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Miscalculation = Onstage incapacitation
GBL, Alcohol & Cannabis
Citation:   thefool. "Miscalculation = Onstage incapacitation: An Experience with GBL, Alcohol & Cannabis (exp82497)". Erowid.org. Oct 20, 2020. erowid.org/exp/82497

 
DOSE:
T+ 0:00
2.7 ml oral GBL (liquid)
  T+ 3:30 2.7 ml oral GBL (liquid)
  T+ 0:00   repeated oral Alcohol - Hard  
BODY WEIGHT: 210 lb
[Erowid Note: The dose described in this report is very high, potentially beyond Erowid's 'heavy' range, and could pose serious health risks or result in unwanted, extreme effects. Sometimes extremely high doses reported are errors rather than actual doses used.]
I've been taking GBL for a few years and have amassed an impressive or disturbing collection of empty bottles, depending on your point of view, totaling over 5 gallons of GBL. As such I am not even close to an inexperienced user, and have taken GBL with every substance available to me, including alcohol and Vicodin, and have only had a few problems with overdosing in public and spent some time passed out.

I had a relatively large concert I was performing in, which I have done numerous times while both drunk and on GBL before, without having any problems. The timeline of the night went something like this -

6pm: preparing for the show at home, took approximately 2.7ml of GBL and four shots of brandy.

8pm-9pm: arrive at show, make my way backstage where roughly another eight shots are consumed. By this point I'm pretty drunk, but not incapacitated at all.

9.30pm: take our drummer's fiancee to my vehicle for a dose, since she's curious. I take another 2.7ml

9.45-10.30pm: I recieve a mixed drink and two large shots of Bacardi Silver[ew!] at the bar.

10.30pm: I am running back and forth between backstage and the stage, attempting to get everything taken care of. I can tell I'm pretty wasted, especially when going up the stairs to the backstage. I'm carrying a skull I place on my amp and beginning to feel the onset of what may have been an overdose, having felt them before. But I'm not worried, since I'm confident that once we take the stage, adrenaline will take over.

10.45pm: We take the stage and immediately I can tell something is very wrong. I cannot hit the right notes on my instrument for the life of me. This largely could be due to the less than optimal sound onstage, but I am completely incapable of hitting the right strings or the right notes, so I turn my amp down and do my best to make my fingers move where they are supposed to go. My balance goes, and I fall over, spending a few minutes 'playing' on my back, before the singer drags me up with a really angry look on his face.

Beyond this, all I have are memories of snatches of songs that I know but am completely incapable of playing and staggering around onstage attempting to look like I know what I'm doing. At this point I've completely given up on hitting the notes and am trying to keep myself upright and at least looking like I know what I'm doing. Finally the show ends and I come down a little bit. I know I was terrible but I only find out later. It turns out on five separate occasions I was laying on the stage, completely passed out, for up to five minutes at a time. A brand new song we have never played live apparently comes on during one of those blackouts as I don't remember hearing it at all in the least little tiny bit. The singer was livid and didn't talk to me for a week following that, and whenever I think about it I get a sick feeling in my stomach. If for no other reason than the fact that I was completely helpless in a public place, with hundreds of people watching.

In the future, I would not mix GBL with any kind of depressant if I have anywhere in public to go. At least at home I wake up and feel mildly silly without having made a spectacle of myself.

Exp Year: 2009ExpID: 82497
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: 24
Published: Oct 20, 2020Views: 1,379
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Alcohol - Hard (198), GBL (89) : Club / Bar (25), Overdose (29), Train Wrecks & Trip Disasters (7), Combinations (3)

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Experience Reports are the writings and opinions of the authors who submit them. Some of the activities described are dangerous and/or illegal and none are recommended by Erowid Center.


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