Meprobamate
Pronunciation:meh-proh-BA-mait
Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number:57-53-4
Formal Names:Deprol, Equagesic, Equanil, Micrainin, Miltown, Stopayne, Ten-
avoid
Informal Names:Mother’s Little Helper
Type:Depressant.Seepage 19
Federal Schedule Listing:Schedule IV (DEA no. 2820)
USA Availability:Prescription
Pregnancy Category:D
Uses.This drug became available in the 1950s as an alternative to barbitu-
rates. It works as a sleep aid and muscle relaxant, the latter property perhaps
a result of the drug’s antianxiety property rather than a direct effect. Mepro-
bamate’s muscle relaxant action improved breathing in experimental treat-
ment of tetanus. A person’s appetite may get better with the drug, but again
as a result of anxiety reduction rather than direct appetite stimulation—an
agricultural experiment using meprobamate to encourage weight gain in
chickens was unsuccessful. The drug may lessen petit mal epilepsy seizures
but worsen grand mal seizures. Meprobamate has also been used against neu-
roses and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), against a type of
muscular discomfort called myofascial pain, and as part of therapy treating
skin lesions brought on by worry. Meprobamate has helped improve stubborn
cases of gastrointestinal afflictions, which may have a component of stress.
An experiment showed that persons using the drug can fool a lie detector test.
Meprobamate became perhaps the most highly regarded tranquilizer in the
United States. In some research during that era of meprobamate’s popularity
the question was no longer whether the drug worked but how much better it
worked for some groups of people (married, widowed, overweight) than for
others. Nonetheless, meprobamate’s medical uses declined after benzodiaze-
pine class depressants became available. In retrospect skepticism arose about
whether meprobamate had ever been as beneficial as its reputation indicated.
Some experts decided that its muscle relaxant and antianxiety actions were
no stronger than those inherent to any sedative. One team of scientific inves-
tigators concluded that in some circumstances patients’ therapeutic reactions
to meprobamate were “no worse than to placebo”—faint praise indeed. Trans-