Propofol Abuse

Interesting article from January 2009:

“Propofol is a drug that in a sense doesn’t get you high,” said Omar S. Manejwala, MD, associate medical director at the William J. Farley Center at Williamsburg Place, an addiction treatment clinic in Virginia that, like Talbott, also focuses on physicians. “It blocks out the world,”

In his experience, Dr. Manejwala said, nearly every propofol addict started injecting to overcome persistent insomnia. That aspect of the medication fits neatly with the link both Drs. Manejwala and Earley have observed between propofol abuse and a history of trauma. “One of the hallmark symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] is hyperarousal. Folks with PTSD want to block that out,” Dr. Manejwala said.

What’s puzzling, experts said, is the strength of the connection. “I don’t know of any other drug where the perceived incidence of trauma, particularly of sexual trauma [in abusers], is so high,” Dr. Manejwala said. “It’s really quite remarkable.”

The article also takes about mortality rates among abusers. Another bit I found interesting, in light of all the talk about "functioning addicts":

Unlike abusers of alcohol or most other substances, propofol addicts are unable to function on the job, said Paul Earley, MD, medical director of the Talbott Recovery Campus, an addiction rehabilitation facility in Atlanta that specializes in treating doctors and other healthcare providers.