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Latest Mental Health News<\/h3>\n
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By Amy Norton<\/b>
HealthDay Reporter<\/i><\/p>\n
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 9, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
A growing number of Americans may be having serious reactions after taking phenibut — an unapproved anxiety<\/a> drug sold in some dietary supplements<\/a>.<\/p>\n That’s the finding of a new study looking at calls to U.S. poison control<\/a> centers. The numbers are not huge: Between 2009 and 2019, there were 1,320 calls related to phenibut.<\/p>\n But there was a sharp rise beginning in 2015, researchers found — going from a handful of calls each year to between 300 and 400 in 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n More worrisome, the effects were sometimes life-threatening or fatal, said researcher Janessa Graves, an associate professor at Washington State University.<\/p>\n Overall, 80 people fell into comas and three died. Often, they had taken other substances as well. But even in cases where phenibut was used alone, 10% resulted in serious effects — including one death.<\/p>\n “This is reason for concern,” Graves said. “[Phenibut] is easily accessible, and it may be becoming more popular.”<\/p>\n The findings were published Sept. 4 in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>‘s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.<\/i><\/p>\n Originally developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s, phenibut was given to cosmonauts, with the aim of combating anxiety<\/a> and insomnia<\/a>. It has never been an approved drug in the United States, but it is present in some dietary supplements<\/a> marketed for enhancing mood and brain power.<\/p>\n The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ruled phenibut is not a dietary ingredient and cannot be listed as such in dietary supplements<\/a>. But phenibut supplements<\/a> are widely available online, Graves noted.<\/p>\n There have also been reports of people abusing the drug for euphoric effects. A recent study of Minnesota poison centers found that in nearly half of calls related to phenibut, the person had used it with “abuse as the reason.”<\/p>\n The drug is similar to a brain chemical called GABA, which has a calming effect on the central nervous system. That can also cause side effects like sedation, reduced levels of consciousness and depressed<\/a> breathing<\/a>.<\/p>\n Previous research has uncovered signs that phenibut use is trending upward in the United States, Graves said. So her team tried to get a bigger picture, by analyzing a national database on calls to poison control<\/a> centers.<\/p>\n From 2009 to 2014, they found there was a small number of calls each year related to “phenygam” or 4-amino-3-phenylbutyric acid — alternative names for phenibut.<\/p>\n Starting in 2015, poison control centers were able to use the term “phenibut.” After that, there was a steady, steep rise in calls related to the drug.<\/p>\n It’s not clear how much of that could be related to rising popularity, Graves said.<\/p>\n Based on internet search trends, public interest in phenibut has remained fairly stable in the past several years, said Pat Aussem, of the nonprofit Partnership to End Addiction<\/a>.<\/p>\n “That said,” she added, “the sharp rise in calls to poison control centers is concerning, and may be attributable to people searching for and using anti-anxiety<\/a> supplements<\/a> without knowing their safety profiles.”<\/p>\n Consumers should not assume that dietary supplements<\/a> are “safe,” stressed Aussem, who was not involved in the study.<\/p>\n She said phenibut would be particularly dangerous in combination with other substances that depress the central nervous system — including alcohol<\/a>, opioids or benzodiazepines<\/a>, like Xanax<\/a> or Ativan<\/a>.<\/p>\n In this study, 40% of adults and 30% of people under age 18 had used phenibut with other substances.<\/p>\n The findings highlight a bigger issue, according to Dr. Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer advocacy group.<\/p>\n In the United States, dietary supplements are largely unregulated, Lurie said, and the FDA has limited resources to take action against companies that put unapproved drugs<\/a> into supplements — or make unproven health claims.<\/p>\n The CSPI recently urged the FDA to take stronger steps against manufacturers and stores that sell supplements with an unapproved antidepressant<\/a> called tianeptine.<\/p>\n
The FDA has sent warning letters to a number of U.S. companies that market tianeptine or phenibut supplements. But the products are still readily available.<\/p>\n One of the concerns, Lurie said, is that consumers will be lured away from therapies — medication or not — that are proven to help anxiety<\/a> and depression<\/a>.<\/p>\n Graves and Aussem made the same point.<\/p>\n “In this age of COVID-19<\/a>,” Aussem said, “many people are trying to cope with anxiety<\/a> and may wish to find a ‘natural’ product to alleviate their symptoms.”<\/p>\n But, she said, “talking to a health care provider about their concerns is the safest approach.”<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n References<\/p>\n
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\n SOURCES: Janessa Graves, Ph.D., M.P.H., associate professor, Washington State University, College of Nursing, Spokane; Pat Aussem, L.P.C., M.A.C., associate vice president, consumer clinical content development, Partnership to End Addiction, New York City; Peter Lurie, M.D., M.P.H., president, Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington, D.C.; Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report<\/i>, Sept. 4, 2020
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