Barbiturates are potent sedative-hypnotic drugs that were widely used in the early 1900s. Although their use has declined in recent decades, they remain an illustrative example of how depressants affect neurotransmission. Recall from Chapter 4 that γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the brain’s main inhibitory neurotransmitter. This is because GABA targets GABA receptors, which promote hyperpolarization of the postsynaptic cell. This inhibits the postsynaptic cell from firing and releasing other neurotransmitters such as glutamate or norepinephrine. As a result, increasing GABA activity will, in general, reduce the activity of other neurons and transmitters.

Non-Benzodiazepine Sedative-Hypnotics

1. Together, these four drugs make up 99% of benzodiazepine prescriptions.
2. Depression of the central nervous system (CNS) typically occurs when a person uses a substance that is designed to slow down your brain and relax your muscles, leaving you with a feeling of calm.
3. An overdose of a CNS depressant can happen by accident, but people sometimes choose to take more of the drug than a doctor recommends to get a more “intense” effect.
4. They’re most often used for treating anxiety and related mental health conditions, as well as brain-related conditions like seizures.
5. Like other neurotransmitters, GABA carries messages from one cell to another.

In neonates, less than 1% of patients treated with benzodiazepines experience laryngospasm and bronchospasm. They may also experience ventricular arrhythmias, including ventricular bigeminy or premature ventricular contractions, vasovagal syncope, bradycardia, or tachycardia. Gastrointestinal reactions may include retching, nausea and vomiting, and excess salivation. CNS and neuromuscular adverse effects may include euphoria, hallucination, ataxia, dizziness, seizure-like activity, and paresthesia. Until it was banned in the United States under the Marijuana Tax Act of 1938, it was widely used for medical purposes.

Common types of depressants include barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and non-benzodiazepine sedative hypnotics. It quickly became the first popular psychotropic drug in America, becoming popular in Hollywood and gaining fame for its seemingly miraculous effects. It has since been marketed under more than 100 trade names, including Amepromat, Quivet, and Zirpon. Carisoprodol, which metabolizes into meprobamate and is still used mainly for its muscle relaxant effects, can potentially be abused. Its mechanism of action is very similar to that of barbiturates, alcohol, methaqualone, and benzodiazepines.

Speeding Up the Brain With Stimulants: Caffeine, Nicotine, Cocaine, and Amphetamines

Anesthesiologists and certified registered nurse anesthetists are crucial in procedural sedation. The opioids activate the sympathetic division of the ANS, causing blood pressure and heart rate to increase, often to dangerous levels that can lead to heart attack or stroke. At the same time the drugs also influence the parasympathetic division, leading to constipation and other negative side effects.

Many countries, including the U.S., classify benzodiazepines (sometimes known by the slang term “benzos”) as controlled substances. It’s illegal to have or obtain them (depending on the laws where you are) if you don’t have a prescription. Doctors also give sedatives and analgesics to individuals to reduce anxiety and provide pain relief before and after procedures. Because drug and alcohol abuse is a behavior that has such important negative consequences for so many people, researchers have tried to understand what leads people to use drugs. Carl Lejuez and his colleagues (Lejuez, Aklin, Bornovalova, & Moolchan, 2005) tested the hypothesis that cigarette smoking was related to a desire to take risks. In their research they compared risk-taking behavior in adolescents who reported having tried a cigarette at least once with those who reported that they had never tried smoking.

Overdose

Nicotine content in cigarettes has slowly increased over the years, making quitting smoking more and more difficult. Users may wish to stop using the drug, but when they reduce their dosage they experience withdrawal—negative experiences that accompany reducing or stopping drug use, including physical pain and other symptoms. When the user powerfully craves the drug cws symptoms and is driven to seek it out, over and over again, no matter what the physical, social, financial, and legal cost, we say that he or she has developed an addiction to the drug.

Treatment

One 2019 study suggests that people who use cannabis regularly require higher doses of sedatives. People have used, and often abused, psychoactive drugs for thousands of years. Perhaps this should not be suprising, because many people find using drugs to be fun and enjoyable. Even when how to flush alcohol out of your system we know the potential costs of using drugs, we may engage in them anyway because the pleasures of using the drugs are occurring right now, whereas the potential costs are abstract and occur in the future. As mentioned earlier, nitrous oxide is used as a general anesthetic.

Symptoms of opioid withdrawal include diarrhea, insomnia, restlessness, irritability, and vomiting, all accompanied by a strong craving for the drug. The powerful psychological dependence of the opioids and the severe effects of withdrawal make it very difficult for morphine and heroin abusers what is a drinker’s nose to quit using. In addition, because many users take these drugs intravenously and share contaminated needles, they run a very high risk of being infected with diseases.