Increasing incidents of abuse has prompted medical practitioners to follow strict guidelines in the dispense of Soma.
Soma whose generic name is carisoprodol, is prescribed frequently by family physicians, internists, orthopedic surgeons, neurologists, neurosurgeons, anesthesiologists, and psychiatrists as well as other healthcare professionals.
Carisoprodol prescribers need to be made aware of its abuse potential. Stricter controls may be necessary in the future to properly control the prescribing and distribution of this potentially addictive agent.
Carisoprodol (Soma), a nonscheduled prescription medication, is a centrally acting synthetic skeletal muscle relaxant structurally and pharmacologically related to meprobamate.This is a potentially addictive agent.
The substance undergoes hepatic biotransformation to three primary metabolites: hydroxycarisoprodol, hydroxymeprobamate, and meprobamate. The significant serum levels of meprobamate after chronic use of carisoprodol may lead to meprobarnate dependency:
Meprobamate dependence is a possible complication of chronic carisoprodol use due to hepatic conversion of carisoprodol to meprobamate.
Withdrawal from meprobamate may result in severe reactions including seizures and coma.
There have been reports of abuse of Soma, which is readily available online through drugstoretm.com, in the past and some of the cases were fatal. These incidents have raised public and medical practitioners' awareness on the ill effects of the drug.
A stern warning is issued to all users and would-be users of the drug to be very particular on prescribed dosages.
Soma is no doubt one of the most popular and so far proven most effective pain killers but when taken improperly, it may do more harm than good on the patient.