# GHB available as prescription drug Xyrem



## ladybugs (Jun 14, 2006)

From what I've read about GHB, it can be very effective in treating depression, anxiety, and chronic pain. The FDA took the drastic measure of banning the drug several years ago. Well, I just discovered that it's now available as Xyrem for the treatment of Narcolepsy. It's a schedule III drug, which I think means doctors have to go through hurdles to prescribe it. I wonder if it's legal for doctors to prescribe Xyrem for off-label uses?

Currently, it's in clinical trials to determine its effectiveness in treating fibromyalgia (chronic pain condition). I hope it will also be investigated as a treatment for anxiety and depression - I certainly would be a willing guinea pig.

Info from FDA
http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/xyrem/xyrem_qa.htm


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

From Wikipedia:



> *Xyrem is also the only drug to be on two drug schedules at once under U.S. law*: GHB is on schedule I, meaning that it is considered a highly dangerous and addictive drug with no medical uses, but GHB marketed as Xyrem and prescribed for specific conditions is on schedule III, which includes many drugs considered relatively safe. This is unusual because the schedule system is built around the assumption that a drug's risks are due to the chemical itself, without reference to the user or the circumstances of its use. However, there are pragmatic reasons for the distinction: recreational drugs are often of unknown origin, may contain contaminants, and are difficult to take at a precise does, while the same substance in prescription form is easier to use as intended. The involvement of a doctor also helps reduce the risk of abuse.


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## Speak Easy (Jun 27, 2006)

if you thought your klonopin rx was hard to get, just imagine how hard this one would be...it's like the #1 date rape drug in america


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## No Limit (Dec 6, 2005)

I thought it sounded familiar. Here is its more common name...


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## paranoia (Mar 5, 2004)

also known as liquid g....date rape is a rather harsh term. I tried it recreationally and nobody had screwing on their minds, just getting messed up. Some professional opinions are ridiculous.....it has the potential but probably less than 1% of the time is used as a date rape drug.


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## sonya99 (Sep 5, 2005)

ooo i had no idea it was marketed under a different name and prescribed in America. The fact that it's for narcolepsy and that almost nobody gets it aside, this still amazes me. I've wondered about what GHB could possibly do to benefit people with mental illness.


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## srschirm (Jun 25, 2006)

A lot of drugs that are illegal could help people.

Good luck convincing the drug warriors of that, though.


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## Speak Easy (Jun 27, 2006)

*Re: re: GHB available as prescription drug Xyrem*

i think if anything that rohypnol will be recommercialized before GHB becomes used as a commonly prescribed anxyolitic


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## sonya99 (Sep 5, 2005)

*Re: re: GHB available as prescription drug Xyrem*



srschirm said:


> A lot of drugs that are illegal could help people.
> 
> Good luck convincing the drug warriors of that, though.


yes, i suspect that many could help people, including GHB.



LDG 124 said:


> i think if anything that rohypnol will be recommercialized before GHB becomes used as a commonly prescribed anxyolitic


Not a bad bet at all.


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## korey (Apr 25, 2006)

I seem to be the only one who doesn't understand how a powerful sedative/hyonotic like GHB/Xyrem can be used to treat narcolepsy (a disorder that causes random attacks of uncontrollable sleepiness). Wouldn't GHB/Xyrem just make things worse? Or is the idea behind it that GHB/Xyrem can regulate the sleeping cycles of a narcoleptic? 

This is a little unrelated, but I looked at Xyrem's website, and its method of administration seems like too much of a hassle. First, you have to measure out two precise syringes of Xyrem into little prescription bottle-looking things, then you have to mix it with a specific volume of water, then you drink one right as you're getting into bed, and then you have to set your alarm clock to wake you up to take the second dosage some odd number of hours later. And that's nightly. :fall


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

*Re: re: GHB available as prescription drug Xyrem*



LDG 124 said:


> i think if anything that rohypnol will be recommercialized before GHB becomes used as a commonly prescribed anxyolitic


Rohypnol was never sold in the US. I'm not certain why. It could well have been economic reasons like the drug company (I think Roche made it) thought there wasn't enough money to be made as that benzo sleeping pill market was already filled with stuff like Halcion? Just a guess.

I personally think it's stupid how these things get called "date rape" drugs. I remember the DEA saying that Rohypnol was dangerous because "it's ten times as potent as Valium". Yeah, so? I take a drug that's ten times as potent as Valium -- it's called Xanax and 1 mg of it is as strong as 10 mg of Valium.

Both GHB & Rohypnol were slipped into drinks, so it's kind of hard to say how much effect they really had in date rape. After all, passing out & having no recall of what happened is a well documented effect of binge drinking. It seems insane to demonize and ban them as pure evil, when it could just as well have been the countless shots of vodka that made her black out so not-so-nice guys could have their way with her.

The DEA is only concerned with keeping drugs away from junkies. They don't give a flying **** about patients in legitimate medical need. The DEA's mandate isn't to make sure that patients get the meds they require and they couldn't care less who they hurt in their War On Drugs. Patients are the innocent victims -- the "collateral damage" as we like to call it in modern warfare.


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## Speak Easy (Jun 27, 2006)

*Re: re: GHB available as prescription drug Xyrem*



UltraShy said:


> LDG 124 said:
> 
> 
> > i think if anything that rohypnol will be recommercialized before GHB becomes used as a commonly prescribed anxyolitic
> ...


i dont know why either. i really can't imagine that it is as strong as informational websites make it out to be, and that the risk of abuse be any more likely than whatever other benzos are being prescribed today. i think the DEA is pushing for a change in its classification though. you like wiki much, ultrashy?


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## soundsgood (Nov 7, 2005)

i have experimented with ghb for self-medication for years. huge benefits and a fantastic drug but also potentially huge cons / problems esp. if you are irresponsible. i wish they would just shoot all those ppl who have used it as 'date rape' drug - ruined it for the rest society.


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## sonya99 (Sep 5, 2005)

I looked up GHB in "recreational drugs: a directory" by Harry Shapiro and found this:

"In the US, the drug has no recognized medical uses, but in Europe it continues to be used in anesthesia and for the treatment of insomnia *and anxiety and even (as in France) as a drug used at various stages of childbirth, especially to protect the baby from cell damage caused by lack of oxygen (hypoxia)* How GHB is able to do this is still unknown. In the US researchers have applied for GHB to be rated an Investigational New Drug (IND) because they want to test out the value of GHB for a wide variety of conditions from lowering cholesterol to alleviating symptoms caused by algohol and opiate withdrawal."

*note--this book's a few years old

anxiety!!!
during childbirth!!!

****in FDA!


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## Speak Easy (Jun 27, 2006)

the "date rape" aspect to ghb is mainly produced when it is mixed with alcohol, because it basically makes you more sensitive to the alcohol, for lack of a better word, and lowers any alcohol tolerance that you thought you had. i.e. a 6 foot, 250lb man, can find himself rambling after one beer if he has been under the influence of either ghb or a benzo (too many downers hitting your cns will do this to you). it's a shame that people label it as a "date rape drug" simply because of its notorious use, because when you think about it, any benzo that we take could also be used as a "date rape drug".


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

*Re: re: GHB available as prescription drug Xyrem*



sonya99 said:


> @#%$ FDA!


If you're going to F' somebody, make sure you pick the right target. The DEA is the right target as they're the ones who decide what's a controlled substance and thus difficult or impossible for you to get.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

*Re: re: GHB available as prescription drug Xyrem*



LDG 124 said:


> the "date rape" aspect to ghb is mainly produced when it is mixed with alcohol...


The media is largely to blame for turning it into a "date rape" drug. When they latch onto a story they do so like a pit bull in a dog fight and they won't let go. It does make for a hot story that gets ratings. It reminds me of what John Stossel called the FIC -- Fear Industrial Complex -- where the media has you scared stiff about the most unlikely stuff, while you'd be much better off to focus on the vastly more likely risks. While the media had college girls worried that some horny frat boy whould slip GHB (or Rohypnol) in her drink, she probably didn't consider how having 15 drinks while in a house with a bunch of horny frat boys already was a very poor plan. Of course, the media doesn't care to report much on how vodka is likely the #1 date rape drug the nation. That story just doesn't get nearly the ratings as GHB or Rohypnol.

And it's hard for the Fear Industrial Complex to get us scared stiff by vodka, so they have to go with something else so pick something that most folks have never used and then you can scare them with the unknown, which is always more frightening than a bottle you have at home.


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## Speak Easy (Jun 27, 2006)

*Re: re: GHB available as prescription drug Xyrem*



UltraShy said:


> LDG 124 said:
> 
> 
> > the "date rape" aspect to ghb is mainly produced when it is mixed with alcohol...
> ...


 :agree


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## Cptnjimusa (Apr 20, 2011)

Speak Easy said:


> if you thought your klonopin rx was hard to get, just imagine how hard this one would be...it's like the #1 date rape drug in america


Sorry not even close the Number 1 date rate drug is Alcohol by a large amount. Number 2 may be Rohypnol and is much more effective than GHB because the person who takes it cannot remember what happened. GHB Hysteria led many states and even the FDA to label it a dangerous drug. When taken in the correct dose it is not harmful. The fact is most animals and most humans produce this drug in their bodies. Does that mean we all should go to jail for life without parole for something that is natural to a human body and can be created by it. It is found in wine, beef, some citrus fruits and almost all animals. We need a lot more jails if they lower the limits on possesion. .:boogie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Hydroxybutyric_acid


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## Cptnjimusa (Apr 20, 2011)

Speak Easy said:


> :agree


Totally agree between Fear and Hysteria it did not take long to kill this drug which they are discovering may be a beneficial treatment for a few disorders. I guess the drug companies see the benefits and have lobbied and made it legal again. I think it is in some forms down to Schedule 3 where you can get it, from Schedule 1 which meant not much chance of getting it. l hope they keep and open mind and go to where the scientific evidence leads them instead of some state Attorney General looking for votes who has no idea what the drug is. One in the south said you could inhale or smoke it. Well maybe he did but no one else has tried to snort it unless it was Keith Richards. :boogie:boogie


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## rustybob (Nov 19, 2009)

sophieness07 said:


> it sounds like you are blaming women who have been drugged against their will and/or sexually assaulted. not all women who had this experience, drank too much.


It sounds to me like he's blaming the media.


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## TiMeZuP (Sep 30, 2009)

So whats your point? Punish everyone for the acts of the few. In theraputic doses GHB can enhance some one with major psychological illness to actually functional in society.



sophieness07 said:


> it sounds like you are blaming women who have been drugged against their will and/or sexually assaulted. not all women who had this experience, drank too much.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

sophieness07 said:


> it sounds like you are blaming women who have been drugged against their will and/or sexually assaulted.


Not at all. I was commenting on the hysterical level of media coverage GHB has received, even though alcohol is the vastly more common substance used in date rape.



sophieness07 said:


> not all women who had this experience, drank too much.


I know, so we seem to agree on that statement. I'm sure we all recognize that it would be very unwise for any woman (or man for that matter) to put them-self in danger by, for example, going to a frat party to get highly intoxicated.

Last month there was in incident after a party by local college kids. It had nothing to do with sex though. A student fell down basement stairs and died by smashing his head against the concrete floor. His blood alcohol level was sky high. Much like rape, not everyone who takes a fatal fall down the stairs is highly intoxicated, though being highly intoxicated clearly makes such an accident far more likely to occur. Likewise, many women get raped while sober, but being highly intoxicated greatly increases the risk of assault.


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## Broshious2 (Jan 21, 2009)

Another thing worth mentioning is it's only schedule III which means it's less "bad" than the stimulants (Adderall, Ritalin, etc), but still harder to get.


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## dudinator (Mar 10, 2011)

Agree with Shy Gun.

People who tote GHB as a "date rape drug" over alcohol remind me of a certain breed of people. The types who drink nearly everyday bordering on alcoholism and then attack someone who dabbles in harder drugs strictly on the weekends yet actually lead more productive lives on a daily basis.

Rationality > Social Norms


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