This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

John G. Luehr, MD; Kathleen A. Meyerle, JD; Eric W. Larson, MD
Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation Rochester, Minn

JAMA. 1990;263(5):657.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Carisoprodol (Rela, Soma) is marketed as a musculoskeletal pain reliever and is not classified as a controlled substance. However, its primary metabolite is meprobamate (Equanil, Miltown),¹ a drug with high potential for abuse and addiction. We report a case of carisoprodol dependence. One case has been reported previously.² Because carisoprodol is not legally classified as a drug of abuse, it is available over-the-counter through veterinary mail-order catalogs.

Report of a Case.—

A 46-year-old woman, a breeder of cats, was admitted to the emergency department in a stupor. The serum drug screen revealed carisoprodol, 23.6 mg/L, and meprobamate, 72.8 mg/L. With supportive care, she improved and admitted to the ingestion of approximately 100 carisoprodol tablets (350 mg each). Fortyeight hours after ingestion, she displayed symptoms of meprobamate withdrawal, including anxiety, disorientation, hallucinations, insomnia, and tremors.³ These resolved with a tapering dose schedule of meprobamate, and . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Footnotes
Edited by Drummond Rennie, MD, Deputy Editor (West), and Don Riesenberg, MD, Senior Editor.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?