The drug has destroyed his heart

News 21 March, 2018
  • Photo Hugo Duchaine
    Joé Lagacé-Mesh was rushed from Amos at the Institute of cardiology of Montreal, where he was confined to his bed awaiting a heart transplant.

    Hugo Duchaine

    Wednesday, 21 march, 2018 23:17

    UPDATE
    Wednesday, 21 march, 2018 23:17

    Look at this article

    A young man of 23 years waiting for a heart transplant to survive because it has destroyed hers in consuming cocaine and up to 10 tablets of methamphetamine per day.

    “I didn’t get there in swallowing a speed or by sniffing a line. I didn’t think it would be devastating […] It’s crazy how life can take just by a thread, ” said Joé Lagacé-Meshed in a video released on Facebook, seen and shared thousands of times.

    “All this because I wanted to freeze the face like a cave, breath the young mechanic-welder from Barraute, in Abitibi, lying in his bed at the Montreal heart Institute.

    If he said he was “tamed” after a brush with death, he now hopes that other young people will take the same lessons as him seeing what he goes through.

    He has been hospitalized since march 11, when he was rushed by plane from Amos. He had gone to the doctor, because he was weak and tired for months, almost unable to climb 10 stairs.

    His heart only works at 10% of its capacity, ” he said. Her left ventricle, which must pump its blood is almost stopped. Tomorrow or Monday, it may be operated to be fitted with a heart artificial in waiting for a transplant, his only chance of survival.

    From the age of 12

    Joé Lagacé-Mesh admits, he began to use drugs very young. From the age of 12, he was smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol. He wanted to “triper” with his friends who ate them also.

    At age 14, he tried methamphetamine, in the form of tablets as speed. For years, it could take up to 10 tablets per day. Not counting the three lines of cocaine that he could inspire on a daily basis.

    He has also tried ecstasy, LSD and crystal meth, ” he says.

    Yet, he had managed to almost stop everything for a year, after meeting his girlfriend present. But it was too late, the ravages to his heart were made.

    “If I hadn’t gone to see the doctor that day, I would have flatted with me,” he said, aware of the to have escaped beautiful, but completely stunned when the doctors told him that his drug was the culprit.

    “Extremely toxic “

    “Ten tablets per day, that is huge, and extremely toxic, especially when the body is not yet completely formed,” says the expert Jean-Sébastien Necessary.

    Jean-Sébastien Necessary
    Expert in addiction

    “The stimulants pose a risk on the cardiovascular system and can even cause heart attacks or tachycardias [when the heart beats too fast even at rest] “, starts the addiction specialist and professor at the School of psychoeducation, University of Montreal, citing studies on the topic.

    This is why Joé Lagacé-Mesh has chosen to make a video where he recounts his experience. He wants to avoid that a young person finds themselves in the same situation as him.

    Young people are many to under-estimate or even ignore the dangers of the drug, he believes. Since he published his video, he has received dozens of messages from people who have admitted to questioning their own consumption.

    “You don’t need that to have fun “, he says, especially as consuming he felt himself caught in a vicious circle. When he was partying whole nights taking amphetamines, he took the next day to stay awake.

    Today, her life is jeopardised. Not only is waiting a transplant to replace his heart, but he will also have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life if he wants to keep it.