Amytal and Weed
Edited by Hugh Soames
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Amytal and Weed
Most people who consume marijuana do so for its mood-altering and relaxing abilities. Weed gives people a high and allows them to relax. However, heavy consumption of weed can cause unwanted results. It can increase the anxiety and depression a person experiences, and it can interact with certain other drugs including Amytal. It is important to remember that interactions do occur with all types of drugs, to a great or lesser extent and this article details the interactions of mixing Amytal and Weed.
Mixing Amytal and Weed
Amobarbital (formerly known as amylobarbitone or sodium amytal as the soluble sodium salt) is a drug that is a barbiturate derivative. It has sedative-hypnotic properties. It is a white crystalline powder with no odor and a slightly bitter taste. It was first synthesized in Germany in 1923. It is considered a short to intermediate acting barbiturate. If amobarbital is taken for extended periods of time, physiological and psychological dependence can develop. Amobarbital withdrawal mimics delirium tremens and may be life-threatening. Amobarbital was manufactured by Eli Lilly and Company in the US under the brand name Amytal in bright blue bullet shaped capsules (known as Pulvules) or pink tablets (known as Diskets) containing 50, 100, or 200 milligrams of the drug. The drug was also manufactured generically. Amobarbital was widely misused, known as “Blue Heavens” on the street. Amytal, as well as Tuinal, a combination drug containing equal quantities of secobarbital and amobarbital, were both manufactured by Eli Lilly until the late-1990s. However, as the popularity of benzodiazepines increased, prescriptions for these medications became increasingly rare beginning in the mid to late-1980s.
In an in vitro study in rat thalamic slices, amobarbital worked by activating GABAA receptors, which decreased input resistance, depressed burst and tonic firing, especially in ventrobasal and intralaminar neurons, while at the same time increasing burst duration and mean conductance at individual chloride channels; this increased both the amplitude and decay time of inhibitory postsynaptic currents.
Amobarbital has been used in a study to inhibit mitochondrial electron transport in the rat heart in an attempt to preserve mitochondrial function following reperfusion.
A 1988 study found that amobarbital increases benzodiazepine receptor binding in vivo with less potency than secobarbital and pentobarbital (in descending order), but greater than phenobarbital and barbital (in descending order). (Secobarbital > pentobarbital > amobarbital > phenobarbital > barbital)
It has an LD50 in mice of 212 mg/kg s.c.
Amobarbital undergoes both hydroxylation to form 3′-hydroxyamobarbital, and N-glucosidation to form 1-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-amobarbital.
When given slowly by an intravenous route, sodium amobarbital has a reputation for acting as a so-called truth serum. Under the influence, a person will divulge information that under normal circumstances they would block. This was most likely due to loss of inhibition. As such, the drug was first employed clinically by William Bleckwenn at the University of Wisconsin to circumvent inhibitions in psychiatric patients. The use of amobarbital as a truth serum has lost credibility due to the discovery that a subject can be coerced into having a “false memory” of the event.
The drug may be used intravenously to interview patients with catatonic mutism, sometimes combined with caffeine to prevent sleep.
It was used by the United States armed forces during World War II in an attempt to treat shell shock and return soldiers to the front-line duties. This use has since been discontinued as the powerful sedation, cognitive impairment, and dis-coordination induced by the drug greatly reduced soldiers’ usefulness in the field. Amobarbital was once manufactured in the US by Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals under the brand name Amytal in capsule form. It was discontinued in the early 80s, largely replaced by the benzodiazepine family of drugs. Amobarbital was also widely abused, known on the streets as “blue heavens” because of their blue capsule.
The following drugs should be avoided when taking amobarbital:
Amobarbital has been known to decrease the effects of hormonal birth control.
Some side effects of overdose include confusion (severe); decrease in or loss of reflexes; drowsiness (severe); fever; irritability (continuing); low body temperature; poor judgment; shortness of breath or slow or troubled breathing; slow heartbeat; slurred speech; staggering; trouble in sleeping; unusual movements of the eyes; weakness (severe). Severe overdose may result in death without intervention.
Amobarbital (5-ethyl-5-isoamylbarbituric acid), like all barbiturates, is synthesized by reacting malonic acid derivatives with urea derivatives. In particular, in order to make amobarbital, α-ethyl-α-isoamylmalonic ester is reacted with urea (in the presence of sodium ethoxide).
It has been used to convict alleged murderers such as Andres English-Howard, who strangled his girlfriend to death but claimed innocence. He was surreptitiously administered the drug by his lawyer, and under the influence of it he revealed why he strangled her and under what circumstances.
On the night of August 28, 1951, the housekeeper of actor Robert Walker found him to be in an emotional state. She called Walker’s psychiatrist who arrived and administered amobarbital for sedation. Walker was allegedly drinking prior to his emotional outburst, and it is believed the combination of amobarbital and alcohol resulted in a severe reaction. As a result, he passed out and stopped breathing, and all efforts to resuscitate him failed. Walker died at 32 years old.
The British actor and comedian Tony Hancock killed himself in Australia in 1968 using the drug in combination with alcohol.
Eli Lilly manufactured amobarbital under the brand name Amytal, it was discontinued in the 1980s replaced largely by the benzodiazepine family of drugs. Amytal was also widely abused. Street names for amobarbital include “blues”, “blue angels”, “blue birds”, “blue devils”, and “blue heavens” due to their blue capsule.
In Len Deighton’s 1967 novel An Expensive Place to Die, a combination of amytal and LSD is used to make the unnamed protagonist respond to questioning about his activities.
In Thomas Pynchon’s 1973 novel Gravity’s Rainbow, sodium amytal is used by a military intelligence unit as some kind of truth serum to extract Tyrone Slothrop’s (the novel’s protagonist) ideas on racism of white Americans against Afro-Americans during the 1930s in his home state of Massachusetts (Chapter 1).
In the 1994 comedic action thriller True Lies, the protagonist Harry Tasker (portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger) is given sodium amytal as a truth serum, when questioned by terrorists.
In 2001, the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode “Repression” (Season 3, Episode 1), a therapist (Shirley Knight) treats her patient with “sodium amytal”. The character Dr. George Huang (BD Wong) claims that the drug leaves a patient so susceptible to suggestion, that the therapist is able to implant false memories in the patient.
In 2003, the animated series Sealab 2021 season 3, episode 7, “Tourist Season”, Dr. Quentin Q. Quinn, voiced by Brett Butler, uses “sodium amytal” to induce amnesia in a group of tourists, in order to prevent them from taking action against Sealab as a result of a hare-brained scheme by Capt. Murphy. He gives the dose in a free alcoholic beverage as a parting gift before the tourists leave, and in quantities he describes that could “make an elephant forget”.
In the 2005 movie, Hellraiser: Hellworld, the main antagonist uses “sodium amytal” to secretly anesthetize the people he believes were responsible for his son’s death, and induce extreme hallucinations in them.
In 2022, in “Diophantine Pseudonym”, Episode 06 of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, sodium amytal is used by the CIA as a truth serum.
Research has found that anxiety is one of the leading symptoms created by marijuana in users, and that there is a correlation between Amytal and Weed and an increase in anxiety.
Anyone mixing Amytal and weed is likely to experience side effects. This happens with all medications whether weed or Amytal is mixed with them. Side effects can be harmful when mixing Amytal and weed. Doctors are likely to refuse a patient a Amytal prescription if the individual is a weed smoker or user. Of course, this could be due to the lack of studies and research completed on the mixing of Amytal and Weed.
Heavy, long-term weed use is harmful for people. It alters the brain’s functions and structure, and all pharmaceuticals and drugs including Amytal are designed to have an impact on the brain. There is a misplaced belief that pharmaceuticals and medication work by treating only the parts of the body affected yet this is obviously not the case in terms of Amytal. For example, simple painkiller medication does not heal the injury, it simply interrupts the brains functions to receive the pain cause by the injury. To say then that two drugs, Amytal and Weed, dol not interact is wrong. There will always be an interaction between Amytal and Weed in the brain11.J. D. Brown and A. G. Winterstein, Potential Adverse Drug Events and Drug–Drug Interactions with Medical and Consumer Cannabidiol (CBD) Use – PMC, PubMed Central (PMC).; Retrieved September 27, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6678684/.
One of the milder side effects of mixing Amytal and Weed is Scromiting. This condition, reportedly caused by mixing Amytal and Weed, describes a marijuana-induced condition where the user experiences episodes of violent vomiting, which are often so severe and painful that they cause the person to scream. The medical term for Scromiting by mixing Amytal and Weed is cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, or CHS. For these reasons, some people choose to quit smoking weed.
It was first included in scientific reports in 2004. Since then, researchers have determined that Scromiting is the result of ongoing, long-term use of marijuana—particularly when the drug contains high levels of THC, marijuana’s main psychoactive ingredient. Some experts believe that the receptors in the gut become overstimulated by THC, thus causing the repeated cycles of vomiting.
In the long run, a person can become even more depressed. There is a belief that marijuana is all-natural and not harmful to a person’s health. This is not true and Amytal and weed can cause health issues the more a person consumes it.
How does Weed effect the potency of Amytal?
The way in which the body absorbs and process Amytal may be affected by weed. Therefore, the potency of the Amytal may be less effective. Marijuana inhibits the metabolization of Amytal. Not having the right potency of Amytal means a person may either have a delay in the relief of their underlying symptoms.
A person seeking Amytal medication that uses weed should speak to their doctor. It is important the doctor knows about a patient’s weed use, so they can prescribe the right Amytal medication and strength. Or depending on level of interactions they may opt to prescribe a totally different medication. It is important for the doctor to know about their patient’s marijuana use. Weed is being legalized around the US, so doctors should be open to speaking about a patient’s use of it.
Sideffects of Amytal and Weed
Many individuals may not realize that there are side effects and consequences to mixing Amytal and Weed such as:
- Dizziness
- Sluggishness
- Drowsiness
- Shortness of breath
- Itching
- Hives
- Palpitations
- Respiratory Depression
- Cardiac Arrest
- Coma
- Seizures
- Death
Interestingly, it is impossible to tell what effect mixing this substance with Weed will have on an individual due to their own unique genetic make up and tolerance. It is never advisable to mix Amytal and Weed due to the chances of mild, moderate and severe side effects. If you are having an adverse reaction from mixing Amytal and Weed it’s imperative that you head to your local emergency room. Even mixing a small amount of Amytal and Weed is not recommended.
Taking Amytal and Weed together
People who take Amytal and Weed together will experience the effects of both substances. Technically, the specific effects and reactions that occur due to frequent use of Amytal and weed depend on whether you consume more weed in relation to Amytal or more Amytal in relation to weed.
The use of significantly more weed and Amytal will lead to sedation and lethargy, as well as the synergistic effects resulting from a mixture of the two medications.
People who take both weed and Amytal may experience effects such as:
- reduced motor reflexes from Amytal and Weed
- dizziness from Weed and Amytal
- nausea and vomiting due to Amytal and Weed
Some people may also experience more euphoria, depression, irritability or all three. A combination of weed and Amytal leads to significantly more lethargy which can easily tip over into coma, respiratory depression seizures and death.
Mixing weed and Amytal
The primary effect of weed is influenced by an increase in the concentration of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, which is found in the spinal cord and brain stem, and by a reduction in its effect on neuronal transmitters. When weed is combined with Amytal this primary effect is exaggerated, increasing the strain on the body with unpredictable results.
Weed and Amytal affects dopamine levels in the brain, causing the body both mental and physical distress. Larger amounts of Amytal and weed have a greater adverse effect yet leading medical recommendation is that smaller does of Amytal can be just as harmful and there is no way of knowing exactly how Amytal and weed is going to affect an individual before they take it.
Taking Amytal and weed together
People who take Amytal and weed together will experience the effects of both substances. The use of significantly more Amytal with weed will lead to sedation and lethargy, as well as the synergistic effects resulting from a mixture of the two medications.
People who take both weed and Amytal may experience effects such as:
- reduced motor reflexes from Amytal and weed
- dizziness from weed and Amytal
- nausea and vomiting of the Amytal
Some people may also experience more euphoria, depression, irritability or all three. A combination of weed and Amytal leads to significantly more lethargy which can easily tip over into coma, respiratory depression seizures and death.
Weed Vs Amytal
Taking Amytal in sufficient quantities increases the risk of a heart failure. Additionally, people under the influence of Amytal and weed may have difficulty forming new memories. With weed vs Amytal in an individual’s system they become confused and do not understand their environment. Due to the synergistic properties of Amytal when mixed with weed it can lead to confusion, anxiety, depression and other mental disorders. Chronic use of Amytal and weed can lead to permanent changes in the brain22.G. Lafaye, L. Karila, L. Blecha and A. Benyamina, Cannabis, cannabinoids, and health – PMC, PubMed Central (PMC).; Retrieved September 27, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5741114/.
Amytal Vs Weed
Studies investigating the effects of drugs such as Amytal and weed have shown that the potential for parasomnia (performing tasks in sleep) is dramatically increased when Amytal and weed are combined. Severe and dangerous side effects can occur when medications are mixed in the system, and sleep disorders are a common side effect of taking weed and Amytal together.
When a small to medium amount of weed is combined with Amytal, sleep disorders such as sleep apnea can occur. According to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) most ER visits and hospitalizations caused by too much weed were associated with other substances such as Amytal.
How long after taking Amytal can I smoke weed or take edibles?
To avoid any residual toxicity it is advisable to wait until the Amytal has totally cleared your system before taking weed, even in small quantities.
Overdose on Amytal and weed
In the case of Overdose on Amytal or if you are worried after mixing Amytal and weed, call a first responder or proceed to the nearest Emergency Room immediately.
If you are worried about someone who has taken too much Amytal or mixed weed with Amytal then call a first responder or take them to get immediate medical help. The best place for you or someone you care about in the case of a medical emergency is under medical supervision. Be sure to tell the medical team that there is a mix of Amytal and weed in their system.
Excessive Weed intake and result in scromiting, chs, and anxiety disorder. It is advisable to quit vaping weed if you are feeling these symptoms.
Mixing Amytal and weed and antidepressants
Weed users feeling depressed and anxious may be prescribed antidepressant medication. There are some antidepressant users who also use Amytal and weed. These individuals may not realize that there are side effects and consequences to consuming both Amytal, marijuana and a range of antidepressants.
Studies on weed, Amytal and antidepressants is almost nil. The reason for so little information on the side effects of the two is mostly down to marijuana being illegal in most places – although a number of states in the United States have legalized the drug.
Self-medicating with Weed and Amytal
A lot of people suffer from depression caused by weed and Amytal. How many? According to Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), in any given year, it is estimated that nearly 16 million adults experience depression. Unfortunately, that number is likely to be wrong due to under reporting. Many people do not report suffering from depression because they do not want to be looked at as suffering from a mental illness. The stigmas around mental health continue and people do not want to be labeled as depressed.
Potential side effects from mixing Amytal and weed
Quitting weed to take Amytal
Medical professionals say an individual prescribed or taking Amytal should not stop using weed cold turkey. Withdrawal symptoms can be significant. Heavy pot users should especially avoid going cold turkey. The side effects of withdrawal from weed include anxiety, irritability, loss of sleep, change of appetite, and depression by quitting weed cold turkey and starting to take Amytal.
A person beginning to use Amytal should cut back on weed slowly. While reducing the amount of weed use, combine it with mindfulness techniques and/or yoga. Experts stress that non-medication can greatly improve a person’s mood.
Weed and Amytal can affect a person in various ways. Different types of marijuana produce different side effects. Side effects of weed and Amytal may include:
- loss of motor skills
- poor or lack of coordination
- lowered blood pressure
- short-term memory loss
- increased heart rate
- increased blood pressure
- anxiety
- paranoia
- increased energy
- increased motivation
Mixing Amytal and weed can also produce hallucinations in users. This makes marijuana a hallucinogenic for some users. Weed creates different side effects in different people, making it a very potent drug. Now, mixing Amytal or other mental health drugs with weed can cause even more unwanted side effects.
Mixing drugs and weed conclusion
Long-term weed use can make depression and anxiety worse. In addition, using marijuana can prevent Amytal from working to their full potential33.J. D. Brown and A. G. Winterstein, Potential Adverse Drug Events and Drug–Drug Interactions with Medical and Consumer Cannabidiol (CBD) Use – PMC, PubMed Central (PMC).; Retrieved September 27, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6678684/. Weed consumption should be reduced gradually to get the most out of prescription medication. Marijuana is a drug and it is harmful to individual’s long-term health. Weed has many side effects and the consequences are different to each person who uses it, especially when mixed with Amytal.
If you take Amytal, and also drink Alcohol or MDMA, you can research the effects of Amytal and Alcohol , Amytal and Cocaine as well as Amytal and MDMA here.
To find the effects of other drugs and weed refer to our Weed and Other Drugs Index A to L or our Weed and Other Drugs Index M-Z.
Or you could find what you are looking for in our Alcohol and Interactions with Other Drugs index A to L or Alcohol and Interactions with Other Drugs index M to Z , Cocaine and Interactions with Other Drugs index A to L or Cocaine and Interactions with Other Drugs index M to Z or our MDMA and Interactions with Other Drugs Index A to L or MDMA and Interactions with Other Drugs Index M to Z.
Amytal and Weed
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