Erowid GHB Vault : Health

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GHB Health Concerns

* Every individual reacts differently to every substance.
* Be mindful at every step.
* Know your body. Know your mind. Know your source.

When taken occasionally as a prescribed sleep aid, GHB is a fairly mild, low toxicity chemical. When taken as a recreational intoxicant, it can be very dangerous. Accidental ingestions, accidental overdoses, idiosyncratic reactions, and mixing GHB with other depressants can lead to vomiting, convulsions, unconsciousness ("GHB coma"), serious hangovers, and sometimes death.

Regular use of GHB or equivalents can cause marked physical addiction. With 4-6 uses per week (single dose per use) at 'normal' dosages, people report finding that they need to increase their dose somewhat to get the same level of intoxication and many also report that they often feel like they need a little GHB to feel normal.

With very heavy use (one or more doses per day), many people report very serious physical addiction. Stopping cold turkey results in anxiety, inability to sleep, feeling like the heart is arrhythmic (irregular), and often very unpleasant and potentially dangerous effects. Many heavy users report being able to taper off their use to zero by reducing their intake slowly over 2-3 weeks.

When taken infrequently with carefully measured doses and no chance of accidental Overdose (this is nearly impossible to guarantee), many people find GHB to be a pleasant alcohol replacement. Unfortunately because its often kept as a clear liquid and even in drinking-water bottles, accidental ingestions are somewhat common. Also, because GHB is generally available as a liquid, it is impossible to know the concentration and thus accidental Overdoses are also common.

GHB's effects last only a few hours during which it metabolizes into CO2 and H2O leaving no toxic metabolites [Vickers, 1969, Laborit, 1972]. GHB can no longer be detected in urine 4-5 hours after taken by injection [Laborit, 1964]. But its likely that it is detectable for 10-20 hours when taken orally.

As a sleep aid, GHB induces sleep. The sleep induced by normal doses of GHB is fairly safe when it has not been mixed with other chemicals, but be aware that it's hard to convince anyone of this if you fall asleep in public and are unable to be awakened. Bar owners, police, and emergency personnel need to be educated about the effects of GHB in order to reduce the problems caused by misinformation.

GHB by itself can be fatal. Trinka Porrata has attempted to create a list of GHB-related fatalities by date and location. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the issue of how many of these deaths were actually caused by GHB. Establishing a cause of death is a very complicated process and this site provides no data about what criteria were used in defining these as 'GHB-related deaths'.

MEDICAL USES :

Treatment of Insomnia
Treatment of Sleep Disorders (narcolepsy)
Treatment of Alcoholism

WARNINGS :

Be safe...avoid mixing GHB with alcohol. GHB can be dangerous when used improperly or when mixed with other depressants. Combining a normal GHB dose with alcohol can trigger the overdose reaction of temporarily unrouseable sleep. GHB has been associated with 60 deaths in the US, according to the DEA, though most have involved other drugs (most commonly, alcohol) or high doses.
GHB may dangerously depress breathing in some people, at very high doses, or in combination with other drugs (primarily alcohol). GHB can also cause vomiting in combination with unconsciousness, which can be a fatal combination. It has also been known to cause breathing similar to Cheynes-Stokes Breathing. GHB has been associated with 60 deaths in the US as of Jan 2000, according to the DEA, though only ~20 have been confirmed as GHB-only deaths.
Be extremely careful with your GHB dose. Just as you don't want to drink 4x the amount of alcohol needed to get you intoxicated, you don't want to ingest more than a single dose of GHB. As with other substances, start low and work up slowly to find your own, individual level.
If you take a double dose of GHB you may FALL UNCONSCIOUS and be UNROUSEABLE for up to 4 or 5 hours.
If you take 3 - 4 times your Personal Threshold Dose, you may find yourself Unconscious and Vomiting.
If you take more than 3-4 times your Personal Threshold Dose, there is risk of death.
If you take GHB, make sure your friends know about its sleep inducing characteristics.

One of the most common dangers of a mild GHB overdose is being taken to a hospital and treated as if you have OD'd on a depressant. This include stomach pumps, breathing tubes and IV's, not to mention huge hospital bills.

Last Modified - Tue, Apr 24, 2007

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