A student in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, who is preparing for her upcoming high school board examination had to undergo brain surgery due to a blood clot in her brain was caused by an overdose of anti-sleep pills.
Based on media reports the student has taken anti-sleep pills for an extended course to stay up the entire night which led to nerve swelling and following hospitalization.
The girl is identified as Prajakta, who is preparing for her school board examination. Her family says that while studying she drinks hot cups of coffee continuously to stay awake. She collapsed one evening and was rushed to a nearby hospital. There she was diagnosed with a blood clot. It was then her parents found a bottle of pills in her drawer and they gave it over to the doctor, there they were stunned to learn about the anti-sleep medication.
Dr. Sharad Srivastava, a neurosurgeon, calls attention to the trend of taking anti-sleep pills to stay awake. He said that these drugs, sold over the counter under names like ‘chuniya’ and ‘meethi’ are being smuggled from countries like Bangkok. He also said that shocking though it may sound, an increasing number of students today are taking these anti-sleep pills that help them stay awake during examinations. These drugs can have dangerous side effects if taken with an overdose of caffeine, or too many cups of coffee as happened in Prajakta’s case.
As per the news reports, many students are shifting to anti-sleep medications to stay up late and study, disrupting their sleep cycles. Along with the pills they also increase their consumption of caffeine through coffee and tea.
Dr. Dilip Gude, a Senior Consultant Physician at Yashoda Hospital said that the use of medication to fight sleep, especially by students before exams is a serious issue that needs immediate societal and governmental concern. As such no DCGI-approved medicine exists for this purpose. But several medicines, such as Modafinil and orexin receptor antagonists and other ayurvedic medicines (saraswatarishta, etc) are being tried to avoid sleep which may have devastating side effects. He also said that these pills cause havoc with heart rate and blood pressure levels. Memory, cognition, judgment, and behavioral problems may arise from subacute to chronic sleep deprivation. Increased use of caffeine, theophylline, and other stimulants is also known to increase heart rate and BP initially but over some time permanently.
A medical practitioner said that Modafinil, which is sold under the name Provigil and known to improve memory, mood, alertness, and cognitive abilities is mainly used in the treatment of disorders like narcolepsy, shift work disorder, idiopathic hypersomnia, and excessive daytime sleepiness associated with obstructive sleep apnea. This medication allows users to stay awake for 40 hours or more at a stretch, with a smoother effect than amphetamines. Once the drug wears off, users must catch up on sleep to mitigate its negative effects
Dr. R K Saxena, a psychiatrist said that the children are berated if they get even half a percent less than their friends. The pressure to score 98 and 99 percent in board examinations is slowly killing them. Parents should accept the fact that such high percentages can be unrealistic and not every child can score these marks.
The girl’s parents admitted that they did not recognize that their daughter was under the extent of pressure.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina/MSM)
