Halothane (Fluothene)

[whymeor]

Does anyone know much about Halothane(Generic) also known as Fluothene, like how much to take, what it is like, will it kill you?

 

[quale]

What the fuck. If I remember corretly that is a volatile anastetic. Like the shit they give you in hospitals through the breathing mask. Maybe it can be administered IV...many of them can but it would be a very bad idea.
Sure the *right* amount will probably get you high but this sort of shit is very potent and very deadly. It isn't uncommon to lose people in the hospital and I really doubt you have assited breathing at home.

 

[NoriegA]

Go to the link at the end and do a search. You will find everything you need there...
http://www.rxlist.com

 

[beeblebrox]

Whymeor:CLICK ME
scan down the page to the 'precautions' 'adverse reactions' and 'dosage' sections if you don't want to read the entire page (but please, read the entire thing if you're still planning on taking something this dangerous)
hope this helps, be safe.
[ 04 July 2002: Message edited by: beeblebrox ]

 

[*KANE*]

Your not gonna find much on rxlist.com , its used in hospitals and its not a presription drug as far as I know
It should tell you what it is but no help with the dosage.

 

[quale]

He should NOT take this period. He clearly hasn't done any research on this. I would be afraid if my drug knowledgable friends were trying to get high off this shit and they would know exactly what to do.
The only way I would feel safe abusing this shit is if gasbo was hanging around to help out .
Also how the fuck would you even get some? Breaking into hospitals?

 

[gasbo]

The only way I would feel safe abusing this shit is if gasbo was hanging around to help out .
Thanks for the vote of confidence quale
Halothane - hell - i don't even use it on my patients (actually - i tell a small lie - i have used it twice in 10 years for a very specific indication) - but yeah - the main reason i don't use it - its too dangerous !
Halothane - is 2 bromo 2 chloro 1,1,1 tri-fluroethane - a colourless liquid hydrocarbon with a very sweet (almost nauseatingly sweet) smelling odour used in anaesthesia as a volatile agent. It contains a thymol preservative (0.01%) to help prevent decompostion in light.
Danger Point #1:
It has a Saturated Vapour pressure of 243mmHg at 20 deg Cel. which means that a 1 atm pressure (sea level), it can exist in a 30% concentration. This property is really important - because if you take the lid off the stuff and sniff it - 30% of the gas you entrain will be halothane.
So how much is required to put you to sleep ?? well - about 0.75% (end-tidal equilibrated) is equal to 1 MAC (ie. the minimum alveolar concentration required to keep 50% of the study population from reacting to a standard surgical stimulus (ie. a mid forearm incision !). Therefore you can overdose by a factor of 30 without the correct technology to administer it !
In an anaesthetic environment we use specific vapourisers which are accurately calibrated to deliver minute concentrations of the vapour - in 0.2% aloquots up to a maximum of 6% - but if the dial was left on that - then you would die and reasonably quickly (within 30min).
Danger Point #2
Halothane is metabolised by the mixed function oxidase system in Endoplasmic reticulum in the liver. It has been shown to induce CYP450 in rats (weakly), and does cause liver enzyme induction in humans. 11-20% of the drug is metabolised (when inhaled concentration is 1%), and up to 50% metabolised when subanaesthetic concentrations are used.
That might not sound like a lot, but one of the ideal properties of a volatile agent is minimal (no) metabolism - so it falls far short of ideal. The newer agents that I use (and prefer) have less than 0.02% metabolism. The advantage being the offset of the drug is by washout with breathing fresh source.
So what's the problem with metabolism of halothane !
Well - it can undergoe oxidative metabolism (main one) or the reductive metabolism.
An entity exists known as halotahne hepatitis / hepatotoxicity. It is an adverse reaction to the drug characterised by a cetrilobular necrosis of the liver - the mechanism is still alittle unlcear but is likely multifactorial involving hypersensitivity, hypoxia, reactive intermediates, and secxondary to its metabolites (protein-hapten complex with immune consequences).
It appears 2-5 days after exposure and is marked by fever, nausea, vomiting, jaundice, arthralgia, rash and an eosinophilia. While it is rare (1:6000-1:35000) is it disasterous - like total liver failure and death ! It can occur on repeat exposures - so just becuase you have had it once - doesn't mean it will be ok then next time. The only treatment for the full blown severe form is liver transplant !
Danger Point #3
It sensitises the myocardium to the arrhythmogenic properties of catecholamines ! That means not only your natural endogenous adrenaline / noradrenaline, but also to any other exogenous adrenaline. Therefore if you had effects of stimulants (eg. Speed, E, Cocaine) at the same time, then you run the risk of VF ! In one of my patients that I used it on had this complication - but lived ! fortunately due to early management and also to about 10 000 Volts (360Joules) applied to his nipples ! hehe
Danger Point #4
It causes a dose dependent depression in respiration and you respiratory protective reflexes (ie. you don't cough and clear your airway like you do when awake). Plus it is associated with nausea and vomiting on emergence. Therefore with unsupervised use - can lead to aspiration of your carrots down your right main bronchus ! (mortality in supervised unit - 20%; mortality when un-supervised ..... you figure it out !)
I know all docs say - only with medical supervision - but this one is a real doozy !! Don't even be tempted to try it - it doesn't give you the slightest buzz what-so-ever either.

 

[whymeor]

Damn, I guess this stuff sucks. Thanks alot Gaspo. That was exactly the answer I was looking for. I'll tell my friend to not bother sneaking it out of the lab he works at.

 

[meister]

This is a dangerous substance to play with, but it can be done. It would be administered in the same way ether or isoflorane would be used, either "huffed" directly off a rag, or a crude vaporization unit can be made. The dose would have to be slowly and carefully tirtated to one that is enjoyable. Like other anaesthesic agents it seems to be hallucinogenic, and its immediate effects make it addictive particularly in the short term. At least its not flammable.

 

[michael]

out of curiosity gasbo, what was the specific indication it was used for in those 2 patients?

 

[gasbo]

Like other anaesthesic agents it seems to be hallucinogenic, and its immediate effects make it addictive particularly in the short term.
While you might think it causes hallucinations - it doesn't. The CNS effects that it does cause are:
(i) a dose dependent depression of consciousness
(ii) Cerebral vasodilation with increased cerebral blood flow, reduced cerebral vascular resistance and raised intracranial pressure.
(iii) There is loss of cerebral autoregulation to blood pressure
(iv) reduced metabolic consumption of oxygen
(v) reduced amplitude and increased latency of cortical components on EEG to median nerve somato-sensory evoked potentials.
It has no physically addictive properties either !

At least its not flammable.
Well - yeah - at clinical concentrations -no - ie if you have an anaesthetised patient and the surgeon uses the diathermy on the lung or laser in the bronchi then your patient wont explode.
But it is highly flammable when vapourised at 30% - ie when you open the bottle, taking off the lid - a 30% vapour concentration is not only flammable but Explosive !

out of curiosity gasbo, what was the specific indication it was used for in those 2 patients?
These children had acute epiglottitis and it was used to induce anaesthesia in them both. I would use it again tomorrow but only in this small subgroup or in a similar clinical situation where I did not want them to stop breathing.
Acute epiglottitis is really an anaesthetic emergency - and is now fortunately uncommon owing to the haemophilus vaccine given in childhood ! The only thing that really prevents these kids from asphyxiating is intubating them - which is in itself - the most 'hairy' things that I have ever done clinically .... very frightening ! Halothane offers one advantage over sevoflurane in this situation (in my hands anyway) - in that in clinical concentrations they rarely stop breathing while you are inducing them. With sevo - kids often breath hold when they are almost about to enter the desired plane of anaesthesia. So if a child with acute epi stops breathing - and you are unable to intubate them (they are quite difficult to intubate as the swollen epiglottis hides the tracheal inlet or just plainly obstructs it .. and ... they are dead For that reason I go with halothane - its old, its slower, it has all the problems mentioned above - but in these situations and in my hands at least, it is safer.
[ 05 July 2002: Message edited by: gasbo ]
[ 05 July 2002: Message edited by: gasbo ]

 

[Ketamike]

Props to Gasbo!
If your friend hasn't already, tell him to gank one of those one gallon jugs of ether. I'm sorry.. it's a stupid ghetto-drug... but the site of a one gallon jug just makes me giddy.
And IMO.. the ether high is pretty cool. Just don't go into a public place after huffing that shit, or the people at Blockbuster will look at you funny.
BTW... the ether intoxication is NOTHING like it's portrayed in Fear & Loathing
[ 05 July 2002: Message edited by: Ketamike ]