Text File | 1992-01-26 | 1.3 KB | 7 lines | [04] ASCII Text (0x0000)
Barbiturates are drugs that induce drowsiness and lethargy and are widely used as sedatives. They are made by heating a mixture of substances related to malonic acid and urea. Barbiturates can be used for useful purposes such as calming a person, helping a person sleep, and controlling epilepsy; however, they can be dangerous if improperly used.
Barbiturates act as a depressant of the central nervous system and produce calmness, relaxation, and, in high doses, sleep. The extent of the effect depends on the chemical structure of the drug, the way it is given, and the size of the dose.
Sleep produced by barbiturates resembles natural sleep, but doctors sometimes observe adverse side-effects. Some of the short-term side effects of abusing barbiturates include the following: headaches, mental depression, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, nervousness, abdominal pain, irregular heart beats, and even skin eruptions.
Another risk in taking barbiturates is its tendency to produce tolerance, the body's adaptation to the drug so that larger and larger doses are required to reproduce the original effect. Bigger and bigger doses cause the body to develop a dependence on the drug. Prolonged use of barbiturates can cause stomach irritation, anemia, chronic intoxication, low body temperature. Overdoses can mean death, especially in combination with alcohol.
