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Matt
On September 1, 1999, a similar battle–18 months in duration–ended for 26-year-old Matthew Michael in Pittsburgh, the youngest of four. A registered nurse with experience in drug and alcohol rehab, Matt’s mother literally watched him die over 18 months of hell. He was hospitalized ten to 15 times during that year and a half. She advised paramedics and doctors that he had been taking Renewtrient and NRG3 (GHB analogs) to no avail. Experience with GHB was and still is limited. He struggled through numerous driving under the influence arrests.
She saw him fall asleep standing up. When not on it, he endured sleeplessness, abdominal pain, rapid heart rate, soaring blood pressure, profuse sweating, tremors, eating disorder, inability to concentrate and depression. At the end, he would complete one more brief detox program, report to jail for a 72-hour lock up re a previous DUI and go home to die of multiple drugs, trying not to take GHB again.
Joshua
Josh in Northern California and Matt in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, didn’t make it. For months their frantic mothers went with them from ER to ER and treatment facility to treatment facility, pleading for help for their sons and waving bottles of GHB analog products. No one seemed to comprehend the severity of the battle. No one had the right answers to their quest for relief from GHB addiction. Three- to five-day detox and out the door is NOT the answer to a GHB addiction.
From March 1999 until his death July 4, 1999, Myrna Parks struggled to help him. He resisted help at first, buying into the nonsense of the GHB gurus of the internet that GHB is totally safe. “Mom, it can’t be bad for me. I bought it at a health food store.” By March of 1999 when Josh came home to live with his folks, he was sick. He had lost ten pounds in just four days and his saliva glands were no longer working. He had severe diarrhea, vomiting and a white ring around his mouth. He was unable to sleep with body tremors and a high pulse rate. She describes the ambulance run this way, “He became rigid, unable to sit or talk. We could not lay him down in the ambulance because he had lost the ability to swallow his own saliva and began to choke on it. He had to leave him sitting up so that he could drool down his chest. His eye would roll to the back of his head. He could not follow commands, hold or squeeze my hand. He was in a complete vegetative state. I prayed. I couldn’t let go.” Somehow Josh survived that day.
Still, he was angry when his mother rushed him to the ER. She had overreacted as far as he was concerned. Remember, the internet gurus say not to call 911, not to take anyone to the ER; just let them sleep it off. That is potentially deadly advice in a GHB overdose and certainly not helpful to the person in withdrawal from GHB, for whom sleep does not come for days. GHB withdrawal is now known to be life endangering.
This was but the first of many episodes for Josh in the final months of his battle. Then on July 4, 1999, Josh pleaded for something to help ease the pain and sleep. His mother urged him to try hard to sleep with just his prescribed medication and dosage. Unable to do so, Josh apparently acquired someone else’s medication and died of an overdose of a mixture of drugs, seeking only a night’s peace from the withdrawals from GHB.
GHB Withdrawal is Life-Endangering
The doctor had told me he was doing well and working at getting his life back together and back to work. Then she lost contact with him. We both left messages for him and got no replies. The various numbers did or didn’t work from time to time, but we weren’t making contact. Some of the numbers were disconnected. We really became concerned as the weeks passed that he had either started using again and didn’t want to admit it to us—or worse. Frankly, I was ready to call the LA Coroner’s Office to check. But a couple of days ago I ran across his number in an old note and called it one more time, just in case. To my amazement, his wife answered. Yes, he was still alive, and yes, they are still together. He’s doing well, but just busy. She was thrilled to have her husband and father of her kids back. Later he called, and what a difference. This wasn’t the fuzzed, disorganized conversation of the past. This was a man with clarity and life, back among the living. He said his body still needed some “reconstruction” to see those washboard abs again, but he was on his way.
Tragically, after several months of doing great, the quick profit from manufacturing and selling GHB called to him. He went back into producing it and fell victim to consuming it again. He was recently busted by a S. California agency and, of course, went through withdrawal in the jail ward where doctors were unfamiliar with his condition. He literally died on them, but was brought back, spending two days on a ventilator. The detective was in fact notified that he was dead and didn’t know until two weeks later that he had survived. His marriage will probably not survive this time.
Not everyone will have such a tough time in detox, but neither is his experience that unusual. During the past few months I’ve learned a lot about a couple of young men who were addicted to GHB, lived several months of hell trying to escape from it and paid the ultimate price, overdosing on other drugs trying to stay off the G.
Addiction Nightmare
Those who become addicted are in serious trouble, as detoxification from GHB is difficult and even life threatening. Bodybuilders are the ones more likely to become addicted since they are most likely to take it on a regular basis, while partygoers “may” last longer with just occasional use.
Several months ago I got to know a man who had been addicted to GHB for eight years. A former bodybuilder (who even modeled workout clothing with some awesome abs) and a contractor, GHB had taken over his life. His ability to discipline himself and work out was long gone. His body was clearly that of an EX-body builder. When I interviewed him on camera for French TV, he struggled to stay focused and finish sentences, something he attributed to the prolonged abuse of GHB. He’d lose his train of thought and in frustration say, “Trinka, I’m telling you. I wasn’t like this. It’s the GHB.” He was working as a contractor on a small scale. His marriage was falling apart.
I had met him through a doctor at UCLA (Dr. Karen Miotto) who was studying GHB, and interviewing users around the campus. She had introduced me to Dave and was planning to help him detox, but UCLA, like most facilities, had little exposure to the withdrawal syndrome from GHB. After talking with other GHB experts (and learning that it’s more likely a 10-14 day, intensive care situation than the usual 3-5 day detox), they proceeded with his detox—and what an experience it was for them all. By the time he actually went into the hospital, he had gotten even more confused and frustrated. He would somehow remember or be able to find my phone number, but would lose the UCLA phone numbers. He would call me, asking for his doctor’s number (remember–he knew HER before meeting ME). About eight to ten days later, he would call me again, asking for her number and oblivious to the prior conversation. Sometimes he remembered his doctor’s name and sometimes he didn’t. This happened three or four times. His wife had given up on him and was ready to leave; her three children didn’t need any more of this mess.
Then one day I got a call that he was in the hospital in detox. They were in Day 4, and the doctors were worried. He was experiencing bizarre episodes, despite heavy medication, and they were actually worried that he might not live through it. He did survive. Detox took 12 days plus psychiatric care follow up. For UCLA Doctor Karen Miotto it the worst drug withdrawal she had seen. His experience–which he does not remember at all-is the subject of a paper that will be published soon.
Effects - Unpredictable
Little is known about how GHB works and especially how it selects its victims. It is extremely dose sensitive and very unpredictable (no matter what the “quality” of the product). Users, especially beginners or the unsuspecting victims, often vomit and experience body jerking. Users may lose control of bodily functions or wet themselves during the night, unable to wake up and go to the bathroom. They may pass out (called “carpeting out” or “throwing down” among the ravers and club goers) and, while most “sleep it off,” the unconscious state is risky. For those taking lighter doses, there may be incidents of the “head snap,” when GHB takes effect. One user described the head snap as an involuntary snap forward of the head; brief but dangerous. He had experienced this while brushing his teeth and had broken mirrors with his forehead on occasion. Another addict reported the same sensation and indicated he had broken several sets of glasses from the head snap. Breathing may slow to as few as six breathes per minute. They cannot hear phones ringing, horns blaring, fire alarms, etc. At some point, the individual may be without a protective “gag” reflex, allowing death to come easy. Others have been killed by those driving under the influence of GHB or GHB/alcohol.
A victim can die from direct effects of the drug, simply forgetting to keep breathing, having seizures that block the airway. A person in a GHB coma left lying on his (or her) back with gum in the mouth could die simply because the gum happened to fall into a position blocking the airway (it has happened). A person can go into a GHB coma while sitting in the bathtub and simply slide down into the water and drown without even a whimper (it has happened). A user can die from simply taking a dose, as directed for a sleep aid, and going to bed, face down on a pillow. There is no “safe, responsible” use level.
GHB is commonly listed as a central nervous system (CNS) depressant, but really belongs in a class of its own. It produces symptoms somewhat similar to alcohol intoxication in general, but with a few twists of its own. Extreme cases of intoxication will appear similar to PCP. For example, a young man in Los Angeles, unknowingly dosed with GHB in a Hollywood club, ran through the club, grabbing women’s breasts and was thrown out. He ran from the location, tearing off his shirt (common to PCP users), screaming that the world was coming to an end and that he was on fire. Somehow he climbed on top of a Burger King restaurant and held LAPD SWAT officers at bay for two hours, hurling cans of paints and other objects from the rooftop. He was ultimately knocked down with a beanbag round. Four hours after taking the drink, the episode ended suddenly. He had no recall of what he had done.
Club owners often recognize that this is a “new” drug when it hits their facility. Common indicators that GHB has indeed arrived include:
- increase in rapes (typically noted via the rape treatment centers-but commonly
unreported to police) and,
- sudden increase in problems at the location (more disturbance calls, vomit in the
bathrooms and hallways, etc., little vials left lying around, rapid onset of intoxication, increased aggressive and/or sexually oriented behavior by patrons, increased drunk driving around the location but with surprisingly low blood alcohol levels, unarousable “drunks” inside and outside the location, etc.).