CLUB DRUG ECSTASY CAN LEAD TO LIVER DAMAGE, EVEN DEATH

You may want to add liver failure to the list of dangers tied to the club
drug ecstasy.

A new report from doctors at the University of Nebraska Medical Center
found that ecstasy caused profound liver damage in a young woman who
eventually died. Although the woman claimed she had taken only half a
tablet of the club drug, her body reacted drastically, the researchers say.

"You never know who's going to react," says lead author Dr. Nuri Ozden.
"What happens is people go to a party, they take ecstasy, they dance, they
get dehydrated. Due to the hypertension, the liver and kidney get injured
due to the lack of blood. They get a significant amount of fluid loss, and
if they don't keep up their fluid intake, organs don't get enough blood flow."

In the case study, doctors report that a 24-year-old woman admitted to
taking half a tablet of ecstasy but denied using any other drugs or
alcohol. Her condition deteriorated rapidly. They found a donor liver and
grafted part of that onto her liver. The graft failed, she started having
seizures and her brain hemorrhaged. At that point, her family requested she
be taken off life support.