[anfield road]

none at all, Swim thinks he is probably fucked for life now cause of this!!! if only there was info on hand at the time