SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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.
Related:
Kroger Supermarkets to Carry Naloxone Without a Prescription
4/20: Half-Baked Headline
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 04 2016, @08:10PM
Yeah, this comment needs to be at +5 already. I suppose I could hop on my UID and push it in that direction.
My first thought was, "Fuck. Great. They weren't happy taking Sudafed away from me, the only fucking thing that lets me breathe when I get a bad head cold, so when I walk up to the pharmacy zonked out and unable to hear because my whole fucking head and not just my sinuses are clogged up to request some Sudafed I FUCKING LOOK LIKE A METH HEAD! (no, whatever was supposed to replace it just does not fucking work; i don't fucking care if it works for 99 out of 100 people! i'm that 1 out of 100 it doesn't fucking work for! what the fuck am i supposed to do?!) and now they want to fucking take Imodium away too?!?!?! I mean, I don't have a use for it, but still. What the FUCK ELSE do they want to take away from me just because OH MY FUCKING GOD SOMEBODY MIGHT GET HIGH?"
(Generic you from here on out, just shouting at the man at this point.)
Then I noticed the 4/20 connection in the related stories, and I was greatly confused. TFS is largely about addiction, right? I would have figured here of all places most people would be informed that cannabis flower is largely non-addictive. I mean, I need it. But do you need your caffeine in the morning? I think we should lock up you and call you an addict if you need caffeine in the morning, just because I don't need it!
Typical authoritarian garbage. "What works for me should be legal, and what works for you should get you fucking thrown in the slammer for the rest of your life!"
(Score: 1) by wendo on Thursday May 05 2016, @02:44AM
It's not 1 in 100, unless myself, and everyone I've ever met is in that 1% too
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 05 2016, @03:11AM
They did a medical study several years ago and it showed the substitute decongestant worked no better than a placebo. It literally does nothing. How in the name of medicine does such a thing happen unless it's the Federal Govt Puritans, the DEA, getting involved? The people who have a legitimate use should not be made to suffer just because someone, somewhere might be enjoying himself by using it. Who gives a rat's ass?
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday May 06 2016, @01:58AM
So much for the FDA making sure drugs actually work...
(Score: 2) by Kromagv0 on Thursday May 05 2016, @04:54PM
It probably works for 1 in 100, or at least that has been my experience and that of my friend who's a pharmacist.
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone