Psychotropic Use during Pregnancy
“Bert” Bertis Britt Little in Drugs and Pregnancy, 2022
Ethchlorvynol is a tertiary acetylenic alcohol and is used as an oral hypnotic and sedative agent. No studies have been published regarding the frequency of congenital malformations among newborns of women exposed to ethchlorvynol during gestation. Symptoms of neonatal withdrawal were observed in the newborn of a woman who was treated with ethchlorvynol as a hypnotic during the last 3 months of gestation. Neonatal withdrawal symptoms observed were jitteriness, irritability, and hypotonia (Rumak and Walravens, 1973). No animal studies evaluating the teratogenic effects of ethchlorvynol are published, but behavioral changes were observed among the offspring of pregnant rats treated with ethchlorvynol in doses greater than those used in humans (Peters and Hudson, 1981).
Disposition and Metabolism of Drugs of Dependence
S.J. Mulé, Henry Brill in Chemical and Biological Aspects of Drug Dependence, 2019
Ethchlorvynol (Placidyl®) was introduced into medicine in 1955. It is a colorless liquid b. 173 to 174°C with pungent aromatic odor and is sensitive to light and air. It is immiscible with water, but miscible with most organic solvents. It is an effective hypnotic with short latency to the onset and a short duration of effect. The oral hypnotic dose is 500 mg, 100 to 200 mg for sedation (2 to 3 times daily).
Alcohol and Sedatives
Frank Lynn Iber in Alcohol and Drug Abuse as Encountered in Office Practice, 2020
Ethchlorvynol (Placidyl®), is a Schedule IV controlled substance. It is rapidly absorbed, mildly bound to protein (30 to 50%), metabolized by the liver to a product excreted by the kidney, and has a half life of 10 to 20 h, but its duration of action is about 5 h. Overdose is similar to chloral hydrate. It is not very dialyzable.
Suspected suicides and suicide attempts involving antipsychotic or sedative-hypnotic medications reported to America’s Poison Centers, 2000–2021
Published in Clinical Toxicology, 2023
Larissa Ybanez, Henry A. Spiller, Jaahnavi Badeti, Marcel J. Casavant, Natalie Rine, Nichole L. Michaels, Motao Zhu, Gary A. Smith
This study analyzed the following variables: year of exposure, age group, sex, generic substance category, major substance category, exposure type, level of health care received, and medical outcome. Age groups were categorized as <13 years, 13–19 years, 20–29 years, 30–39 years, 40–49 years, >49 years, and unknown. Cases listed as having an unknown age included those designated as unknown, ≤19 years, or ≥20 years. Based on the NPDS generic substance code, medications were categorized into three major substance categories as follows: 1) antipsychotics (includes atypical antipsychotics and phenothiazines), 2) benzodiazepines, or 3) other (includes other types of sedative-hypnotic/anti-anxiety or antipsychotic medications, i.e., buspirone, chloral hydrate, ethchlorvynol, barbiturates, meprobamate, methaqualone, sleep aids [over the counter only, excluding diphenhydramine], other types of sedative/hypnotic/anti-anxiety or antipsychotic drugs, and unknown types of sedative/hypnotic/anti-anxiety or antipsychotic drugs). Based on the number of substances involved, the exposure type was grouped into two categories: single-substance or multiple-substance exposures.
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