Injecting natural oils for muscle gain could be deadly, doctors warn

Bodybuilders seeking to enhance their physique by injecting natural oils risk lasting damage and even death, doctors have warned.

They fear that a case in west London in which a 25-year-old man suffered scarring and restricted function after injecting coconut oil may be the “tip of the iceberg”.

Instances have been recorded in recent years of bodybuilders using other oils, including sesame oil, walnut oil and paraffin, which are less costly than other synthetic compounds, in the hope of boosting muscle size and definition.

There has been little medical literature on the subject to date, but a paper published in BMJ Case Reports on Thursday says the practice is well documented among Arab and Middle Eastern communities and online.

The 25-year-old man was referred to Ealing hospital because of pain and loss of function in his right arm, into which he had injected the coconut oil over several months.

An ultrasound scan showed a rupture in his triceps – a rare condition in young patients – and multiple cysts within the arm muscles. Surgery to repair the rupture was successful but he was left with scarring and limited elbow flexion.

Dr Ajay Sahu, of London North West Healthcare NHS trust, who co-authored the report, said: “He has lost significant function in his tricep and he’s right-handed. If he had injected the coconut oil into one of his veins by mistake it could have been fatal. It could cause an embolism in the heart, the lungs or the brain. You need to think about the implications.”

Sahu said the case was difficult to diagnose because the patient did not initially admit what he had done, and Sahu was not aware at the time that injecting natural oils was something people did to try to build muscle.

He suggested resort to such drastic measures was symptomatic of increasing concern among young men about how they look.

“People do all sorts of things [to gain muscle] and these things are very unreported,” he said. “These people will never come to the doctor and say all the things they do. This is just the tip of the iceberg.”

Injecting natural oils for muscle gain could be deadly, doctors warn

Drug users start injecting "legal highs"

“Bearing in mind the significant potential impact of new patterns of injection being recognized, the shut monitoring of synthetic cathinones use in Europe is obviously an crucial public health priority,” it explained.

“While most cathinone use requires both snorting the medication as a powder or oral use, a latest worrying phenomenon has emerged of synthetic cathinones becoming injected by some groups of drug users

“On the complete, reviews propose that injecting cathinone end users are primarily injectors of other drugs … who, for a assortment of causes, switch to cathinone injection or contain cathinones in their drug-making use of repertoire.

“In addition, there are reviews of long-term abstinent ex-opiate end users who have started to inject cathinones and constrained reviews of younger individuals starting their injecting job with cathinones.”

The yearly report stated there had been reviews of mephedrone injection in Britain.

“These included each experienced users of other drugs switching to mephedrone, and novice users who have by no means injected other medicines before,” it warned.

“Mephedrone customers had been reportedly younger than other groups of large-risk drug end users observed by drug solutions.”

It additional there was “increasing concern” about a new trend in the gay local community to inject the drugs at “chem sex” parties, in a practice know as “slamming”.

“Parties can final from around eight hrs up to three days with the participants usually engaging in risky sexual practices this kind of as not utilizing condoms and sharing a number of partners,” it explained.

“To date in Europe, this new practice has largely been documented between limited sub-groups of gay guys in London and a small quantity of French cities nonetheless, the likely exists, in this very mobile population, for it to grow to be much more widespread.”

Elsewhere in its European Drug Report 2013, the agency stated common mortality charge due to overdose of all drugs in Britain was 38.3 per million population, much more than twice the average for Europe at 17 per million.

Nonetheless drug deaths in this country are in decline, with the complete falling from two,569 in 2008 to two,250 in 2011.

“Most overdoses occur between men and women who have consumed several substances, and attributing causality is usually problematic,” the report mentioned.

“With the continuing release of new psychoactive substances on the drug industry, there is concern that new or obscure substances that have contributed to deaths could escape detection.”

The Residence Office launched a review of legal highs last yr to appear at how laws can be improved.

The Government banned two groups of psychoactive substances in December, the NBOMe and Benzofuran compounds.

Drug users start injecting "legal highs"