Epinephrine

From Drug Rehab Wiki

In many parts of the world, "epinephrine" is the same word as adrenaline, a hormone secreted by the adrenal glands during times of stress or excitement. Some Europeans speak in terms of "epinephrine-driven sports," such as bungee jumping. "Epinephrine addicts" are people who cannot stop taking risks and seeking new thrills.

In the United States, however, the word "epinephrine" refers to a drug injected by doctors to "jump start" the heart or to provide instant relief to people suffering from life-threatening allergic reactions. Emergency Room physicians administer epinephrine injections to patients having difficulty breathing and suffering from shock because of allergies to insect stings, foods, drugs, and other substances. They also use it on patients having heart attacks and those with asthma or croup to relieve shortness of breath, tightness of chest, and wheezing.

Epinephrine works by narrowing blood vessels and opening the airways in the lungs.

In the movie, "Pulp Fiction," a mobster gives a woman dying of a heroin overdose a shot of adrenaline (epinephrine) straight to her heart. In real life, this is not done. ER physicians would inject an opioid agonist called Narcan (naloxone), not epinephrine. Epinephrine is put into veins, not the heart.

Epinephrine can cause serious adverse reactions and side effects and interacts with many common drugs. Since it is mostly used during life-threatening situations, these risks are not as dangerous as not using epinephrine. Typical side effects can be nausea, difficulty breathing, pallor, sweating, cerebral hemorrhage, dizziness, blurred vision, bleeding, anxiety, headache, restlessness, tremors, weakness, irregular heartbeat, and pulmonary edema. Epinephrine should always be used under medical supervision.

Some people with severe allergies carry epinephrine emergency kits with them.

Brand names of epinephrine are Adrenaclick, Adrenalin, Adrenalin Chloride, Epipen, and Twinject.

Epinephrine is pronounced (ep i NEF rin).