Benzodiazepines

Use of Animal Tranquilizer Guns in Humans

/ Jordyn Redwood / 5 Comments
David Asks:

In my new work in progress I have a woman shot with a tranquilizer gun. She is a former head ER nurse and is on the road. She has a well stocked medical kit. What would she have that could be injected to counteract the tranquilizer? Is there a particular tranquilizer they would use on her? They want her alive.

Jordyn Says:

Thanks so much for sending me your question.

This is an interesting question that you ask. The first part that should be answered is what kinds of drugs are generally used in animal tranquilizer guns. I was fairly surprised to see some of the same drugs we use in humans like opiates (Morphine and Fentanyl.) Interestingly, it looks from this article that the opioid compound used is called M99 which is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and one drop is lethal to humans. It is reversible with a drug called Narcan or naloxone.

A second class of drugs that is used in humans also used in animal tranquilizer guns are the benzodiazepines. For humans these would be drugs like valium, ativan and versed. There is a reversal agent for this class of drugs as well. We call it flumazenil.

Two other drugs were listed in the article. Another drug that we use in humans was a substance that is related to ketamine but does not have a reversal agent. The last, azaperone, which is not familiar to me as a drug used in humans and is also not reversible.

If your ER nurse had a well stocked medical kit then she would have the drug naloxone on hand to reverse an opiate drug if that was used in the tranquilizer dart. What’s both interesting and sad about naloxone is that it is becoming readily available to the public because of the drug problem in the USA. So, even if your ER nurse didn’t have a well stocked medical kit she could probably find some as long as the dart didn’t immediately kill the victim. Opiates cause death by inhibiting your respiratory drive. You simply stop breathing. There are certainly other effects but this is the primary one.

The other drug, flumazenil, that reverses benzodiazepines isn’t as readily available so that might not be a great choice for your story.

It’s also important to note that from the article, just as in humans, a combination of drugs might be used. So, naloxone might reverse the opiate but not whatever else is in the syringe. Also, animal darts are likely loaded with more medication that would be more likely to produce toxic and dangerous effects to a human than say a bear.

I hope this answers your question and good luck with your novel!

Should the Blacklist be Blacklisted?

/ Jordyn Redwood / 1 Comment

This week I’m analyzing some of the new Fall TV shows– medically speaking.

I’ve always been a fan of James Spader. No one does evil genius as good as he does.

The Blacklist is set up similarly to Hannibal (the first Anthony Hopkins movie) in the sense that he is a criminal mastermind and for some reason, as yet undiscovered, is only willing to talk with an FBI ingenue about criminal plots that he is aware of.

In one of the early episodes, the two attend a fund-raising event for a human rights advocate who is being targeted for murder. It just so happens that she’s really trafficking humans and thus perhaps is justly murdered to prevent her from continuing this criminal enterprise. Of course, the young FBI agent is a big fan of this woman and has written papers about her humanitarian efforts.

When the trafficker’s secret is exposed, James Spader’s characters says:

“She’s been given a lethal cocktail of the same barbiturates she used to drug her children. I have the antitode.”

Then the FBI agent proceeds to do the pen to the trachea maneuver to help her breathe.

And my eye-rolling begins.

First of all– what are the barbiturates? These would be drugs like amytal sodium (AKA a supposed truth serum drug), phenobarbital and Seconal. Oh, by the way, there is not an “antidote” for this type of overdose. There are only two antidotes for overdoses and they are Narcan for opiates and Flumazenil for Benzodiazepines (like Valium).

The purpose of an emergency tracheotomy (the pen to the throat for breathing) is to bypass an upper airway obstruction. The effects of an OD of barbiturates is a decrease in breathing or breathing cessation but the airway is not obstructed. To “save” this patient– all our trusty FBI agent needed to do was give her mouth to mouth and all that extra blood could have been avoided.

You can read more about Barbiturate OD here. 

Medical Critique: James Patterson’s Kill Alex Cross 2/2

/ Jordyn Redwood / Leave a comment

Last post and this post I’m doing a medical critique of James Patterson’s Kill Alex Cross. Usually, I don’t mention the book or the author’s name but I’m hoping James will spend a little of his cash on a medical consultant and am also probably losing out on a chance that he will endorse one of my novels.

Oh well, living on the edge . . . that’s me.

If you have not read the book this post may contain some spoilers you’d rather not know so you have been warned.

At one point in the book, a suspect is kidnapped and he is given “truth serum” in order to get him to divulge the location of the president’s kidnapped children.

The prisoner is given scopolamine.

Well, hmmm. This did cause me to scratch my head a little bit. Why? Well, come to find out this was a drug used once for this purpose in the early 20th century. Where did I discover that? Well from the CIA’s own website. Interesting what a little research will show.

Now– the CIA should know about good truth serum. Here’s what it says about scopolamine:

Because of a number of undesirable side effects, scopolamine was shortly disqualified as a “truth” drug. Among the most disabling of the side effects are hallucinations, disturbed perception, somnolence, and physiological phenomena such as headache, rapid heart, and blurred vision, which distract the subject from the central purpose of the interview. Furthermore, the physical action is long, far outlasting the psychological effects. 

And that was my thought– there are much better drug choices.

What scopolamine is used for most these days is as a patch for motion sickness. That’s really the only use I’m aware of.

What James Patterson did say in his book is correct: “Lying is a complex act.”

What “truth serum” drugs really do is loosen inhibitions and makes lying more difficult– not that it can’t be done.

Some better drug choices? Sodium thiopental or some of the benzodiazipines. I revealed something very personal under the influence of Versed given prior to surgery once that I normally would have never disclosed.

Yes, indeed, that was a fun time.

Let me just say– never have surgery at a hospital where you are employed.