dextromethorphan

[aoz]

Dextromethorphan is a synthetic opioid that is used in over the counter cough medicines. It is labeled as an antitussive drug (anti-cough) but in reality serves also as a dissociative anesthetic. It is in the same class of drugs as Phencycladine (PCP), Ketamine, and Nitrus Oxide (N2O).

In the United states, dextromethorphan is sold as tablets, syrup, and sprays for medicinal use. It is also sold on the black market in pure powder form as a psychotropic drug.

Dextromethorphan acts in many ways...it is a nonselective seretonin reuptake inhibitor, a sigma-1 receptor agonist (high affiity), and has a low affinity for the sigma-2 receptors, an alpha3beta4 nicotinic acetacholine receptor antagonist, an alpha3beta2 nicotinic acetacholine receptor antagonist, an alpha7 nicotinc acetacholine receptor antagonist, a mu, kappa, and delta opioid receptor agonist, and an it is a noncompetative NMDA receptor antagonist. Dextromethorphan is a seratonin and norepinepherine transporter inhibitor, also acting as a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-oxidase inhibitor. It's metabolite Dextrorphan is an NMDA receptor antagonist.

Dextromethorphan should not be taken with Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOI's) or Selective Seretonin Reuptake Inhibitors, as a condition known as Seretonin Syndrome (a condition that results from too much seretonin accumulating to the point of reaching levels toxic to the brain). Also, there are people who have histamine reactions to dextromethorphan and get severe skin rashes as a result of ingestion.

Grapefruit and grapefruit juice interact with dextromethorphan metabolization through the furocoumarins (a class of organic chemical in many plants) that inhibit the cytochrome p450 action of the liver, which breaks down dextromethorphan and some of it's metabolites. Consuming grapefruit with dextromethorphan can cause it to build up and last longer in the system, increasing the duration of it's effects.

Dextromethorphan is typically used in doses of 15 to 45 milligrams for cough, acting centrally to increase the threshold for coughing. Typically this dose has effects for three to eight hours; longer when used in an extended release form.

When taken for recreational or entheogenic use, doses tend to be between 100 milligrams and one gram, sometimes more in an experienced user with heavy tolerance.

It has been used off-label as an anelgesic.

[aoz]

reported side effects from the recommended dose include itching, rash, nausea, drowsiness, respiratory depression, and CEV's (closed eye visuals)

From doses deemed recreational, other side effects are reported such as dissociation, vomiting, nausea, blurred/distorted vision, double vision, temporary loss of sight, sweating, pupil dilation, fever, hypertension, diarrhea, urinary retention, jaw tremors and teeth grinding

No human LD50 (dose which is lethal to 50% of the population) has been established, though it is absolutely possible to overdose. Two to three grams seems to be the upper limit of what most human specimens can handle.

Dextromethorphan is known now to be a neuroprotective chemical; that is, capable of producing a lasting protective barrier around the brain which can protect from many different kinds of brain damage. It can be used to prevent the progression of neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injuries. It can halt or slow the secondary injuries of central nervous system by slowing or ceasing the loss of neurons.

Dextomethorphan was patented in 1954. It was one of three chemical subjects used in a US navy and CIA funded research project to find a nonaddictive replacement for codeine in over the counter cough preparations due to the rampant abuse of cough syrup by opiate addicts around that time. It began to be used four years later in over the counter cough medicines, to much failure. It worked as a cough suppressant, but still rendered the user high when a certain amount was consumed, and while it was less physically addictive than codeine, it is arguably more psychologically addictive to many people. And instead of curbing the dependence on opiates, it merely introduced a previously unknown drug with vast abuse potential that was available to ANYONE without the need for underground connections.

Due to frequent abuse, many products containing dextromethorphan have been pulled from the market, and drug companies are finding creative ways of making cough products more and more unpalatable, including some that include ipecac as an ingrediant.

A lot of the problems that are faced by users of cough syrup come not primarily from the DXM, but from the high amounts of sugars like sucrose and high fructose corn syrup. Two four ounce bottles of cough syrup (depending on brand) frequently contain over two thousand calories. That is notably hard for the liver to process and can lead to type 2 diabetes.

Another problem comes from people using products with a secondary ingredient Guafenesin, which doesn't effect the character of the experience, but can cause depositis in the kidney and result in kidney stones.

[aoz]

For more information regarding the use of Dextromethorphan as a mind-altering substance please refer to the DXM FAQ by William E. White via this link

www.erowid.org/chemicals/dxm/faq/

[Alice]

Very detailed, and lots of words I don't want to pronounce. There's a lot to be said about dextromethorphan.

There's another thread here wherein I've written about the possible application of dextromethorphan in treatment of fibromyalgia.

May you find what you seek,
Alice