Bath salts are a category of synthetic drugs with stimulant-like effects. The term “bath salts” doesn’t apply to just one specific drug, but rather to a number of substances that are chemically similar. The drugs became popular among teens and club-goers after 2010, yet recent surveys show less than 1% of teens today tried them in the past year. Like any foreign substance, the chemicals that make up bath salts can be toxic to the human body.
Synthetic Cathinones (“Bath Salts”)
Promoted as providing a “legal high” that can escape detection in drug tests, bath salts are intended to mimic the hallucinogenic and euphoric highs of methamphetamine or cocaine. At lower doses, they’ve also been marketed as a substitute for methylphenidate (Ritalin) to sharpen mental concentration and as an aphrodisiac. Adding to the attraction is the cheap price; a 200-mg package of bath salts—which may be 3 hits—sells for as little as $15 to $20. Bath salts are also commonly referred to as synthetic cathinones because of their similarity to natural cathinone, derived from the khat plant. The khat plant is a shrub native to East Africa and southern parts of the Middle East; chewing its leaves produces feelings of euphoria and mild amphetamine-like effects.
Physical Symptoms of Bath Salts Abuse
During this stage, you will be supervised by medical professionals. Detox can be an uncomfortable process—since your body has depended on the drugs for some time—so having medical and psychological support in a supervised facility can go a long way toward preventing relapse. The negative short-term effects of bath salts can range from agitation to panic attacks, to hallucinations. Severe reactions may include aggression, violent behavior, adverse mental health symptoms, and psychosis. Other potentially fatal drug reactions are suicidal feelings and overdose. Overdose is the most common complication from the use of bath salts.
Can science keep up with designer drugs?
In the short term, bath salts can deliver a high that helps someone feel like they have more energy and can conquer the world. But the lingering physical effects, especially for those who chronically abuse bath salts, can be dangerous. In the short-term, the unknown makeup of the substance can result in erratic and dangerous barbiturates behavior. They are called bath salts because they are usually packaged as a product “for a soothing bath, not for human consumption.” Before the drugs making up bath salts were illegal, this kept sellers from having the drugs confiscated. Sellers were usually convenience stores, head shops and similar businesses.
How do bath salts affect the body?
A residential treatment program involves living among others seeking sobriety. Residential treatment programming varies from one facility to another, including group and individual therapy, 12-step recovery meetings such as Narcotics Anonymous (NA), behavioral treatment, and other modalities. Treatment for a bath salts addiction follows the traditional treatment methods of other addictions, which include the following. Anyone who uses this drug can develop a bath salts addiction, but some groups may be more at risk than others. However, bath salts can also have serious adverse effects, including psychosis, violent behavior, and death. Arizona law enforcement personnel reported that a man high on bath salts tried to break into an operating room armed with a fire extinguisher.
- Using bath salts can trigger intense cravings and lead to drug binges, making cessation challenging.
- The drug user and those around him are at risk as long as the drug is being abused.
- They are a synthetic type of cathinone—found in nature in the khat plant.
- According to the Drugs Defined in Deceased Persons report, the occurrence of cathinones saw a 105 percent increase.
- This can happen due to the high level of brain activation related to bath salts use when the drug is mixed—or “cut”—with another substance or due to other factors.
“MDPV produces psychoactive effects with as little as 3 to 5 mg, but packages of bath salts promote alarmingly high doses of 50 mg and above,” says Goldberger. Arguably, the most dangerous side effect of these drugs is the risk of addiction. Addiction causes a user to lose self-control and potentially to lose touch with reality. This can lead to taking more of a drug over time and additional dangerous side effects. Bath salts have been called a variant of cocaine, methamphetamine, or ecstasy (MDMA)—as their stimulant features are quite similar in nature. Additionally, like cocaine, bath salts are frequently crystalline in appearance and can be purchased on the street.
Another Arizona man high on bath salts walked down a sidewalk throwing himself at walls. During this time, recovering patients may head to sober living houses or back to their own homes. Sober living homes serve as stepping stones between alcohol and ambien what happens when you mix them the drug rehab facility and home. They may be used to help prevent the chance of relapse as a person gets back on his or her feet. Aftercare may also include group assistance and support programs like Narcotics Anonymous (NA).
We strive to create content that is clear, concise, and easy to understand. This can increase the likelihood of dangerous side effects or a potentially fatal overdose. Enter your phone number below to receive a free and confidential call from a treatment provider.
Bath salts are a designer drug of abuse with reports of dangerous intoxication from emergency departments across the US. “Bath salts” are not a hygiene product used for bathing, as the name might imply, but are dangerous synthetic (“man-made”) cathinones. Recovery from abuse and treatment for addiction are completed in three parts.
If you or someone you know has suicidal thoughts while using bath salts, call or text 988 (the national suicide hotline). If you use bath salts for a long time, you can become suspicious brain changes associated with long-term ketamine abuse a systematic review pmc (paranoid) of others. They give you a “high” that affects how you see others and the world around you. Their effects are similar to the effects of amphetamine and ecstasy (MDMA).
If you feel sick or like something is wrong, get immediate medical help. Call 911 if you have any loss of muscle control, chest pain, or difficulty breathing, or if you or someone you know overdoses. Bath salt overuse can be treated with behavioral therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational enhancement therapy. Drug effects can include a short-term increase in energy and mood and acting strangely friendly to others.
Finally, during recovery, recovering addicts may enter a supportive facility, such as a sober living house or return home. Sober living homes give people recovering from addiction time to adjust to the world before returning to their previous situations. If you are in need of rehab-related support, contact a treatment provider today. Because it’s impossible to know what’s in each batch of these drugs without sending them to a laboratory for testing, the risk of overdose and even death can be high. This is very important because of the dehydration bath salts cause.
Because the two are interrelated, it is important to address both during treatment. It is important to keep in mind that your loved one may be defensive about his or her drug use. The best thing you can do is offer support and care on their journey to recovery.
In the last decade, the number of poison control center calls involving synthetic cathinones in the United States has grown. Abuse of these stimulants has led to thousands of cases of overdose, which can be fatal. “We tested one package of bath salts obtained from New York City and found it contained a synthetic cannabinoid and caffeine and another one from Venice Beach, California, that contained 100% lidocaine,” says Ryan. “The clinical picture will be different for each.” Immunoassay screens routinely used for drugs of abuse in emergency departments don’t detect MDPV and other components of bath salts, adding to clinical confusion. The enduring high and extreme behavior may stem in part from the insidious combination of the compounds in bath salts.
Residential treatment centers can be expensive, so check with your insurance provider to see how much coverage you’ll receive during your stay. If you’ve taken the drug and crave it, this is a potential sign of addiction to bath salts. According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers, these drugs are most popular among people between ages 20 and 29. People younger than sixand older than 59 have been exposed to bath salts. The drug effect is a high or “rush” that is similar to methamphetamine (speed).
Due to the recent emergence of bath salts in the global drug market, there is little research on the factors that contribute to bath salts overdose. Scientists do know, however, that dose and purity are largely unknown to the user,7 meaning that any consumption of bath salts can potentially lead to overdose. Regular use of bath salts can result in serious health consequences.
These effects may develop due to taking high levels of bath salts or using them chronically. Bath salts are also available in tablet or capsule form, which can be taken orally. A person may also dissolve the bath salts into a solution to inject into their veins.