Prompt treatment of CNS depression offers the best chance of a full recovery. If a drug overdose is the cause of CNS depression, there are medications that can reverse these effects. Naltrexone gallstones and alcohol may also be used to reduce drinking without quitting cold turkey.
What are the symptoms of CNS depression?
Some types of CNS depressant can also have long-term effects, causing someone to have difficulty thinking, confusion, speech problems, loss of coordination, and muscle weakness. A person may recover from an overdose, but research in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology shows that some may continue to have problems with everyday functioning after leaving the hospital. Some of these substances, for example, codeine, are present in medications for coughs or diarrhea. These are strong pain-relieving drugs that come from opium, a substance made from the seeds of the poppy. Most of these drugs cause some combination of drowsiness, muscle relaxation, and anxiety reduction. When your doctor prescribes a medication, make sure you understand its purpose and how long you’re expected to take it.
Table 2 presents the ten most commonly reported prescribed CNS-D medications as well as the prevalence of use of each medication in the U.S. over the entire study period. Hydrocodone (an opioid) was the most commonly endorsed CNS-D prescription (24% of CNS-D prescription medication mentions) and was used by 3.2% of the population. The most commonly reported prescribed benzodiazepine was Alprazolam (9.6% of CNS-D prescription medication mentions) and was used by 1.4% of the population. The most commonly reported prescribed sleep medication was Zolpidem (7.9% of CNS-D prescription medication mentions) and was used by 1.3% of the population. Alcohol interacts with several neurotransmitter systems in the brain’s reward and stress circuits.
- EtOH exposure induces the catalytic expression of oxidative metabolizing enzymes which is parallel to enhancing the production of ROS (Figure 1).
- Multiple studies have been conducted across the globe to understand the effect of alcohol on humans; implications from certain such studies are put forth in Table Table11.
- Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain and it exerts its effects through several receptor subtypes, including one called the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor.
The adverse effect of disulfiram is outrageous over the clinical success towards preventing alcohol relapse. Anti-craving agents acamprosate and naltrexone are emerging concepts to control drinking. Naltrexone is an opioid receptor antagonist, found to be more effective to prevent relapse and maintain abstinence that reduces the rewarding effect of alcohol by generating fewer withdrawal effects 127,128. Acamprosate enhance the tolerance of alcohol withdrawal symptom by stabilizing the activity of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-mediated glutamatergic excitation during early abstinence. However, their full clinical success has not been established and it depends on the administration, target, and severity of the disease. CNS inflammatory sequelae are believed to play a vital role in neuronal death as the pathway of neurodegeneration and inflammatory feedback is mainly mediated by microglial activation.
Addressing emotional or mental health concerns can help people with AUD find ways to cope that do not involve alcohol. Long-term overuse of alcohol can cause physical and psychological dependence. People who are dependent on alcohol may experience withdrawal symptoms when they try to quit drinking. These symptoms may range from nausea and anxiety to symptoms of lsd overdose seizures and hallucinations. Individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) continue to consume alcohol despite experiencing negative consequences. Although AUD cases may differ in severity, people who receive effective treatment can fully recover.
The potential therapeutic approach to prevent neurodegeneration
In small doses, these drugs slow brain function, producing a calm or sleepy feeling. The danger is when the CNS is slowed too much, which can lead to unconsciousness, coma, and death. Certain drugs affect the neurotransmitters in your brain, causing brain activity to slow. If you’re undergoing alcohol withdrawal symptoms or want to reduce alcohol cravings, you may be prescribed medication. The FDA-approved options include naltrexone, acamprosate, and disulfiram.
Despite the negative consequence addiction recovery art of drinking alcohol, there is still hope for the recovery of alcohol-induced neurodegeneration. Neuro-regeneration (neuronal stem cell proliferation and formation of new neurons) generally depends on alcohol dosage, drinking duration, nutritional deficiency, stage of neuronal damage, and cellular components that correspond with cognitive functioning impairment. In AUD, alcohol alters the physiological status of the nervous system, may cause interruption of neuroprotective functions, and interfere with the absorption of certain nutrients which are necessary to maintain CNS homeostasis and brain cell development 111. These factors may then result in loss of structure and function of multiple brain regions which induce alcoholic neurodegeneration 6.
Alcohol not only affects the person physiologically, but it has many adverse effects psychologically and socially too. It is not always necessary that these mentioned signs and symptoms are compulsorily linked with disease conditions. Prolonged alcohol intake for many years has been known to cause serious ailments in human beings since time memorial. Even after knowing that this dangerous addiction paves the way to one’s own grave, there isn’t much difference in the way the community sees this deadly habit. Time and again history has proven that this fatal addiction could make the life of those who consume it terrible.
A review on alcohol: from the central action mechanism to chemical dependency
Therefore, novel therapeutic options are needed to treat the single or multi-target molecules of misfolded protein formation, oxidative stress damage, cognitive impairments, and synaptic integrity as well as the pro-inflammatory response in alcohol-induced neurodegeneration. Anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective agents can be one of the novel therapeutic options to treat or diminish the progression of neurodegenerative disease. Among these factors, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and mesencephalic astrocyte-derived neurotrophic factor (MANF) play a key role as neuroprotective agents in neuro restoration and neurogenesis to protect the neuron from oxidative damage 119,112.
Chronic alcoholism is found to have a very strong relationship with both acute pancreatitis and chronic pancreatitis. Chronic alcohol intake impairs the repair ability of the structures of the exocrine pancreas, thereby leading to pancreatic dysfunctioning 14. Most of the patients diagnosed with pancreatitis have a strong history of chronic intake of alcohol. Liver diseases related to alcohol intake are known to humankind from the very beginning and probably are one of the oldest known forms of injury to the liver 15. In liver diseases linked with alcohol, liver cirrhosis is a major concern. Statistics show that liver cirrhosis is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide and this in itself indicates the severity of the same 16.