[tri-med] Re: CHLORAL HYDRATE EXPERIENCES/knowledge? important

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Barbara Farlow"
>I was wondering if anyone had any chloral hydrate experiences, or knowledge 
>to share.

Barb,
Chloryl Hydrate is also known as a "Mickey Finn". It is a CNS depressant, 
that is it can depress the rate and depth of breathing as well as the blood 
pressure of a person. It can also cause cardiac arrythmias. So it should 
ALWAYS be used with caution by our children. The other down side to chloral 
hydrate is that it cannot be reversed so if a person has an adverse response 
(or accidental overdose) there is nothing that they can do about it as far 
as reversing the effect of the drug - you basically just have to support the 
person through it (if they can) and wait for the body to deal with it.

Chloral is an "old" drug and its been superseded by many "safer" 
alternatives unfortunately old habits die hard and some people seem to still 
be using it. It's been essentially "banned" here in Australia for about 10 
years now. You can still get it but only by special authority. The reason 
for that was because of an increasing number of deaths associated with the 
use of chloral hydrate, especially in children and the elderly. Those deaths 
are well documented in the literature.

I researched chloral hydrate for Jude when Kam had her adverse reaction and 
sent her a number of articles on it's adverse effects. If Jude still has 
them she may be able to send you a copy if not I can probably find them 
again.

Thirty years ago it was pretty standard here for kids with disabilities and 
the elderly to be given chloral at night for sleeping, whether they needed 
it or not. These days I think we are more enlightened and accept that people 
do have different sleeping patterns. Chloral was common when our kids (and 
the elderly) were sat in a corner doing nothing but dozing and being bored. 
But if we actually treat medical issues and people are kept active and 
occupied during the day they tend not to need sedatives at night. If they do 
a hypnotic that helps them "get to sleep" that is short acting drugs is 
often all that they need.

I know many places in the US still use chloral for sedation for tests but 
here in Aus we tend to use Midazolam (Versed) - its very short acting, (30 
minute half life) has very little effect on CNS functions and best of all it 
can be reversed if something goes wrong.

Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.
                                            -- Josh Billings

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