Chemical restraints

So we have established that there were powerful interests behind the adoption of drugs as the principle form of psychiatric treatment and behind the transformation of views about drugs from chemical restraints to chemical cures. The question we now need to address is whether the evidence supports the idea that modern drugs are disease-specific treatments. Do psychiatric drugs deserve the prominence and respectability that they have now achieved And if the evidence does not suggest that they act on disease processes, then how do they act What are the characteristics of the psychological state they induce and how does this impact on normal mental functioning ... 

Drug use evaluation Determine drug shortage alternative plan Evaluate use of chemical restraints... 

Meperidine is a p receptor agonist that is one-tenth as potent as morphine and has a shorter duration of effect. Its effects in the horse are similar to those described for morphine and it is used primarily as an anesthetic adjimct, or along with other sedatives for standing chemical restraint or anesthetic premedication. The recommended dose rate is 0.6-1.0mg/kg i.v. in combination with either acepromazine (0.05 mg/kg) or xylazine (0.5-1.0mg/kg). 

Butorphanol is the opioid agonist-antagonist that is most frequently used in the horse. It is a K receptor agonist and can antagonize the effect of JL agonists at the x opioid receptor (Sellon et al 2001). Butorphanol is used in combination with another sedative for standing chemical restraint and as part of premedication protocols for anesthesia. Recommended dose rates for butorphanol are 0.02-0.05 mg/kg i.v. in combination with acepromazine (0.05 mg/kg), xylazine (0.5-1.0 mg/kg) or detomidine (10-20 (xg/kg). 

Geiser D R 1990 Chemical restraint and analgesia in the horse. Veterinary Clinics of North America Equine Practice 6 495-451... 

Fig. 3.1.2. Stability relations in the system Fe(0H)2-H3P04-H20. The chemical restraints are nHCOj 10 3-5 and = lO", ohs- 0. Reproduced with permission from...

One issue with the use of blood gases as an endpoint in a safety pharmacology study is the technical challenge to collect them. For proper evaluation of respiratory effects, the blood sample must be collected from an artery which is difficult to locate in small species such as rats and difficult to obtain safely from any species without some form of physical or chemical restraint. As a modification for access, an arterial vascular access port (VAP) can be placed surgically, prior to study activities, but then requires subsequent careful maintenance to ensure patency. 

Though formerly studied in monkeys by Bodis-WoUn and al we do not think that haloperidol is a very useful adjunct for chemical restraint of monkeys. 

A study evaluated the use of haloperidol (1-lOmg oral [61.6%], intravenous [16.6%], intramuscular [21.9%]) as a chemical restraint in phencyclidine-intoxicated patients [15(Y]. Adverse events which were all rated as minor included one incident of each of hypotension (after alcohol and lorazepam), hypoxia and QTc prolongation. 

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