Dextromethorphan 111man, but the results were negative. A U.S. Army experiment with guinea pigs
also found dextromethorphan to have little value as protection against soman
poisoning.
Dextromethorphan is considered ineffective as a general pain reliever but
does reduce certain kinds of pain: Experiments show the drug can relieve pain
from diabetes, and researchers speculate that the drug may also provide sim-
ilar benefit to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) sufferers.
Drawbacks.Most persons find the drug unpleasant if the medically rec-
ommended dosage is exceeded, with unwanted effects such as easy excitabil-
ity, memory trouble, nausea, itching, interference with male sexual function,
slurred speech, trouble with thinking, and difficulty with moving arms and
legs. Some persons become tired and woozy even on normal doses. Nonethe-
less, one study of cough medicines found that volunteers preferred dextro-
methorphan to other remedies that were effective, leading the researchers to
speculate that the drug was providing pleasure unrelated to effectiveness in
relieving cough. Indeed, some users feel more sociable and report euphoria
and hallucinations. Cases of mania are known, likened to the kind of stereo-
typical behavior popularly associated withPCP. In one instance, the com-
pound allowed a lawyer to work industriously for weeks with little sleep,
followed by mental collapse requiring hospitalization. This individual had
engaged in manic episodes and drug abuse in the past, however. A patient in
another mania case report also had a medical history of drug abuse. Persons
without such a history may well be susceptible to manic reactions from over-
use of dextromethorphan, but the examples just cited raise the question of
whether persons prone to drug abuse are particularly susceptible.
Investigators examining dextromethorphan’s potential for treating juvenile
bacterial meningitis called off the experiment when patients began developing
diabetes after receiving high doses of the drug (possibly because of action on
the pancreas inhibiting insulin production), and reports exist about other in-
stances of juveniles developing diabetes when being treated with the com-
pound.
Abuse factors.Accounts of persons abusing dextromethorphan began ap-
pearing in science journals during the 1960s. In the 1990s news media reports
described the substance as popular among teenagers, who sometimes referred
to this drug use as “robo-copping.” Usage by persons of that age group is not
limited to the United States. For example, authorities in Korea have expressed
concern about fatal overdoses among young illicit users, particularly when
they combine dextromethorphan with another drug to intensify effects.
In the 1960s human addiction to dextromethorphan was dismissed as highly
unlikely. Subsequently, researchers who documented behavior of rats exposed
to drug combinations concluded that dextromethorphan has abuse potential.
Human addiction has indeed been reported, although this is described as un-
usual. Scientists have not found dependence or withdrawal symptoms. A rat
study determined that dextromethorphan can reducealcohol withdrawal
symptoms, and experiments with rats and mice show that dextromethorphan
can reducemorphinewithdrawal symptoms. One human study found that
dextromethorphan by itself did not relieve methadone abstinence, but differ-
ent research shows that in combination with other substances dextromethor-