ABSTRACT
This article reports the first single-blind study using psychotropic analgesic nitrous oxide (PAN) for treating acute withdrawal states following cocaine abuse. Thirty-one of the 33 cases responded by a reduction of symptom scores of 50% or more, which clinical experience has shown to be synonymous with observed recovery. Five subjects were placebo responders without further improvement following PAN. Eleven subjects were not improved by placebo but responded positively to PAN. Fifteen responded to both the O2 with a further improvement following PAN. Aggregate scores of symptoms such as craving, anxiety, and dysphoria were greatly decreased by O2. These improvements were even greater following PAN as compared to post O2 scores. Two patients failed to respond to any treatment condition. Thus 93.9% of the subjects were improved by the use of PAN and/or O2 alone.
Subject(s)
Cocaine-Related Disorders/drug therapy , Nitrous Oxide/administration & dosage , Psychotropic Drugs/administration & dosage , Adult , Analgesia, Patient-Controlled , Anti-Anxiety Agents/therapeutic use , Cocaine-Related Disorders/psychology , Female , Humans , Male , Outcome Assessment, Health Care/methods , Retrospective Studies , Single-Blind MethodABSTRACT
This article reports the first single-blind study using psychotropic analgesic nitrous oxide (PAN) for treating acute withdrawal states following the abuse of methaqualone combined and smoked with cannabis. Smoked methaqualone combined with cannabis is called "white pipe" (WP). South Africa is the only country in the world where WP is a major form of substance abuse. This article demonstrates in 101 consecutively treated patients given placebo (100% oxygen) followed by PAN that this therapy produced a measurable therapeutic effect (more than 50% improvement) in 87 patients. This study confirms that WP is a form of substance abuse confined mainly to young adult male subjects.
Subject(s)
Cannabis/adverse effects , Methaqualone/adverse effects , Nitrous Oxide/administration & dosage , Psychotropic Drugs/administration & dosage , Substance Withdrawal Syndrome/etiology , Adult , Female , Humans , Hypnotics and Sedatives , Male , Middle Aged , Outcome Assessment, Health Care/methods , Single-Blind MethodABSTRACT
We report a randomised double-blind controlled study with an enlarged cohort of participants (N = 51) using psychotropic analgesic nitrous oxide (PAN) versus benzodiazepines (BZs) for treating acute alcoholic withdrawal states. An additional 28 participants having received a BZ the night previous to the study were pooled with the previously analysed 23 (with no additional BZ). These pooled results showed that PAN is superior to a BZ regimen at P = .05 level, despite additional BZs. Our work provides further support for previous findings that show that PAN is a safe, rapid, and effective therapy for acute mild to moderately severe withdrawal states.
Subject(s)
Analgesics, Non-Narcotic/therapeutic use , Diazepam/therapeutic use , Ethanol/adverse effects , Nitrous Oxide/therapeutic use , Substance Withdrawal Syndrome/drug therapy , Acute Disease , Adult , Double-Blind Method , Drug Administration Schedule , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
In this article, we report the first randomized double-blind controlled study of the use of psychotropic analgesic nitrous oxide (PAN) vs. a single dose of benzodiazepine (diazepam) for treating acute alcoholic withdrawal states. In previous studies, it was demonstrated that a single treatment of PAN was sufficient to reverse 90% of acute alcoholic withdrawal states within the first 60 minutes of administration with lasting effect in a single-blind manner. Despite the small sample used (n = 23), the gas was significantly more effective than the benzodiazepine at the P = 0.05 level when compared at 120 minutes. This study provides further support for previous findings that show PAN is a safe, rapid and effective therapy for acute mild to moderately severe withdrawal states.
