what drug is used to chemically induce a coma?

Question

i am a pharmacy student and i am curious to what drug is use to cause and bring a person out of a coma

Answer 1

Coma is by definition a deep depressed state of function of the central nervous system in which an individual is incapable of sensing or responding to external stimuli and to internal needs.

There are several classes of drugs used to induce coma:
1. Barbiturates
2. Inhalational anesthetics (like halothane)
3. Insulin (by lowering blood sugar)
4. Benzodiazepines
5. Opioids

All of these are reversible, either directly with an antidote, or by washout or metabolism of the drug.

Answer 2

many of the above answers are accurate, with a few exceptions.

Barbiturates are commonly used- things like sodium pentothal. Benzodiazepines like valium or diazepam are also good.
Narcotics/opiates are not good agents for inducing coma. They may cause drowsiness and repiratory depression, but they don't directly suppress brain activity.
Using Insulin to cause a coma is definitely NOT a good idea. Dropping your blood sugar to decrease brain activity will result in irreversible brain death- meaning a permanent coma.

A very good drug used today to iduce coma is called Propofol. It works similarily to pentothal but it wears off much quicker, so when you want to reverse the coma, you just shut it off and the patient wakes up much quicker than with the other drugs. It's a lot more expensive, however.

Answer 3

categories in order of how commonly they are used:

Barbiturates:
Hexobarbital, Methohexital, Narcobarbital, Thiopental

Inhalational anesthetics:
Halothane, isoflurane, sevoflurane, and desflurane.

opiods:
Alfentanil, Anileridine, Fentanyl, Phenoperidine, Remifentanil, Sufentanil

Xenon gas is also used more recently.

comas induced by the above agents are reversed primarily by letting them wear off. opiods can be reversed by an opiod antagonist.. but opoids are typically used to complement another compuond.

Answer 4

to induce a coma, insulin I think

Answer 5

"barbiturate" drug.

Answer 6

i dont know but do u know how to cause one