Jul 28, 2009 6:08 pm US/Pacific
Doctors Warn Propofol Not A Sleep Treatment
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
Propofol is a potent anesthetic, but it will not get you high and won't give you a buzz. So what's the appeal? The drug, also known as Diprivan, knocks you out.
Anesthesiologist Dr. Dan Burkhardt of UCSF Medical Center said while Propofol is a great drug to use at the hospital, the drug has no business in the bedroom.
"It's not the kind of thing that you are going to see someone on the corner of Haight & Ashbury going 'Psst, let's get high', but it's the kind of thing if you're saying 'I want to escape from the world and go to sleep' that you might want to abuse," Burkhardt said.
Dr.Burkhardt said Propofol should not be used outside a medical setting and never without the constant supervision of trained specialists. "There is no role for this at home; there is a role for self-administration. And anyone who tries to do this without an anesthesiologist present the entire time is crazy," he said.
One reason: Before Propofol is even administered; anesthesiologists need to set up rescue equipment. That's because if you're given one drop too much, you may need emergency resuscitation.
"You can very easily overshoot just a little bit and have the patient stop breathing," Dr. Burkhardt explained.
So why would any patient use a potentially dangerous drug like Propofol to treat insomnia?
Dr. Clete Kushida is acting medical director of the Stanford Sleep Medicine Clinic.
"Every once in a while we encounter a patient who is so desperate for sleep they request very strong medicine, even asking for an anesthetic", Dr. Kushida said, adding how patients with severe insomnia may feel desperate, depressed and anxious.
But he too cautions that Propofol is not the answer.
"We definitely do not use Propofol or anesthetics to help people sleep just because of safety concern with these medications and that there are much safer alternatives available." Dr. Kushida said.
Those alternatives include an important non-drug treatment: changing the behavior which may be keeping you up at night, tossing and turning without sleep.
But to date, Propofol is not a controlled substance. That might change with the high profile death of Michael Jackson.
However, not everyone believes stronger regulations will keep the drug out the wrong hands.
"If you have sufficient amount of money, you'll get everything. None of the regulations prevent any of this," said Dr. Burkhardt. He said illegal drugs can be found on the streets around the Bay Area every day.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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