It has been a year since 18-year-old Isa died. She had used ecstasy at a festival in Boxtel and subsequently died from water intoxication. That is a risk, especially when using that party drug. Just like overheating. This is what Alex van Dongen, prevention officer at addiction institution Novadic-Kentron, tells us.
All ecstasy users start drinking more. “This is due to a disruption in the hormone balance. One glass of water per hour is sufficient, but users feel that they have to keep drinking,” says Alex van Dongen, he is a prevention officer at addiction institution Novadic-Kentron. “Your body becomes warmer than necessary when you use ecstasy, although you don’t drink to cool down. But it is actually an uncontrollable urge to keep drinking.”
“Overheating is the number one cause of death when using ecstasy.”
Ecstasy sometimes causes users to drink liters in a relatively short time. Ecstasy causes the kidneys to secrete less fluid. The water therefore remains in the body and the volume of blood increases. The amount of salt in the body that retains fluid is diluted. This allows water to reach the brain cells which swell. A swollen brain can have many unpleasant consequences, including a cerebral infarction and even death.
However, fatal water poisoning is not as common as fatal overheating. “Overheating is the number one cause of death when using ecstasy. The body sometimes reaches 43 degrees and the blood then ‘clots’. Think of it as boiling an egg, this is irreversible. Ice baths sometimes work under the 42 garden, cold packs, fans. If the body temperature rises above that, nothing can be saved.”
“Is one death in ten thousand ecstasy users a lot?”
Research has been conducted into the number of deaths caused by ecstasy in England. It appears that one in ten thousand users die from this drug. Every year there are 430,000 users in the Netherlands who take a pill. If we apply the English figures to the Netherlands, this means that we have more than 40 deaths from ecstasy every year. “Is that a lot?”, Alex wonders out loud. “I would like to quote a striking comment from physician-epidemiologist Esther Croes; “If one of the 10,000 visitors to an amusement park does not survive the roller coaster, such a park would have to close its doors quickly.”
Novadic-Kentron employee Alex van Dongen would like to emphasize that you can never be certain about what an ecstasy pill will do to you. “It is often inexperienced users that things go wrong. But even if things have gone right before, that is no guarantee.” It remains a risk for all users, he explains. “What makes an ecstasy pill so dangerous is its unpredictability,” says Alex. “One person can take three pills without any problems and the other cannot survive half a pill. You never know for sure how your body will react to ecstasy, which makes it treacherous,” Alex explains.
“I am bothered by the comparison between ecstasy and alcohol use.”
In addition, he is bothered by the comparison with alcohol. “Alcohol is indeed more addictive and causes more deaths. There are also more alcohol users and abusers. One beer will not kill you or end up in the emergency room, but half a pill of ecstasy can do that. By the way, I want to make this comment do not encourage alcohol consumption,” Alex quickly adds.
YOU MAY ALSO FIND THIS INTERESTING:
Parents of Isa, who died of water poisoning, warn against ecstasy use.
The interview with the parents can also be viewed on the Brabant+ app