What is Nembutal? How is it abused?”

The name Nembutal refers to a drug known as pentobarbital belongs to the class of drugs known as barbiturates. Barbiturates are the class of drugs also called sedative-hypnotic drugs since they depress the central nervous system by binding to gamma-aminobutyric acid-receptors (GABA-receptors). GABA receptors are divided into two groups, GABA-A receptors and GABA-B receptors to which barbiturates bind and open the chloride channels, increasing their permeability and creating sedation. The difference in doses causes a major difference of effects, as in low doses, Nembutal and such other barbiturates help to initiate sedative effects and when the dose is increased, these drugs can be helpful to treat anxiety by creating hypnotic effects.

Uses of Nembutal:

Nembutal is used as a hypnotic and sedative in several problems, issues, and diseases. These uses may include:

• As a Sedative: Nembutal is mostly used as a short-term treatment for insomnia. People of old age and while in diseased condition need to get sleep when they don’t get natural sleeping hours sometimes due to pain, sometimes due to decreased sleeping duration with an increase in age, due to anxiety, due to fear of the unknown, due to excitement and due to travel anxiousness. Nembutal becomes useful to help people fall asleep but it is not as assistive to help people stay asleep.
• As an anticonvulsant: Nembutal may be used as an anti-convulsant in an emergency. Convulsion is an epilepsy condition that gives extra charge to neurons running towards the peripheral nervous system from the central nervous system. Afferent and efferent neurons take the signals to and from the peripheral nervous system. When the excitability in these neurons exceeds the limit and rushes towards the peripheral nervous system then convulsion may occur. Nembutal acting on the neurons in the central nervous system blocks the excitability neurons acting as an anti-convulsant slows down the current flow in the neurons.
• As a pre-anesthetic: Nembutal acts as a pre-anesthetic before surgery to anesthetize the neurons and their effects on the central and peripheral nervous system. It may be given to patients to create relaxant conditions prior to anesthesia.
• Pressure reducer: Nembutal may be used as a pressure reducer within the skull in case the brain may have suffered from any traumatic injury or accident that may have caused intense pressure built up within the skull.
• As a euthanizing agent: Nembutal may be used as a euthanizing agent both in the case of animals and humans. It can be quite dangerous in case of higher doses given since it can euthanize the subject. In some states, Nembutal may be used in state executions of criminals.

Schedule-II controlled substance:

Nembutal is classified as a schedule-II controlled substance along with medical and clinical uses, but it may create physical dependence and abuse if used for long or more than the recommended dose. Barbiturates may be used significantly in hospital settings and clinics for elderly people or women legally to save them from certain impairments and diseases. Sometimes adolescents may get barbiturate drugs like Nembutal by stealing from any friends with a prescription, or an elderly relative with a prescription, from their parents. Nembutal alone may become a drug of abuse alone or in combination with other chemicals as alcohol, benzodiazepines, narcotics, pain alleviators, barbiturates, or cannabis products. Nembutal is often referred to as abbots, nembies, or yellow jackets by abusers.

Nembutal abuse can affect whom?

During the 1950s, barbiturates abuse peaked when these drugs were favored by all ranging from modern-day housewife to world-famous celebrities. Sadly teenagers are the highest among the users of Nembutal and affected by its abuse in the past few years. A sleeping pill is the most common barbiturate with approximately nineteen million prescriptions per annum. Most of the people who got into Nembutal abuse actually start by misusing a legitimate prescription for the drug. Nembutal is habit-forming especially in those people who start using more than four hundred milligrams of the drug per day at least for more than three months..

Effects created by Nembutal Abuse:

With several medical uses in hospitals and clinics that may create pain-relieving, anti-convulsant, pre-anesthetic, sedative, or hypnotic effects, Nembutal has certain effects that occurred by its long term use referred to as abuse of Nembutal. It may include:

Motor coordination issues: Just as the effects of alcohol intoxication occur, the abuse of Nembutal includes motor coordination issues that may include incomplete or staggered information towards the motor system of the body resulting in impaired movements and movement disorders, slow and slurred speech.  Problems with balance may occur causing disability to move properly, gait problems in which the patient may not be able to move his/her body parts in proper coordination while moving, running, eating, or performing any moving activity with the help of the peripheral nervous system.

Respiratory effects: Long-term use of the drug with a higher dose may cause abuse such as issues with the respiratory system as a decrease in breathing rate. This may occur due to chronic respiratory suppression caused by the long-term effect of Nembutal on respiratory muscles in bronchioles.

Tonic effects: Decrease in the tone of muscles governed by alpha and beta receptors become loose and cause a decrease in the rate of blood flow resulting in decreased blood pressure.

Temperature effects: With the decrease in the pressure of blood running through the walls of arteries and arterioles, a sudden decrease in temperature may occur as incurred by the baroreceptor mechanism of the body. The homeostatic system of the body acts as a receptor of the body and maintains the temperature by sensing low or high blood pressure.

Mental effects: Long-term abuse of Nembutal may cause potential damage to the brain and central nervous system. The damage may incur cognition issues causing problems with attention, memory, and reasoning. Other issues related to the brain may cause effects as anxiety, depression, and psychosis, problems with reasoning and logic, sedation, atypical excitement, lethargy, unconsciousness and coma, hypnosis, etc.

Relationship effects: Significant number of problems in personal life may occur at work, in school, with relatives causing disturbance of life.

Physical and mental dependence: Physical and mental dependence may occur due to withdrawal and dependence caused by Nembutal abuse.

Fatal outcome: Potential overdose of Nembutal may cause fatal outcomes leading to death.

Signs and symptoms of Addiction of Nembutal: Behavioral signs and symptoms of Nembutal abuse may be as:

• Poor judgment while taking any decision
• Mood swings showing either mania or depression
• Lying about drug use
• Hiding drugs around the house, from the elders, from the ones who abandon the patients from drug use
• Strange sleep patterns, sleeping lot in the day time and least at night time with disturbed sleep patterns
• Isolation, the patient may be demanding isolation from family members to keep his/her needs hidden and away from others
• Sudden financial problems, since the drug is quite expensive so the patient becomes under financial burden immediately
• The patient may use the drug in quantity more than wanted and for longer than recommended
• The patient may be unable to quit the drug even if they want to.
• The patient may become dangerous in behavior, willing to take part in risky or dangerous behaviors when using the drug
• Ultimately patients may reach the level of tolerance when they discover that the amount they are taking is not proving the satisfaction level of desire they wish for.
• The patient may become sick if they suddenly stop using the drug or if they try to reduce the dose from regular use (withdrawal).

Withdrawal effects from Nembutal abuse:

Nembutal may act to shut down or permanently abuse the areas of the brain that control all the vital organs of the body including lungs, heart, kidneys, and the heart. Breathing rate and respiration may be affected; heart rate and blood pressure may be reduced to a dangerous level. Individuals may be able to survive after the withdrawal but may fall into a coma and may die and if not die then may develop severe damage as a result of decreased oxygen to all important areas of the brain.

Development of delirium tremens may occur from Nembutal withdrawal causing tremors, the potential of seizures, confusion, hallucinations that can be quite fatal. Individuals suffering from Nembutal abuse may be monitored by physicians and may be placed on the physician-assisted protocol. It may be managed by administering a longer-acting barbiturate or benzodiazepine in a low dose sufficient enough to control the abuse and withdrawal symptoms and then with time may be tapered down to acclimatize the person to function on the lower doses of drug without suffering.