Body-Building Supplement Causes Severe withdrawal Syndrome

Embargoed for Release at 4 p.m.,
Monday, December 3, 2001

Contact: Colleen Horn
202) 728-0610, ext. 3010
Web site address:
www.acep.org/AnnEmergMed

BODY-BUILDING SUPPLEMENT CAUSES SEVERE WITHDRAWAL SYNDROME IN HABITUAL USERS

A new study in the December 2001 Annals of Emergency Medicine provides the first detailed report of a severe withdrawal syndrome attributable to gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), a supplement used by body builders. Researchers documented in a six-month period in 1999, five cases in which previously healthy young adults arrived at the emergency department with paranoid delusions, hallucinations, and deranged vital signs after discontinuing use of body-building products containing GBL. (Pentobarbital for Severe Gamma-Butyrolactone Withdrawal)

"Withdrawal symptoms were so severe, we found the typical first line of treatment, benzodiazepines, was not effective," said Marco Sivilotti, MD, MSc, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. "We had to turn to a stronger drug, pentobarbital, to sedate patients and get their vital signs under control."

All patients had ingested a body-building product containing GBL. The chemical, GBL, is a precursor to gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB), a so-called date rape or "club" drug. GBL is converted to GHB within the body.

GHB is a central nervous system depressant also marketed to body builders. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued advisories on GHB and GBL, but abuse, overdoses, and deaths increased throughout the 1990s. Researchers compare the GBL Withdrawal Syndrome, in terms of severity and types of symptoms, with the GHB Withdrawal Syndrome documented in an article published in the February 2001 Annals of Emergency Medicine.

Annals of Emergency Medicine is the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians, a national medical organization with more than 22,000 members. ACEP is committed to improving the quality of emergency care through continuing education, research and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, and a Government Services Chapter representing emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies.

###