Other popular downers include tranquilizers, sedatives and anxiolytics. Although some of these are prescribed by doctors to their patients, some are recreational substances that are abused by people without knowing the risks involved. The overuse of depressants can lead to symptoms of CNS depression, including slowed reflexes, lightheadedness, fatigue, and difficulty breathing. Depressants affect GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter that slows down activity in the brain.
- Benzodiazepines, also known as Benzos, are also used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders, although they are considered less addictive than barbiturates.
- Certain drugs affect the neurotransmitters in your brain, causing brain activity to slow.
- People have also been known to overdose on these medications deliberately to end their lives.
- These are sometimes prescribed prior to surgery to you help relax during the procedure.
- The findings may inform clinical care and contribute to future research, providing insights for primary care practitioners and specialists involved in dementia healthcare.
- Combining CNS depressants with other drugs, like alcohol, can amplify their effects, leading to severe respiratory depression, coma, and death.
Many depressants are allosteric modulators of the GABAA receptor. When they bind to the receptor, they change its conformation so that GABA has increased efficacy at the orthosteric site. Because they increase efficacy, they are known as positive allosteric modulators.
Immediate Medical Care
Understanding CNS depression and its impact on mental health is crucial for those affected and their loved ones. If you or someone you know is experiencing severe symptoms of CNS depression, seek medical attention immediately. Early intervention can prevent life-threatening complications and provide the necessary support for recovery. CNS depression is a serious condition that requires immediate medical care. Professional help ensures proper diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing support to manage symptoms and prevent relapse. This increases the risk of overdose and long-term cognitive impairments, memory loss, and emotional instability.
CNS Depressants: Side Effects, Withdrawal Symptoms, and Potential For Abuse
The CNS is responsible for processing and controlling most of our bodily functions, and consists of the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. Overdoses of prescription painkillers in the U.S. is what is cns depressant drugs a growing problem, especially among women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Treatment for CNS depression or CNS depressant overdose depends on the substances involved. Mixing CNS depressants, opioids, and alcohol increases their effect. There may be severe adverse reactions and possibly life-threatening consequences. Some of these substances, for example, codeine, are present in medications for coughs or diarrhea.
The progression of symptoms from initial use to addiction is gradual. At first, you may experience mild effects like drowsiness and relaxation. Eventually, dependence forms, causing withdrawal symptoms upon cessation. Combining CNS depressants with other substances like opioids can be extremely dangerous.
Personalized treatment plans are essential in addressing the unique needs of individuals battling stimulant drugs and other substances. Tailored approaches consider factors such as prescription stimulants misuse patterns, co-occurring mental health issues, and personal preferences. Untreated severe CNS depressant abuse can have serious consequences. Long-term abuse can result in cognitive impairments, memory problems, and mood disorders.
A precursor to GHB, gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), has also been classified as a Schedule I controlled substance. Barbiturates are generally classified by their duration of action. Long-acting barbiturates such as phenobarbital have low lipid solubility and are slowly absorbed. In exchange for a delayed onset (about 1 hour), effects can last for up to 12 hours. This makes them useful as anticonvulsants since fewer doses are required to maintain the level of drug in the body.
Lifestyle Quizzes
Ultrashort-acting barbiturates such as thiopental have the highest lipid solubility out of all barbiturates. Time to action can be mere minutes, although effects only last for around half an hour. Drugs like these are more suited for serving as general anesthetics for short surgical procedures. This is listed as a side effect from combining two of the medications I take.
- Chronic misuse of CNS depressants can lead to physical dependence, requiring higher doses to achieve the same effect.
- Nitrous oxide, for instance, is exhaled almost entirely through the lungs unchanged, resulting in a half-life of about 5 minutes.
- It’s important to seek medical guidance when discontinuing these medications.
CNS Depressant Misuse
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a class of medications primarily used to treat depression and anxiety disorders. For men and women using depressants for any reason, it is critical to seek out substance use disorder care from a trusted and experienced location. Instead, work with a fully skilled location for all medical and mental health needs.
We treated antidepressant use as a time varying exposure to account for patients stopping treatment and changing between treatments during follow-up. We considered patients to be exposed to treatment if no gaps of more than 90 days existed between the end of one prescription and the start of the next. Follow-up time was treated as a continuous measure defined as years since first cognitive assessment. The model included antidepressant use and follow-up time and an interaction between drug use and time. Following our previous work in SveDem 36, a linear trend over time was assumed and the model allowed for a random intercept and random slope for each patient. We also included the inverse probability of censoring weighting considering the potential effects of dropout or to the presence of a competing risk before the end of follow-up such as death 40.
What are the symptoms of CNS depression?
Inhalants are solvents or other materials that produce vapors that elicit psychoactive effects. While a wide variety of products can be used as inhalants, most induce CNS depression through similar mechanisms of action. GHB is both an endogenous neurochemical as well as an exogenous chemical compound. GHB was first studied in-depth in the 1960s for its potential use in treating narcolepsy and alcoholism. Although there was little support for its use in treating alcoholism, the salt form of GHB, sodium oxybate, is still used for the treatment of narcolepsy to this day under the brand name Xyrem®. GHB is an example of a drug that is listed in both Schedules I and III, depending upon the intent of use.
Undertreatment of depression has been linked to suicide, he says. Results from a 2024 study, for example, suggest that SSRIs offer short-term protection against suicidal thoughts. A similar sort of physical adjustment can happen when some people stop taking SSRIs, Aftab says. That overlap in psychological symptoms can make it hard to distinguish the original illness from signs of withdrawal. There can be physical symptoms too, like nausea, dizziness, restlessness and palpitations.