Butabarbital Facts: Safe Use, Addiction and Overdosage
Butabarbital is one of the drugs that may be prescribed for convulsions or epileptic seizures. It may be prescribed as a sleeping medication (hypnotic) or as a daytime sedative (anticonvulsive).
Like other barbiturates, butabarbital appears to work by interfering with nerve impulses to the brain. By itself, butabarbital may not be quite effective in dealing with epileptic seizures; but when used in conjunction with other anticonvulsive agents, the result can be dramatic.
Butabarbital is such a potent drug with potential for abuse; it must be used only upon a doctor’s prescription. The drug may slow down the user’s physical and mental reflexes, so he must be extremely careful when operating complex machinery, driving a car, or performing other potentially dangerous tasks.
Abusers of the drug manifest nervousness and confusion. The drug is neutralized in the liver and eliminated from the body through the kidneys. Therefore, those who have liver or kidney disorders (such as in having difficulty in forming or eliminating urine) are particularly at risk. The drug can cause skin rash, breathing difficulty, and general allergic reactions, including scratchy throat, runny nose and watery eyes.
Long-term or unsupervised use of butabarbital may lead to addiction. Addiction to the drug can cause lethargy, drowsiness, nausea, dizziness, and vomiting. More severe symptoms include anemia and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes). The sedative effect of the drug is increased once it’s taken with alcohol or tranquilizers.
Also note that those who have previously been addicted to sedatives, have known allergies to barbiturates, or suffer from a disease affecting the respiratory system are advised against taking butabarbital.
The usual dose of butabarbital doctors prescribe to adults is 15 to 30 milligrams three times per day (as a daytime sedative) and 50 to 100 milligrams at bedtime (as hypnotic for sleep). For children, the recommended dose is 7 to 30 milligrams, as determined by the child’s weight and age.
Using butabarbital for purposes other than what doctors would otherwise prescribe it for can lead to dangerous symptoms, such as fluid buildup in the lungs, lowered body temperature (which progresses to fever as time passes), decrease in size of the pupils of the eyes, difficulty in breathing, and eventually coma.
Severe overdose of butabarbital can be fatal. In fact, the drug has been used a number of times in suicide attempts. A person suspected of illicitly using the drug or having taken an overdose of it must be taken to a hospital for immediate care.
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