Side effects - Reality's easier to take than sedation

[Richi]

Reality's easier to take than sedation
May 10-16, 2008 | New Scientist


HALLUCINATIONS caused by sedatives and opiates given to children in intensive care are not just a bad dream. They may cause more stress than real memories.


When Gillian Colville and colleagues at St George's Hospital in London screened 102 children in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, they found that nearly a third suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.


Being able to remember facts about what had happened to them didn't make PTSD more likely, but crucially, children who experienced delusions while in the ICU tended to have higher PTSD scores than those that didn't (American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, vol 177, p 976). Children who received medication for longer were also more likely to have delusions, which included feeling bugs crawling on them and seeing people who looked like their parents. Sedatives and opiates relieve pain and reduce anxiety, enabling children to tolerate lifesaving procedures like having a breathing tube inserted, so they can't be avoided. "But if medical staff understand this is a risk, they might take measures that could help," says Colville, such as having "drug holidays" in which doses are skipped, or weaning them off the drugs more slowly.

[Allalong]

Opiate Hallucinations?

SWIM is confused...

[ihavequestions]

from what swim knows, if hallucinations are experienced from an opiate or a sedative it means there is a severe allergic or toxic reaction. never heard of any other cases where hallucinations are the norm.

[Mint boi]

Take into account that it wouldn't JUST be opiates that the kids are getting in the ICU, it mentions sedatives aswell, and poly-drug use can create effects that mono-drug use wouldn't. Also these are kids, they may react differently than adults do to certain chemicals.

[Orchid_Suspiria]

Actually in swims experience opiates do cause a sort of hallucination,no not the hallucinations caused by hallucinogens.But light and color changes and one comes into a state that is half dreaming and half awake provide they are good opiates and one has used enough.Maybe thats what it is reffering to?

[Richi]

Orchid_Suspiria is correct, opioid medications can cause mild but uncomfortable closed-eye hallucinations such as two dimensional faces, visual patterns, etc.

This is primarily due to the stimulation of the κ-Opioid receptor, the same receptor that is stimulated by Salvinorin A.

For the most part, these hallucinations are mild, and short lived, as tolerance to the medication builds up and the hallucinations subside. Adults understand what is happening, and are usually able to wade off these 'bad dreams'. The problem is that young children may not understand what is happening and feel scared as a result, and that is why they are more susceptible to PTSD.

[Song]

Originally Posted by Richi

This is primarily due to the stimulation of the κ-Opioid receptor, the same receptor that is stimulated by Salvinorin A.

That's really interesting.