Gamma-Hydroxybutyric Acid (GHB) Withdrawal: A Case Report

• Published in: Journal of psychoactive drugs Vol. 39; no. 3; pp. 293 - 296
• Main Authors: Bennett, W. R. Murray, Wilson, Lawrence G., Roy-Byrne, Peter P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco, CA Taylor & Francis Group 01-09-2007; Haight-Ashbury; Haight Ashbury Publications
• Subjects: abuse; Addictive behaviors; Adjuvants, Anesthesia - adverse effects; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Antipsychotic Agents - therapeutic use; Benzodiazepines - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; delerium; dependence; Drug addiction; Emergency medical care; Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB); Growth hormones; Hospitalization; Humans; Hydroxybutyrates - adverse effects; Male; Medical sciences; Medical treatment; Methamphetamine; Nervous system; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome - drug therapy; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome - etiology; Toxicology; Treatment Failure; Urine; Vital signs; withdrawal; Human; Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB); Drug addiction; Abuse; Pharmacology; withdrawal; Sodium oxybate; Case study; delerium; Addiction; Dependence; Drug of abuse; Recreational drug
• ISSN: 0279-1072; 2159-9777
• DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2007.10400616

GHB is an increasingly popular drug of abuse that can be associated in select cases with growing dependence and a severe withdrawal syndrome. While benzodiazepines are recommended for treatment of the withdrawal syndrome, some cases have been described as benzodiazepine-resistant. The authors describe treatment of such a case, which was unsuccessfully treated initially with benzodiazepines, then successfully treated with adjuvant atypical neuroleptics, and offer a possible neurochemical explanation for why such agents may be theoretically more effective than benzodiazepines in treating GHB withdrawal.