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from the Antidiarrheal-overdose?-Oh,-crap! dept.
NPR is reporting on the latest drug scare, involving an over-the-counter antidiarrheal drug that is being used for its opioid-like effects by addicts:
Some people addicted to oxycodone and other opioids are now turning to widely available diarrhea medications to manage their withdrawal symptoms or get high. The results can be dangerous to the heart — and sometimes fatal — warn toxicologists in a study [open, DOI: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2016.03.047] recently published online in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
The researchers describe two case studies where people who were addicted to opioids tried to ease their withdrawal symptoms by taking many times the recommended dose of loperamide, a drug commonly used treat diarrhea. Both patients died.
"Because of its low cost, ease of accessibility and legal status, it's a drug that is very, very ripe for abuse," says lead author William Eggleston, a doctor of pharmacy and fellow in clinical toxicology at the Upstate New York Poison Center, which is affiliated with SUNY Upstate Medical University.
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(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday May 04 2016, @06:26PM
I know from forum discussion elsewhere I'm not the only guy out there who "abuses" energy drinks when I have a cold and can't legally get the good stuff for my nose.
Yeah yeah I know its bad, but that's mostly chronic issues. As long as my heart isn't palpitating too much or too often and its only one difficult night till I can get to the pharmacy to get real decongestants, its "OK". The lack of sleep due to clogged nose and/or massive energy drink consumption is probably more dangerous. Actually dehydration from all the caffeine pee is a big issue.
By massive I mean like maybe 4 or 5 per day, not like 10 or 20, that would probably cause a heart attack.
Hey at least I can breath thru my nose again, and even with that much caffeine I can sleep after 20 or so hours awake, or at least I can.
When I was much younger and into experimenting with drinking I would get drunk when I had a cold... alcohol kills germs right? Mostly it made me feel better about being sick rather than actually curing anything... I think, anyway.