After consulting with his physician, Frank's doctor has prescribed barbiturates to Frank for anxiety. Discuss the anticipated acute and long-term effects that Frank's doctor discussed with him.
What will be an ideal response?
Barbiturate effects may fit on a scale ranging from mild relaxation on one end to coma and death on the other. In this sense, barbiturate effects are the same as the effects of depressants in general. At very low doses, the primary result of a barbiturate is relaxation and a sense of euphoria. These symptoms are similar to the inebriating or intoxicating effects that result from low to moderate doses of alcohol. As the dose level increases, lower regions of the brain concerned with general arousal become affected. He may feel sedated and drowsy. At higher doses, a hypnotic (sleep-inducing) effect is achieved.
Barbiturates tend to suppress rapid eye movement. REM sleep is associated with dreaming and general relaxation of the body. If barbiturates are consumed over many evenings and then stopped, the CNS will attempt to catch up for the lost REM sleep by producing longer REM periods on subsequent nights. This REM-sleep rebound effect produces vivid and upsetting nightmares, along with a barbiturate hangover the next day, during which the user feels groggy and out of sorts. In other words, barbiturates may induce sleep, but a refreshing sleep it definitely is not.
The most serious acute risks of barbiturate use involve the possibility of a lethal overdose either from taking too high a dose level of the drug alone or from taking the drug in combination with alcohol, such as when a barbiturate is taken after an evening of drinking. In these instances, the sleeper can all too easily slip into coma and death, since an excessive dose produces an inhibition of the respiratory control centers in the brain. The mixture of barbiturates with alcohol produces a synergistic effect in which the combined result is greater than the sum of the effects of each drug alone.
The use of barbiturates as sleep medications often initiates a cycle of behavior that can lead to dependence. Even after brief use of barbiturates, anxiety may be temporarily increased during the day, and there may be an even greater degree of insomnia than before.
The withdrawal symptoms observed when barbiturates are discontinued indicate a strong physical dependence on the drug. A person may experience a combination of tremors ("the shakes"), nausea and vomiting, intense perspiring, general confusion, convulsions, high fever hallucinations, and increased heart rate.
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