Barbiturate Abuse

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• Barbiturate Abuse Overview
• Barbiturate Abuse Causes
• Barbiturate Abuse Symptoms
• When to Seek Medical Care
• Exams and Tests
• Barbiturate Abuse Treatment
• Self-Care at Home
• Medical Treatment
• Next Steps
• Follow-up
• Outlook
• For More Information
• Web Links
• Synonyms and Keywords
• Authors and Editors

Barbiturate Abuse Overview

Barbiturates are a group of drugs in the class of drugs known as sedative-hypnotics, which generally describes their sleep-inducing and anxiety-decreasing effects.

• History of use and abuse

• Barbiturates were first used in medicine in the early 1900s and became popular in the 1960s and 1970s as treatment for anxiety, insomnia, or seizure disorders. With the popularity of barbiturates in the medical population, barbiturates as drugs of abuse evolved as well. Barbiturates were abused to reduce anxiety, decrease inhibitions, and treat unwanted effects of illicit drugs. Barbiturates can be extremely dangerous because the correct dose is difficult to predict. Even a slight overdose can cause coma or death. Barbiturates are also addictive and can cause a life-threatening withdrawal syndrome.

• Barbiturate use and abuse has declined dramatically since the 1970s, mainly because a safer group of sedative-hypnotics called benzodiazepines are being prescribed. Benzodiazepine use has largely replaced barbiturates in the medical profession, with the exception of a few specific indications. Doctors are prescribing barbiturates less, and the illegal use of barbiturates has also substantially declined, although barbiturate abuse among teenagers may be on the rise compared with the early 1990s. Addiction to barbiturates, however, is uncommon today.

• Types of barbiturates

• There are many different barbiturates. The primary difference among them is how long their effects last. The effects of some of the long-acting drugs may last up to 2 days. Others are very short acting. Their effects last only a few minutes.

• Barbiturates can be injected into the veins or muscles, but they are usually taken in pill form. The street names of commonly abused barbiturates describe the desired effect of the drug or the color and markings on the actual pill.
  Barbiturate Names
  

  Generic Name	Street Name
  Amobarbital	Downers, blue heavens, blue velvet, blue devils
  Pentobarbital	Nembies, yellow jackets, abbots, Mexican yellows
  Phenobarbital	Purple hearts, goof balls
  Secobarbital	Reds, red birds, red devils, lilly, F-40s, pinks, pink ladies, seggy
  Tuinal	Rainbows, reds and blues, tooies, double trouble, gorilla pills, F-66s