BigG
Ex-Bluelighter
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2013
- Messages
- 4,272
An important bit of information has just come to my attention today regarding gabapentin and pregabalin (Lyrica). It was an email from public health England which unfortunately i don't feel comfortable cutting and pasting verbatim as it was sent to my secure work email address (my dot net account) i don't see the point in having a secure and insecure account personally.....why not just one secure account? Its a pain in the arse...........but anyway, I'll give the gist of it .
Basically it has always been assumed that large doses of gabapentin/pregabalin were pretty safe and that the risk of overdose was negligible. There has however been this e-mail sent around by public health England saying that there have been several deaths due to respiratory depression directly linked directly to these drugs. Obviously the risk is GREATLY magnified if gabapentin or pregabalin are combined with other drugs that cause respiratory depression eg. opiates, benzos, alcohol, barbs, etc.
So it seems these drugs are not as innocuous as people thought. Those in contact with drug and alcohol services should also receive this information from their key workers or prescribers (so the email said anyway).
If taking huge amounts of either of these drugs whether on their own or in combination with any of the other drugs mentioned above please be very careful try to have someone monitor your breathing. Normal respiratory rate for an adult is 16-20 breaths per minute. Less than 12 is known as bradypnea and less than 5 is very dangerous. Of course if someone stops breathing altogether then call 999 straight away and begin rescue breathing and CPR if the person also has no pulse (learn how to take the radial or carotid pulse and also learn CPR and rescue breathing from wherever....try YouTube).
Please, please be safe out there folks. I never want to see any of you in the back of an ambulance!
Basically it has always been assumed that large doses of gabapentin/pregabalin were pretty safe and that the risk of overdose was negligible. There has however been this e-mail sent around by public health England saying that there have been several deaths due to respiratory depression directly linked directly to these drugs. Obviously the risk is GREATLY magnified if gabapentin or pregabalin are combined with other drugs that cause respiratory depression eg. opiates, benzos, alcohol, barbs, etc.
So it seems these drugs are not as innocuous as people thought. Those in contact with drug and alcohol services should also receive this information from their key workers or prescribers (so the email said anyway).
If taking huge amounts of either of these drugs whether on their own or in combination with any of the other drugs mentioned above please be very careful try to have someone monitor your breathing. Normal respiratory rate for an adult is 16-20 breaths per minute. Less than 12 is known as bradypnea and less than 5 is very dangerous. Of course if someone stops breathing altogether then call 999 straight away and begin rescue breathing and CPR if the person also has no pulse (learn how to take the radial or carotid pulse and also learn CPR and rescue breathing from wherever....try YouTube).
Please, please be safe out there folks. I never want to see any of you in the back of an ambulance!
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