Indications
Meprobamate is licensed for the short-term relief of anxiety, although whether the purported antianxiety effects of meprobamate are separable from its sedative effects is not known. Its effectiveness as a selective agent for the treatment of anxiety has not been proven in humans, and is not used as often as the benzodiazepines for this purpose. Meprobamate is available in 200- and 400-mg tablets for oral administration. It is also a component of the combination drug Equagesic (discontinued in the UK in 2002), acting as a muscle relaxant. Meprobamate, like barbiturates, possesses an analgesic/anesthetic potential. It is also found as a component of the combination analgesic Stopayne capsules (along with paracetamol (acetaminophen), caffeine, and codeine phosphate). Side effects and overdose
Symptoms of meprobamate overdose include drowsiness, headache, sluggishness, unresponsiveness, or coma; loss of muscle control; severe impairment or cessation of breathing; or shock. Death has been reported with ingestion of as little as 12 g of meprobamate and survival with as much as 40 g. In an overdose, meprobamate tablets may form a gastric bezoar, requiring physical removal of the undissolved mass of tablets through an endoscope; therefore, administration of activated charcoal should be considered even after 4 or more hours or if levels are rising. Health issues
Meprobamate is a Schedule IV drug (US) (S5 in South Africa) under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances. With protracted use, it can cause physical dependence and a potentially life-threatening abstinence syndrome similar to that of barbiturates and alcohol (delirium tremens).
Familial nasal acilia is a rare congenital defect which is characterized by the complete absence of cilia on the epithelial cells of the respiratory tract. Symptoms are common within ones family and start as soon as one is born, with signs such as respiratory distress, dyspnea, lobar atelectasis, bronchiectasis and neo-natal pneumonia. Other symptoms that occur later in life include chronic moist coughing, chronic sinusitis, chronic otitis media, chronic rhinitis, and recurrence of upper and lower respiratory tract infections.Exact prevalence is unknown, OrphaNet estimates this condition to affect less than 1 out of every million people worldwide. R Soferman et al. described this disorder to be "autosomal recessive". == References ==