CORVALOL - COMPOSITION, BENEFITS AND HARMS, WHAT IT HELPS FOR

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Article prepared by an expert

Barinov Alexander Mikhailovich

Psychiatrist, narcologist, psychotherapist. More than 10 years of experience working with alcohol and drug addicts.

Read in the article:

1. What are barbiturates
2. How long does Corvalol last in the blood and urine?
3. How to pass a barbiturate test

Barbiturates are drugs that have a sedative effect on the human central nervous system. The effectiveness of barbiturate-based medications often pushes people to use the drug more often than they should, which leads to addiction. Dependence on this substance is equivalent in strength to a narcotic one. A list of sedative medications that contain a barbiturate is available at the pharmacy. Therefore, if a driver who used Corvalol the day before, for example, is asked to take a drug test, it will turn out to be positive. In the article, we will look in more detail at what barbiturates are, how long it takes the substance to leave the body, and what tests will help identify the presence of surfactants.

Composition of the medicine

The composition of Corvalol, upon careful examination, raises a number of doubts about its harmlessness. An explosive mixture containing phenobarbital, bromine, alcohol, mint and valerian.

Phenobarbital is prohibited for use in most countries as a strong narcotic drug with a pronounced toxic effect.

In what cases are Corvalol drops used? As it turns out, in any. If your heart hurts, if it seems that your heart might hurt, if you feel sad and lonely, if you can’t sleep, if you feel sad or sad, if you feel lonely, if there is a quarrel, if a quarrel is possible, with stress, with anxiety, with nervous pain.

A bottle with a universal remedy “for everything in the world” is carried in a special pocket so that it is always at hand, especially for older people. Dependence and addiction to a wonderful medicine occurs gradually.

Overdose of Corvalol in the elderly

Poisoning with Corvalol in older people occurs more easily and occurs more intensely and rapidly, so they should be especially careful when taking the drug. Much more often, people in this age group experience a chronic overdose of Corvalol, due to too frequent use of the drug and non-compliance with its dosage. If suspicious signs appear, you should stop taking the drug and consult a doctor.

Since older people often suffer from chronic diseases and take other medications concurrently, possible drug interactions must be taken into account. In such cases, you should not take Corvalol without consulting your doctor.

Sedative effect

What is especially curious is that Corvalol drops have no real therapeutic effect on the cardiac system, only the powerful effect of phenobarbital on the nervous system. The concentration of the active substance is small and dependence occurs only with regular or even constant use. But since this type of use is common among older people, addiction develops in many pensioners. The calming effect of the medicine occurs almost instantly; it is not difficult to find a reason in the form of a slight arrhythmia or excitement. The result is terrifying.

The problem is that the use of Corvalol is, in fact, not determined by anything. The slight relaxing and antispasmodic effect of Corvalol on smooth muscles will not help with real angina pectoris, nor will it protect against a real heart attack. The truly strong effect of Corvalol is extremely calming and sedative for the nervous system.

How to treat Corvalol addiction or withdrawal syndrome

You can count on one hand the number of patients who admitted their problem and turned to a narcologist for help. When trying to talk to relatives suffering from corvalol addiction:

1. They will tell you that mother and grandmother drank Corvalol and lived a long time.
2. They will begin to hide bottles in hard-to-reach places and ask neighbors to secretly buy the drug.
3. They will accuse you of bias, disrespect and will go to calm down with Corvalol.

In a word, grandmothers will do what chronic alcoholics do - they will not admit their addiction. When trying to replace Corvalol with medicinal tinctures, a person experiences severe withdrawal syndrome :

• anxiety, nervous excitability increases, aggression occurs;
• nausea, vomiting, flatulence, heartburn, constipation or diarrhea appear;
• visual disturbance occurs;
• persistent insomnia and dizziness appear;
• arms and legs twitch convulsively;
• sometimes fainting occurs.

A narcologist will tell you what to do in such cases. But if the patient refuses to be treated and does not admit his addiction, then the doctors are powerless. Only with the patient's consent can he be placed in a clinic and given drug therapy .

It is necessary to explain to grandmothers and darlings how often you can drink Corvalol. Talk about the harm they cause to the heart, kidneys and liver. And count on their prudence and instinct of self-preservation.

Secrets of district clinics

In clinics there are not just lonely elderly people inventing back pain or stabbing pain in the side in order to get a prescription for stronger drugs, but elderly people with a strong addiction. This is a secret that every local doctor in the clinic knows. Of course, it is not customary to talk about this problem out loud.

Compared to cocaine for toothaches and heroin as an over-the-counter sedative, as was the case in the early 20th century, this is almost insignificant, but it is still a shame when defenseless elderly people become addicted to drugs, guilty solely of senile loneliness.

Unlimited use of Corvalol causes weakness of the heart muscle and provokes strokes and heart attacks. One of the obvious consequences of using this drug is also dementia, destruction of the kidneys, liver, and central nervous system. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee of the safety of the products that are offered as alternative treatments.

There were draft laws that provided for restricting or prohibiting the sale of Corvalol and Valocordin without a doctor’s prescription and limiting the number of sales. This bill caused a real social revolt.

Elderly people stormed pharmacies, buying fantastic quantities of medicine for future use, and actively opposed restrictions on sales of the medicine they desperately needed.

Description of the drug

Everyone faces neuroses, insomnia and irritability from time to time.
There are many medications available to treat such conditions, and the most accessible of them is Corvalol. The drug has been used for more than half a century as a sedative. However, not everyone knows that the usual and accessible remedy is unsafe. The drug contains:

• phenobarbital;
• ethyl ester of bromoisovaleric acid;
• mint oil.

The drug is available in tablets and drops.

Development of addiction, symptoms

Like any addictive psychoactive substance, Corvalol drops require a constant increase in dosage. Many patients drink a bottle of Corvalol per day; this is 15 ml, which is too large a dose, leading to the development of drug addiction.

Stopping the use of babirurates, a group of which phenobarbital belongs to, causes classic drug withdrawal with deep depression, epilepsy, anxiety and hallucinations.

One of the names for phenobarbital, which is contained in Corvalol drops, is the infamous luminal. A favorite drug of suicides and a reliable remedy for insomnia and epilepsy during the Second World War. It was developed as a reliable remedy for fear.

It was before the start of the war that many psychotropic drugs were created with the task of reconfiguring the human nervous system to solve combat problems. Mass production of luminal began in Germany in 1912. The beginning of the 20th century was the heyday of the massive use of drugs for medicinal purposes. Amphetamine was sold as an invigorating agent, heroin was recommended for coughs, and the composition of Coca-Cola in pharmacies was somewhat less harmless than now. The composition of this drink actually included a thermonuclear mixture of cola nut extract, cocaine and caffeine.

In 1934, German pharmacists improved the properties of the drug luminal by adding hop cone oil and bromine. A universal remedy was obtained for complete calm and preservation of performance, relieving fears, the effects of stress, dilating blood vessels and enabling restful sleep. The drug was named valocordin.

In the USSR, in a simplified formulation, Valocordin began to be mass produced in pharmacies under the name Corvalol.

Consequences of abuse

To significantly affect your health, a person must take from 15 to 30 ml of Corvalol per day for weeks or months - this depends on his individual biological characteristics. This level of overdose cannot be unconscious. We are talking about the deliberate abuse of a drug in order to achieve drug intoxication.

Liver, heart, kidneys - these organs primarily suffer from excessive consumption of the described substances in the body. However, it is the brain that is most affected. A person who “sits” on Corvalol begins to suffer from memory lapses, the speed of his reaction is dulled, and over time this becomes more and more noticeable to the people around him. Possible development of dementia.

Abrupt cessation of taking Corvalol with previous regular use is fraught with unpredictable consequences, including:

• anxiety states;
• depression;
• lack of proper sleep;
• hallucinations;
• epileptic seizures, withdrawal symptoms are likely.

Today, Corvalol is very popular among drug addicts due to its availability and low price.

Application and indications

Medical use is recommended for neurotic heart diseases, such as “vegetative-vascular dystonia”. Such diseases are characterized by all the signs of somatic diseases, but are not displayed in any way during examination. That is, all the symptoms exist, except for real physical damage to the organs. If there are complaints of pain, fever, tingling, but in the absence of pathology, a diagnosis of neuralgic pain and vegetative-vascular dystonia is made.

This is not to say that such complaints are completely unfounded. Pain can be very real and the brain's response to pain can be displayed on equipment, for example, in a tomographic study. And Corvalol copes excellently with the cause of these pains, that is, it calms the nervous system. For severe anxiety and insomnia, the use of Corvalol is completely justified. It is very important to prevent addiction, since the drug really very quickly relieves symptoms of anxiety and neuralgic pain.

Constant use of a wonderful medicine causes addiction; you should not carry a bottle of this medicine with you. Phenobarbital and bromine derivatives tend to accumulate in the body, and it is possible to develop drug addiction even after a month of use.

How to help the victim

Poisoning with this drug requires others to immediately provide assistance to the victim. First of all, you should immediately call an ambulance.

It is impossible to cope with the manifestations of drug intoxication on your own. This condition requires only medical intervention.

Before the doctors arrive, you can only competently alleviate the person’s condition. What should be done in this case:

1. Place the victim on a hard, flat surface. This should be done if doctors begin performing emergency resuscitation efforts in the event of cardiac arrest.
2. Turn your head to the side. In this way, you can protect the patient from accidentally choking on vomit (when vomiting) or the tongue getting stuck in the larynx.
3. Facilitate oxygen access. You should unfasten the buttons, remove the tie and belt from your trousers. If the victim is indoors, open all windows wide.
4. If the person is conscious, the patient should be allowed to drink a liter of clean drinking water at once and induce vomiting by pressing on the root of the tongue. In this way you can clear the stomach of Corvalol residues.
5. After the vomiting stops, give the victim some sorbent (Enterosgel, Atoxil, Sorbex or activated carbon).

What triggers the development of addiction?

Withdrawal syndrome when stopping the drug causes a strong feeling of anxiety and palpitations, nerve pain, aching joints and muscles, that is, indications for taking the medicine. Increasing the dose causes intoxication similar to alcohol. Uncontrolled use quickly leads to the development of dementia and personality degradation.

In case of an overdose of the drug, extremely serious poisoning is possible. Coma and heart failure are possible.

Corvalol drops should be used with great caution.