Sedatives, tranquilizer addiction

Prescription medications such as pain relievers, central nervous system (CNS) depressants (tranquilizers and sedatives), and stimulants are highly beneficial treatments for a variety of health conditions. Pain relievers enable individuals with chronic pain to lead productive lives tranquilizers can reduce anxiety and help patients with sleep disorders and stimulants help people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) focus their attention. Most people who take prescription medications use them responsibly. But when abused—that is, taken by someone other than the patient for whom the medication was prescribed or taken in a manner or dosage other than what was prescribed—prescription medications can produce serious adverse health effects, including addiction. 

The quinazolone methaqualone (129 R = Me) was introduced as a sedative in 1965. It also has anticonvulsant and muscle-relaxant properties, but it has produced problems of addiction. Sedative effects are also produced by many antihistamines, and by tranquilizers of the benzodiazepine group. 

The names and formulae of some of the psycholeptic compounds which cannot be classified in the major chemical categories so far considered are set out in Table 5.3. Meprobamate VIII) was one of the earliest used tranquillizers. It was developed from mephenesin VII), which was introduced as a muscle relaxant and was soon seen to have a sedative action too. In small doses, meprobamate is a sedative. In larger doses, it causes muscle relaxation and has been classed, with similar compounds, as a tranquillo-sedative . Like the barbiturates, it produces no sign of extrapyramidal or central autonomic stimulation. Well-authenticated reports of addiction to meprobamate have appeared . Both mephenesin and meprobamate produce muscle relaxation by inhibiting interneurones—and hence polysynaptic reflexes—in the spinal cord. Though not described as a hypnotic, meprobamate has been successfully used in the treatment of insomnia, perhaps because it reduces tension. 

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