You guys are idiots.
His kidneys are failing and . Fuck bluelight, you guys don't advocate for safety, you push facts farther away so you can keep your highs going.
HE HAS MUSCLE DAMAGE IN HIS KIDNEYS. HE HAS BEEN PERMANENTLY DAMAGED FROM DOC.3 DAYS LATER AND HES STILL I'M ICU.
HE CAN BARELY BREATHE AND THIS WAS OUR THIRD TIME USING THE SAME SHIT.
nothing was different other than he almost DIED. You guys want to play devils advocate for this stuff? Go do it. Let's let YOU watch your friend dying in front of you for 4 hours and see if you'll even consider this bullshit again.
Good riddance .
I'm done with this forum. I fucking warned you. If you die after ignoring this for a few more years I'll be glad to piss on your graves.
I understand that this is an emotional issue for you, and I'm not asking you to consider using DOC again or to recommend it to anyone else. However, please try to understand that, as a harm reduction forum, bluelight's mission is to report the facts as accurately as possible. Your opinion that DOC is not worth the risk is valid--it's just not acceptable to further this opinion by misrepresenting the nature of its risks. It's much better to give prospective users an accurate assessment of the side effects, contraindications, and warning signs they should look out for than to warn a few more people away at the cost of increasing the risks in those who still choose to use the drug.
As I explained above, the "muscle damage" in your friend's kidneys is due to the toxic effects of myoglobin released during systemic rhabdomyolysis as a result of acidosis. Any kidney impairment actually induced by DOC or any other psychedelic drug--or for that matter for any other amphetamine--is a purely temporary effect caused by vasoconstriction lasting only the duration of the drug. Your friend's kidney damage was not induced directly by DOC, but rather as a consequence of the acidosis that this temporary dysfunction helped to cause. Drug-related kidney problems are
highly comorbid with pre-existing renal acidifying defects--these defects are more common than you likely suspect, with an incidence of around 6% in measured populations, and also predispose people towards incidence of kidney stones, glomerular disease, interstitial and tubular nephritis, and uremia. To give a face to this point: you mentioned that amphetamines have been observed to cause kidney dysfunction. Renal acidifying defects and/or existing partial tubule acidosis are present in
nearly 100% of amphetamine-related acute renal failures.
This doesn't mean that it's "not DOC's fault." The fact of the matter is that DOC is a significantly more risky drug in people with existing kidney abnormalities--whether they know of these abnormalities or not. But this is important information for them to know--because it will also increase the risks associated with use of alcohol, amphetamines, or even cannabis. Additionally, they are quite likely to have kidney related health complications such as kidney stones, chronic partial or acute renal failure, glomerular disease, or nephritis later in life regardless of their substance use.
For the sake of harm reduction I'm also going to mention a number of other risk factors--which I'm not accusing your friend of having--that people should be aware might increase the severity of vasoconstriction during a DOx trip:
-Chronic partial or acute sleep deprivation
-Excessive meat in diet (increases acidity of blood, increases concentration of creatine which converts to creatinine and contributes to kidney toxicity and hypovolemic electrolyte imbalances under acidic conditions, damages lipid profiles resulting in vascular stenosis, hardened arteries, high blood pressure)
-Inadequate green foods in diet (reduces effectiveness of pH buffering system, thereby impairing resistance to acidosis)
-Inadequate food intake before and during trip
-Inadequate hydration (thickened blood, impaired pH buffering, hypernatremia, hypercalcemia, hyperkalemia, hyperthermia)
-sensitivity to adrenergic drugs (via DOC's strong effect on alpha 2 adrenoceptors)
-sensitivity to serotonergic drugs (via DOC's strong effect on SERT)
-sensitivity to vasoconstrictive effects of psychedelic drugs (via DOC's strong action on 5ht2a and 5ht2b)
-preexising renal acidifying defect, kidney stones, partial renal acidosis, glomerular disease, nephritis, uremia, or other issues with kidneys
-steroid use (through damage to lipid profiles, thickened blood)
-simultaneous alcohol intoxication (additional disposition towards acidosis through lactic acidosis, adrenergic activity)
-simultanous stimulant intoxication (additional predisposition towards vasoconstriction, high blood pressure, dehydration and associated hypovolemic electrolyte imbalances, inadequate nutrition, inadequate sleep, etc.)
-obesity and/or poor physical wellbeing (low vascular elasticity, stenosis, high blood pressure, poor lipid profiles, etc.)
Lastly.... and I don't mean to put too fine a point on this because I'm sure you feel bad, but if you can't respond appropriately in an emergency situation while tripping (and that's perfectly understandable) then you need to keep a sober tripsitter with you to take care of these things. Health-related complaints should never be brushed off, especially when dealing with drugs like DOC that have a riskier profile than the classical psychedelics. Vasoconstriction should be treated, and measures should be taken immediately when symptoms of acidosis or rhabdomyolysis appear: benzodiazepines, l-arginine and l-citrulline, 5ht2a-mediated muscle relaxers such as cyclobenzaprine, and antipsychotics are all good things to have on hand to treat symptoms as they appear. In addition to this, you must also consider the very real possibility that you didn't correctly measure his dose.
Drugs of the DOx class are by no means harmless--and they in fact DO have cumulative toxic effects through 5ht2b-mediated cardiac tissue proliferation and 5ht2a-mediated excitotoxicity in serotonergic and glutamatergic neurons. But they don't have cumulative toxic effects on kidney function. Nor are they unpredictable--they follow a consistent dose-response curve that is effected by quantifiable risk factors, and complications from their use present with clearly indicated warning signs which should prompt treatment with easily available tools. There are many people who can't or won't use such a high level of care when using this compound, and it's important that they should
not be using DOC. But it's equally important that all of this information be available to those who choose to use DOC so that they can engage in educated safe practice.
I wish all the best to your friend.