Mr Skittles

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Ketamine, widely abused as a party drug, has been linked to severe bladder and kidney dysfunction in 10 young adults in Hong Kong, doctors said.

Writing in the latest issue of the Hong Kong Medical Journal, the doctors said some of the cases were so severe that the young people could hold only 30 milliliters -- or two tablespoons -- of urine in their bladders and had to pass water every 15 minutes.

"One went into acute kidney failure and all of them had evidence of liver damage as well," the doctors from two public hospitals in Hong Kong wrote.

However, as bladder and kidney damage have not been linked to ketamine anywhere in the world before, the researchers said the disorders may be a result of other toxins that "street ketamine" might be contaminated with.

"The authors would like to alert frontline doctors, especially those working in primary care, emergency departments and psychiatry, to this new form of uropathy and its association with ketamine abuse. Early urology referral for comprehensive investigation and management would help combat this new form of urinary tract disease," they added.

Ketamine is mostly used as a veterinary anesthetic. In humans, it causes hallucinations and high blood pressure.

But it had become widely and illicitly used as a party drug in some parts of the world by the 1990s, and has since been banned or classified as a controlled substance in places like Britain, the United States, Canada and Hong Kong.

The seven men and three women in Hong Kong had used ketamine for between one and four years, and their cases came to light when they sought medical help for their incontinence from 2000 to 2007. They have a mean age of 25.

Their early morning urine samples tested negative for acid-fast bacteria, but urine and blood samples taken from some of them tested positive for ketamine and benzodiazepam -- a common sedative-hypnotic drug.

One of them, who identified himself only as "Ah Tsai," spoke of his experience on Hong Kong's Cable Television.

"Even to make a short subway trip (of 15 minutes), I would have to go to the bathroom very urgently as my bladder would be bloated and painful. But the amount of urine I pass out would be very little," he said, with his back to the camera.

All 10 people are being treated.

However, the researchers added that no association has ever been reported between "street ketamine" and bladder or renal impairment and they urged for more research to be done.

"Ketamine abusers are likely to be exposed to other drugs and chemicals either purposefully added as a cutting agent or being co-abused in a soft drug cocktail," they wrote.

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No Typical Raver

Drugs are bad. Film at 11.

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DJ Saiyan

Trust me on this, if K did anything to your bladder, I'd know about it.

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No Typical Raver

p.s. i didnt read a word of that

weava

Maybe you just have a strong bladder.

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Mr Skittles

he has a coating of beer on the walls of his bladder

DJ Saiyan

Actually at the height of my K use I didn't really drink.

Then I started doing both at the same time. Now, while in the right doses this can be pretty fun, in general it is a VERY FUCKING BAD IDEA. Unless spending some quality time with EMTs, almost getting shipped to the hospital in an ambulance, and making a lot of your friends and colleagues lose almost all their respect for you. Not to mention the fact that (hope I word this correctly), K and alcohol both fire the same receptors in your brain. The two substances trying to fire the same receptors at the same time is very very not good for your brain. You're already damaging your brain enough as it is, do you really want to multiply the damage? Yeah, didn't think so.

Anyways getting back on topic, I used to do a shit ton of K. I'm not going to numbers and figures but suffice it to say I had a really serious problem with it. I'm sure there are several board members who can attest to this, if you really want to ask them. The ONLY time I have ever experienced problems like what are described in this article was at WEMF 2003, and it was due to an unrelated infection in a place it's really not fucking easy for guys to get an infection. Not because of the drugs.

My quasi-expert opinion is that, as stated at the end of the article, the problems these people are experiencing are because of what it's cut with, what the people were mixing it with, or all of the above.




In case anyone is wondering why I decided to write a novel about this, I'm a firm supporter of responsible recreational drug use, and the way this article is written it gives the impression that K is DEFINITELY causing bladder and kidney dysfunction, with the statement that no, there is no proven link thrown in almost as an afterthought. That pisses me off. If you're going to write an article about the effects of a drug, present the facts as they are. Don't twist them to meet your own personal views, as it appears as though the author of this article has clearly done.

It's like fucking Fox News in print form

No Typical Raver

there were alot of words in that post shane

DJ Saiyan

Yes there were.

I do occasionally get the urge to write more than a couple of words to convey my point.

liquid_nrg

I used to be into K a lot too. I mean A LOT. Like, a vial between 3 of us.

I've been clean (of K) since December. I've had cravings, but I haven't touched the stuff.

Like Saiyan said, if you're responsible, do it.

DJ Saiyan

A half gram vial, a 3.5 gram vial, or one of those big motherfuckers that fits like a quarter ounce in it?

EvoldicA

mmm vials.. I mean.. drugs are bad mmkay

Berzerk

link?

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weava

google: "ketamine reuters"
find: http://www.reuters.com/article/heal...KG8463320070621

deggs

unrelated but
party monster was on tv last night...

No Typical Raver

i think its been agreed that we dont talk about that shitty movie here

deggs

yeah, i have to say, it kinda sucked hard... i kept stickin with it and it just got worse and worse and the end went into more detail than was necesary...

liquid_nrg

the normal ones.

kylefabulous

a standard vile of liquid ketamine if cooked down accordingly will produce about a gram of crystals... possibly a little less...

also i know there are a few chemical antagonists to ketamine
Ketajet, Ketatol, and Ketaset ...those i know for sure... they are all structurally similar... essentially identical, however Ketajet has the strongest neuroleptic effect... ketamine by classification is a disassociative tranquilizer which annestasizes portions of the nerve synapse by blocking your axon terminal...

also shane... alcohol and ketmine work by two totally different means...

they do effect similar areas of the brain, but so do many other things, like sex, and music...

it might also be interesting to see what brand of actual K they were obtaining in Japan... Ketajet is only manufactured in japan as far as i know... i'm wondering if this might have something to do with the article they published... ketajet being the strongest and most potentially neurotoxic...

DJ Saiyan

My understanding of it (and this came from someone in the medical biz) is that they both affect your brain in the same way in a bad bad bad way.

DJ Saiyan

Ohhhhhhh you were talking liquid.

EvoldicA

Method of administration was not mentioned in the article.. possible use of multiple substances at the same time was.... not a very solid case toward the claims given in the article. Especially given the amount of K-whores I've known in the past that never had any of these symptoms.

liquid_nrg

Yeah, but we would cook it. Not inject it. Gross!

Slow cooked and then ground up fine and flavored with vanilla.

lol

Remman4

Kyle, a chemical antagonist would work against the ketamine, you mean chemical analogue...

the primary hallucination effects of K are actually a function of the sigma opioid receptors not the GABA-a receptor (alcohol, benedryl, valium, xanax, etc...)


I had a friend that underwent gall bladder removal due to gall stones, I feel it was due to an excess use of K, he was doing at least a gram a day intranasally. I don't think that link was ever made by the doctors, but I know that he didn't disclose his use.

I am 99.9% sure that it would be the contaminants in the "street K" that would lead to any of the issues called out in that article.