Late Brain Recovery Processes after Drug Overdose
- 9 May 1970
- Vol. 2 (5705) , 318-322
- https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.2.5705.318
Abstract
Though recovery of consciousness after drug overdose may occur within a day or two, the drug itself may not finally leave the brain for another one to three weeks, and at this late time a withdrawal syndrome can occur, with insomnia, restlessness, raised paradoxical (R.E.M.) sleep, epileptic phenomena, and even delirium. It is proposed that a high degree of drug-tolerance and dependence can be rapidly acquired after overdose. Abnormal sleep features of 10 patients resolved only slowly over a period of up to two months after overdose. The data support the view that R.E.M. sleep is concerned with processes of brain repair.Keywords
This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
- FENFLURAMINE OVERDOSAGEThe Lancet, 1969
- Nitrazepam--a Safe HypnoticBMJ, 1969
- Drugs and sleep.1968
- Sleep patterns in the young adult female: An EEG studyElectroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, 1966
- Five Weeks to Escape the Sleeping-pill HabitBMJ, 1965