The ever-enlightening Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports has a new paper on the latest recreational drug craze: bath salts. Yes, bath salts. As MMWR explains:
From November 2010 to January 2011, the Marquette County [Michigan] ED treated seven patients who arrived at the ED with hypertension, tachycardia, tremors, motor automatisms, mydriasis, delusions, and paranoia. Some patients were violent, placing increased demand on ED staff members. Responding to the cluster also placed additional demands on local law enforcement and foster care, because many patients had young children who needed care while their parents were incapacitated. The patients reported using “bath salts” purchased at a local store for about $20 a package and labeled “not intended for human consumption.”
Way to set a good example, Ma and Pa. Apparently these weren’t just any bath salts – only a few, um, provocatively-named brands:
Efforts by the local ED, law enforcement, and prosecuting attorney’s office led to the execution of an emergency public health order on February 4 by the Marquette County Health Department. The proprietor of the store was ordered to immediately remove from sale and turn over to government authorities any and all products known as White Rush, Cloud Nine, Ivory Wave, Ocean Snow, Charge Plus, White Lightning, Scarface, Hurricane Charlie, Red Dove, White Dove, and Sextasy. The Michigan Department of State Police laboratory tested the White Rush seized from the store and detected the presence of MDPV.
MDPV is 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone, which has apparently been a designer street drug since 2004. But how bad could a product called White Rush really be?
Of the 17 hospitalized persons, nine were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), five were admitted to a general floor, and three were admitted directly to a psychiatric unit. Four persons who were first hospitalized in the ICU or a general floor later were transferred to a psychiatric unit. Treatment generally included a benzodiazepine such as lorazepam to control signs of toxicity; low or moderate doses usually were sufficient. Antipsychotics were used as secondary agents when benzodiazepine sedation was ineffective. Of three patients who revisited the ED, one had rhabdomyolysis, chest pain, and dizziness but left against medical advice. Two months later, the patient was admitted to the ICU, moved to a psychiatric floor for 12 days, and then transferred to a different hospital for liver failure. The second patient was admitted to the hospital, discharged, and revisited the ED the same day of discharge after again using “bath salts.” The third patient was treated in the ED twice, with the visits 1 month apart.
Apparently, the drug also carries a high risk of ending up in an embarassing news story:
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Police say an Alum Creek man high on bath salts killed his neighbor’s pygmy goat and that neighbors found him in his bedroom, dressed in a bra and panties, next to the dead animal, said Lt. Bryan Stover of the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to go take a bath.
I came to this blog after seeing the attacks on you by the angry mob of some of the CFS/ME people. Maybe they are on bath salts?
That doesn’t mean that they are wrong and you are right, but I for one am so tired of the way that everything is devolving into us-vs-them replete with insults.
Perhaps. I agree that the us-vs-them attitude is counterproductive, but unfortunately it’s been there from the beginning of the XMRV story. The problem is that a particular crowd of folks heard about the Science paper from Mikovits’s group in 2009, didn’t really read or understand it, but decided that it fit so nicely with their preconceptions that they would henceforth believe it No Matter What. Like the rest of the TWiV crew, I cautioned that it was very preliminary at that point, but many CFS/ME patients apparently weren’t able to hear that.
As for me being “right,” you might notice that I haven’t absolutely stated that the case is closed yet. It’s just looking really, really bad for the XMRV-causes-anything theory. But merely pointing that out apparently makes me a heretic in some circles.
As you likely know, you find the same thing all over, especially including talk about nutrition with lo-carbers now being as bad as vegetarians. ‘Heretic’ :) that’s a good word since all is becoming like battling over religion or politics. Then there are those who make money, whether they be researchers or book authors, on any side.
I don’t see anything wrong with thinking that stress weakens immunity, which opens the door for chronic infection, and therefore psychological means might help to reduce stress and boost immunity. However, I think you might be able to see that your referring to that as “psychiatric illness” is not only inflammatory but also an incorrect characterization.
Btw, one sentence of a non-medical nature deserves being said here: Legislatures used to make laws; but now DAs get orders and usurp that power, which is an example of good intent leading to bad precedent.