GHB Related Death  by Mia EROWID. Nov 21, 2002. erowid.org/exp/13889

As I write this, I am still reeling from the death of my friend. Last Thursday my life was changed when my roommate came home, shaking and crying. It took a minute for her to say it, that Brian was dead. Later, we discovered that he took a few doses of GHB and drank alcohol as well. Since his death was only a week ago, we are still unsure of the exact dosage, or exactly what happened. We do know, however, that Wednesday night Brian went to bed and never woke up.
None of us thought that something like this could happen to one of our friends. But, now, we are all affected by this experience. Not a single one of us will ever be the same, and though we will never forget Brian and are better having known him, we wish he was still with us today.
In memory of Brian G., 1982 - 2002

 

GHB Death Dec 2001 by vintage angel EROWID Nov 21, 2002. erowid.org/exp/12936

Brennan B,18, was a classmate of mine since freshman year. on december 28, 2001, Brennan went to Jimmy's, a bar uptown. He was partying, getting drunk, enjoying the end of the year. Soon he was outside purchasing GHB. The GHB was inegested.
As the evening progressed, Brennan became 'overly intoxicated', and was escorted outside. Outside Jimmy's, Brennan collapsed. He sat there not breathing for 30 MINUTES. He was taken to Charity Hospital, comatose. When they tested his brain for activity, there was none. Brennan was brain dead. Nothing could be done to save him. On January 8, 2002, they turned off the machine that breathed for him. I attended his wake on January 10. I never would have thought as a freshman, that I would be attending this kid's wake, and that this kid would die from the mixture of GHB and alcohol, months shy of his 19th birthday, and his graduation.

 

Leigh. "OD, Hospitalization: An Experience with GHB (ID 13560)". EROWID Nov 9, 2005. erowid.org/exp/13560
Due to my ignorance and lack of information about GHB I ended up OD'ing. I was at a friend of mine's house and her brother (an avid drug user) brought us a bottle of GHB. ... I started feeling the effects not long after I had taken it. A feeling of being drunk is what I can relate it to. I remember being dragged from one room to another by my friends, unable to walk on my own. The very last thing I remember is lying on a mattress, talking about how much I love tool's music, while my friends were throwing a soccer ball at me. The next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital.
This is what my friends told me happen during the time I passed out and woke up in the hospital. First off I stopped talking. My friends thought I was faking it so they didn't mind me much. One of my friends heard me starting to breathe strangely - sort of like wheezing. She came over to me and at that point I stopped breathing all together. I am very lucky because she knows CPR and administered it to me which made me start to breathe again. During this time my other friend called 911 and woke up my friend's parents. The ambulance came and I once again stopped breathing. At one point my heart stopped as well.
I sat straight up when I finally woke up a day later. I tried to scream but there was a respirator down my throat. My family was there all crying. My brother later told me that on the way to the hospital my mom looked at him and said 'you know your sister's probably dead'. I was lucky that I made it. I had friends there that acted instead of saying 'oh she'll sleep it off'.

 

Elise. "An Experience with GHB (ID 2299)". EROWID Sep 24, 2001.  erowid.org/exp/2299
Sunday morning, someone came up to me at the Party Smart booth and asked me to help out their friend who had been passed out for about a half hour. I went over there and it was my Zack. He was just passed out at first so I sat there with him for about twenty minutes or so. Then he got really bad. He fell unconscious. Then he started puking up blood and stomach lining. He started to convulse and stuff. It was so horrible. He stopped breathing. For a while, we couldn't find a heartbeat. We tried to keep him alive at the party for about two hours. It was horrible. .....
I spent six hours at the hospital. The doctors told me to not be surprised if he died. When they finally got him stable, I went to go see him. He still wasn't conscious. They didn't think he would live. They said if he did, he could have serious brain damage, maybe even be a vegetable because of the lack of oxygen to his brain and asphyxiation. But anyway, twelve hours later, he finally became conscious. The doctors couldn't believe it. But he would stop breathing a lot and go into arrest. He finally began to breathe on his own, so they took the tube out of his throat. Then the cops came. The doctors said they would need to keep him there because he wasn't fully recovered and he was developing pneumonia but the cops persuaded them to release him into their custody. He could barely walk or stand up and they cuffed him and took him away.

"Severe Addiction : An Experience with GBL (ID 91760)". EROWID Aug 24, 2011. erowid.org/exp/91760

 

I had had a very troublesome year with severe depression and was not responding to various SSRI's and SNRI's. I ended up with some GBL and took a dose of around 2ml. My depression instantly lifted, as well as all of my anxiety and I was able to function normally. Once it's effects had worn away, I re-dosed.
I found myself in a pattern of frequent dosing, at the worst point I was re-dosing every 2 hours or less. I had developed a massive tolerance for the substance. After several months I was collapsing more and injuring myself after taking it. I was unable to hold down more than 2 hours sleep at a time as my body would wake me up to re-dose. Also I have read about a possible 'dopamine rebound,' that being that when you take GHB/GBL dopamine levels are supressed and rebound after a few hours...making you more alert and anxious. I can say that I most certainly would feel these effects.

I was literally a mess, I couldn't function properly anymore, nobody wanted to be around me and I couldn't go anywhere without taking GBL with me.

I decided to cut down my use in an attempt to stop, taking a lesser dose less often. I went to bed and woke up a few hours later not knowing where I was, who I was or what was going on. I was in such a state of confusion and my whole body was shaking violently. I began vomiting everywhere. After a few moments I some how instinctively had a shot of GBL and all of these withdrawal symptoms evaporated.

I knew then that I needed medical help to stop my GBL intake. I sought help and found it nearly impossible and none of the doctors seemed to know what it was. I spent two days educating different groups of doctors and being passed from one place to the next.