Demerol is another prescription drug under the class of opioids which is produced by Sanofi Aventis. The generic name of this drug is meperidine. Its major function is to treat light to medium pain such as from giving birth, after surgery, and it is also used to induce sleepiness.
This prescription drug has gained approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1942. Likewise, this drug is known by other brands, generic, and street names. The two brand names of this drug are Meperitab and Demerol.
Aside from those brand names, this drug also comes with some popular street names in order to hide its true identity during illegal transactions. Some of its popular street names are Dust, D, and Dillies. Furthermore, its street names can vary depending on the culture of the area.
In terms of medical use, this prescription drug is often used along with anesthesia. It is applied to patients before undergoing certain medical operations such as colonoscopy, reconstructive surgery, biopsy, and endoscopy.
It is easy to spot this drug in stores and pharmacies because of its pill identifier. This prescription drug is mostly available in tablet forms with varying strengths: 20 mg, 50mg, and 100 mg.
All tablets of varying strengths are white and having a pill imprint of “W” on one side. Meanwhile, their major difference lies in their numerical pill imprint on the other side. For instance, the 50 mg has a pill imprint of “D 35” while 100 mg have “D 37”.
Demerol, How They Work
This prescription drug works in the same way as other opioid drugs. Once ingested, it mixes with the blood and targets the brain. In the brain, it binds itself in the opioid receptors to inhibit pain sensations from being detected by the brain. At the same time, it induces a feeling of highness through the stimulation of the brain to secrete huge amounts of dopamine.
Dopamine is both a hormone and neurotransmitter which is responsible for the control of body movements and motivation in the brain. This hormone is also called the “happy or feel-good hormone”.
Addiction and Dangers
Despite its medicinal benefits, this drug is considered dangerous because of its high addictive potential and negative effects when mixed with other drugs and illicit substances.
In terms of strength, it is weaker than morphine where its potency is just 0.1 to 0.5 times that of morphine. Eventually, to experience a similar effect from taking 10 mg of morphine, one needs to ingest 100 mg to 200 mg of Demerol.
As mentioned, this drug is dangerous when taken along with other incompatible substances such as Parnate, Matulane, Marplan, Nardil, and others. The general result is a sudden drop in blood pressure and extreme weakening of the lungs which can lead to sudden death.
In addition, this drug is also not compatible when mixed along with alcohol and grapefruit juice. The alcohol magnifies the sedation effect of the drug while grapefruit juice slows down the metabolism of this drug in the body. A slower rate of metabolizing this substance can lead to accumulated concentration levels in the blood which can lead to death.
Moreover, once a person starts to use this medication, certain short and long-term effects can be felt by the body. Some of its common short-term effects include stomach pain, sleepiness, hypotension, smaller eye pupils, slower heartbeat and breathing pattern.
Meanwhile, the general impact of its long-term effects is paralysis and death to the person. The common long-term effects of using this drug are dependence, cerebral nerve damage, anxiety, depression, unbalanced behavior, and less oxygen dissolved in the blood.
Medications and Treatments
Before allowing the patient to undergo any treatment program, there are a few things to be done to ensure effective recovery from this addiction. First, the patient must have self-awareness for having the addiction and the acceptance of needing help from others to recover from this condition.
The first step in any treatment program is detoxification and abstinence from using the drug. Flushing out these harmful substances in the body can be done through stomach lavage, oral ingestion of activated charcoal, or blood dialysis. These methods can help in removing huge amounts of these substances in the body.
Abstinence, whether gradual or abrupt, always leads to certain withdrawal symptoms. These withdrawal symptoms can induce great discomfort to the patient, especially when done instantly and not gradually. Some of the common withdrawal symptoms include uncontrolled shaking of the body, nervousness, chills, stomach pain, difficulty sleeping, highly irritable, excessive sweating, and more.
In terms of medication, the common prescription drug to counter the effect of opioids is Suboxone. This medicine contains buprenorphine and naloxone. Both have a similar effect but slightly differ on how they work.
Buprenorphine attaches itself in the opioid receptors in the brain where it decreases the effects of the opioid substance. Whereas, Naloxone blocks the opioid receptors so that these opioid substances cannot bind to that specific area in the brain.
Overall, these medications cure the biological aspect of the addiction. However, behavioral consequences must be fixed by allowing the patient to undergo therapy. There are three therapies commonly used for treating addiction: Reward System, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Group Counseling.
In the Reward System, the therapist will orient the patient about the rewards one can attain from doing a positive behavior or abstinence from the drug. The main key to this therapy is motivation through the reinforcement of rewards.
In the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, the therapist will assist the patient in identifying disruptive thoughts and risk factors which triggers the craving for the drug. After, the therapist will help the patient formulate positive coping mechanisms to counter these risk factors.
In the Group Counseling, the patient will be part of an anonymous group where all members share the same condition. The first goal of this intervention is to bring back social responsibility by letting the members do community extension services. Then the second goal is to enhance the social communication skills and insight learning of all the members.
