Psychiatr. praxi 2019; 20(S1e) [Pediatr. praxi 2018; 19(6): 337-339]

Dextromethorphan – psychotropic drug in hands of children and adolescents

MUDr. Gabriela Rábová¹, MUDr. Jiří Podlipný, Ph.D.¹, PharmDr. Eliška Lacinová², MUDr. Lucia Kovářová³, doc. MUDr. Jan Vevera, Ph.D.¹

¹ Psychiatrická klinika FN Plzeň a LF UK v Plzni

² Klinika pracovního lékařství, Toxikologické informační středisko, 1. LF UK a VFN, Praha

³ Státní ústav pro kontrolu léčiv, Praha

Dextromethorphan (DXM) is a substance with increasing potential of abuse. Ordinary antitusic medicaments containing DXM used to be available without medical prescription in Czech Republic. Therefore it was easy to obtain and abuse. Since 15th August 2018, the availability of monocomponent medicaments containing DXM in solid form changed due to a regulatory measure, which consists in the „only on medical prescription“ mode. It means that it cannot be sold over-the-counter anymore. We registered 5 cases of DXM abuse in pediatric patients hospitalized in Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital in Pilsen during the first 6 months of 2017. We present one case of a serious deliberate intoxication in a child 11 years old in this article. The intoxication was with a mixture of substances in this case and DXM in a toxic dose was the most important component. The increasing trend of DXM abuse in pediatric population is further discussed.

Keywords: dextromethorphan, psychotropic effect, abuse, pediatric population, intoxication

Published: April 5, 2019  Show citation