Management Of Withdrawal Syndrome Research Articles

Fentanyl versus Methadone in Management of Withdrawal Syndrome in Opioid Addicted Patients; a Pilot Clinical Trial.

Introduction:The most effective treatment for withdrawal syndrome in Opioid-dependent patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) remains unknown. This study aimed to compare fentanyl and methadone in this regard. Methods:This prospective, single-blinded, controlled pilot study was conducted on opioid-dependent intubated patients admitted to the toxicology ICU of Loghman Hakim Hospital, Tehran, Iran, between August 2019 and August 2020. Patients were alternately assigned to either fentanyl or methadone group after the initiation of their withdrawal syndrome. Duration and alleviation of the withdrawal signs and symptoms, ICU and hospital stay, development of complications, development of later signs/symptoms of withdrawal syndrome, and need for further administration of sedatives to treat agitation were then compared between these two groups.Results:Median age of the patients was 42 [interquartile range (IQR): 26, 56]. The two groups were similar in terms of the patients’ age (p = 0.92), sex (p = 0.632), primary Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS) II (p = 0.861), and Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Score (COWS) before (p = 0.537) and 120 minutes after treatment (p = 0.136) with either methadone or fentanyl. The duration of intubation (p = 0.120), and ICU stay (p = 0.572), were also similar between the two groups. The only factor that was significantly different between the two groups was the time needed for alleviation of the withdrawal signs and symptoms after the administration of the medication, which was significantly shorter in the methadone group (30 vs. 120 minutes, p = 0.007).Conclusion:It seems that methadone treats the withdrawal signs and symptoms faster in dependent patients. However, these drugs are similarly powerful in controlling the withdrawal signs in these patients.

New psychoactive substances: An emerging epidemic

New psychoactive substances (NPSs) are growing at an alarming rate causing a threat to the public health. They are available online or in head shops and come with variety of street names across the cities, states, and countries. NPSs are prepared in the laboratories either by tweaking or altering the chemical structure of existing substances such as cannabis and ecstasy. They are cheap, easy to obtain, and difficult to be detected by traditional drug screening methods. It has become very challenging to detect them within the clinical settings because of the fast rate of their availability and their constant changing structure. Their purity as well as pharmacology and toxic effects are still not known. These drugs cause major life-threatening complications, which is worrisome. The legal status of these drugs is ambiguous. The laws are complex, changing, are not well defined to control or regulate their use which is a major setback. As many clinicians are unaware of the existence of such drugs, the identification and management of withdrawal syndrome and overdose become difficult. There is a need to create awareness regarding the risks and the health hazards caused by these novel substances as well as to develop and design new prevention approaches that are able to attract the attention of the young population.

Parent’s experiences of their child’s withdrawal syndrome: a driver for reciprocal nurse-parent partnership in withdrawal assessment

Withdrawal assessment in critically ill children is complicated by the reliance on non-specific behaviours and compounded when the child’s typical behaviours are unknown. The existing approach to withdrawal assessment assumes that nurses elicit the parents’ view of the child’s behaviours. Objective and research methodologyThis qualitative study explored parents’ perspectives of their child’s withdrawal and preferences for involvement and participation in withdrawal assessment. Parents of eleven children were interviewed after their child had completed sedation weaning during recovery from critical illness. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. SettingA large children’s hospital in the Northwest of England. FindingsParents experienced varying degrees of partnership in the context of withdrawal assessment and identified information deficits which contributed to their distress of parenting a child with withdrawal syndrome. Most parents were eager to participate in withdrawal assessment and reported instances where their knowledge enabled a personalised interpretation of their child’s behaviours. Reflecting on the reciprocal nature of the information deficits resulted in the development of a model for nurse-parent collaboration in withdrawal assessment. ConclusionFacilitating nurse-parent collaboration in withdrawal assessment may have reciprocal benefits by moderating parental stress and aiding the assessment and management of withdrawal syndrome.

Nursing judgement and decision-making using the Sedation Withdrawal Score (SWS) in children.

The aim of the study was to evaluate registered children's nurses' approaches to the assessment and management of withdrawal syndrome in children. Assessment of withdrawal syndrome is undertaken following critical illness when the child's condition may be unstable with competing differential diagnoses. Assessment tools aim to standardize and improve recognition of withdrawal syndrome. Making the right decisions in complex clinical situations requires a degree of mental effort and it is not known how nurses make decisions when undertaking withdrawal assessments. Cognitive interviews with clinical vignettes. Interviews were undertaken with 12 nurses to explore the cognitive processes they used when assessing children using the Sedation Withdrawal Score (SWS) tool. Interviews took place in Autumn 2013. Each stage of decision-making-noticing, interpreting and responding-presented cognitive challenges for nurses. When defining withdrawal behaviours nurses tended to blur the boundaries between Sedation Withdrawal Score signs. Challenges in interpreting behaviours arose from not knowing if the patient's behaviour was a result of withdrawal or other co-morbidities. Nurses gave a range of diagnoses when interpreting the vignettes, despite being provided with identical information. Treatment responses corresponded to definite withdrawal diagnoses, but varied when nurses were unsure of the diagnosis. Cognitive interviews with vignettes provided insight into nurses' judgement and decision-making. The SWS does not standardize the assessment of withdrawal due to the complexity of the context where assessments take place and the difficulties of determining the cause of equivocal behaviours in children recovering from critical illness.

Delirium in the course of dependence upon gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) - a case report

Abstract Gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) is an organic chemical compound of the lactones group, undergoing biotransformation into gamma-hydroxybutyrate after the intake (GHB). Because of the easy access, low price and fast psychotropic effect, GBL is becoming increasingly popular substance having intoxicating effect. Taking of GBL causes dose-dependent euphoric, sedative, hypnotic effects. Its use can quickly lead to physical dependence with severe course of withdrawal syndromes. Withdrawal symptoms resemble those occurring in the course of addiction to alcohol or benzodiazepines. In some patients, delirium develops during substance withdrawal. There are described severe, life-threatening complications in the course of delirium in GBL-dependent patients. The management of withdrawal syndromes and delirium mainly involves administration of benzodiazepines. In this paper, we present a case of delirium in 24-year-old man addicted to GBL hospitalized in a psychiatric ward. Delirium in this patient went without complications and was successfully managed with diazepam and lorazepam.