Unexpected Overdoses Linked To Popular Medication!
(ConservativeInsider.org) – Medications can be life-saving tools that bring someone back from the brink of death or help them live a happy life despite chronic pain. However, these prescriptions can also have a dark side, like a commonly used prescription called gabapentin. A study shows medical examiners find it in nearly 10% of overdose deaths in recent years.
On May 13, the CDC published a weekly report detailing overdose deaths related to gabapentin in 2019 and 2020. The study noted that the FDA only approved the medication as an anti-seizure medication and to treat complications after shingles. However, doctors are prescribing it more often for off-label uses involving neurological pain and mental health issues.
In 2019, gabapentin became the seventh most prescribed medication in the US. Furthermore, of the over 60,000 overdose deaths studied by the CDC for this article, it was present in 9.7% of toxicology reports. Scientists believe that in 52% of the deaths where examiners found gabapentin, it significantly contributed to the death.
🙋‍♂️Must read in @JAMA_current#Gabapentin Increasingly Implicated in Overdose Deaths Data from CDC shows postmortem toxicology tests detected gabapentin in ~1 in 10 US overdose deaths in 2019-2020. Coroners ruled drug was cause of death in 55% of caseshttps://t.co/R71rmGCKqd
— Paul Wischmeyer MD ⎪ #NutritionMatters đź’Ş (@Paul_Wischmeyer) July 10, 2022
Gabapentin first entered the market under the name Neurontin but is also prescribed as Horizant and Gralise. Doctors have called it “relatively benign.” However, as it continues to rise in popularity, consumers must be aware of this drug and its association with medical overdose deaths.
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