Posted by Ame Sans Vie on August 26, 2003, at 1:19:49
In reply to Question, posted by ct girl on August 25, 2003, at 18:22:14
In complete agreeance with Questionmark on this one, though a speedball is a term used to refer not only to a heroin/coke combo, but any opioid/speed combination, typically intravenous (though if it ain't heroin and cocaine, it's usually called "the poor man's speedball"). You may recall that Layne Staley, frontman for the band Alice in Chains, was found dead in his home Friday, April 19, 2002 -- the state of decay showed that he had been deceased since April 5th (which leads me personally to believe it was a suicide, as he was quite close with Kurt Cobain who died on that same day eight years earlier). The toxicology report showed it was a speedball O.D. I wouldn't have gone into this whole spiel about Layne, except that he was a wonderful friend of mine and was second to none when it came to hard rock vocals... I miss him dearly and think of him fondly every day. Marilyn Manson et al. are also good friends, and I was just called up by Pogo (keyboardist) a few days ago and informed that Manson had a close call with a hydromorphone/cocaine/absinthe combination. I gave him a good talking to.
You did ask for side effects and longterm complications though, and I believe in trying to be as complete as possible... off the top of my head I can tell you a few things:
a) Extreme malnutrition due to loss of appetite.
b) Dangerously dramatic drop in weight, also due to appetite suppression.
c) Permanent dysfunction of your CNS catecholemine systems (i.e. dopamine, adrenaline, and noradrenaline), which will result in amotivational syndrome, severe depression (melancholia), and amphetamine/cocaine psychosis. I assume that extrapyramidal symptoms, tardive dyskinesia, and Parkinson's disease could also result due to depletion of dopamine, though I'm just speculating here.
d) Loss of libido and sexual dysfunction.
e) Serious cardiovascular problems.
f) Anhedonia -- lack of ability to experience pleasure.
g) The plethora of problems associated with IV drug use, if that's the method you're using to administrate the drugs (and I assume it is, as a speedball is typically intravenous).For the record, I am absolutely not opposed to *responsible* use of amphetamines or cocaine, even rock cocaine, though I'd never try it myself. I myself take dextroamphetamine for my ADD. I still occasionally partake in a line or two of coke at parties. But when you get into the dosage ranges that are purely recreational and constitute abuse (especially when combining two drugs with the same general subjective effects), then you're running into trouble.
So, bottom line -- don't do it. I realize that the "speedball" you're referring to is not the classical speedball, but let me just put it this way -- do methamphetamine and cocaine together and you may as well just be saying to your heart, "Myocardial infarction @ my left chest, 10:00PM R.S.V.P.!" I plead to you -- don't become another statistic.
(sigh... I'm hardly coherent tonight, and I know it shows... sleep deprivation'll do that to ya)
poster:Ame Sans Vie
thread:254015
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030823/msgs/254197.html