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Biomedical subjects

F R Funderburk

Publications and source records attributed to F R Funderburk.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

Residual effects of ethanol and chlordiazepoxide treatments for alcohol withdrawal.

Eighteen male alcoholics were randomly assigned to one of two alcohol detoxification treatments. One group received a low dose ethanol treatment while the other group received a chlordiazepoxide treatment. This study compares recovery of sleep EEG and clinical symptomatology following these two detoxification treatments. Sleep EEG and clinical measures were obtained for the final medication day and during a 6-day postmedication "recovery" period. The chlordiazepoxide treatment produced suppression of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep lasting for about 4 days and virtually eliminated delta sleep (stages III and IV) during the recovery period. The low dose ethanol treatment regimen produced less disruption of REM and delta sleep during the recovery period. These findings suggest that under some circumstances an ethanol treatment regimen may prove more beneficial to the healthy alcoholic patient than current regimens which employ other psychoactive medication. In particular, the long lasting suppression of delta sleep during the recovery period in subjects treated with chlordiazepoxide suggests a vulnerability of the slow wave sleep mechanisms during early alcohol abstinence and raises the possibility that this regimen prolongs functional tolerance to alcohol effects. Continued clinical evaluation of low dose ethanol detoxification treatment is suggested.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Assessing the alcoholic's disposition to drink.

Reliable and valid techniques for assessing the alcoholic's disposition to drink would allow researchers to address many issues of clinical significance. This paper reviews some basic issues in behavioral assessment techniques, proposes several criteria for a reasonably general technique for assessing disposition to drink, and presents evidence relevant to the validity of one behavioral measure of disposition to drink. A study is presented which focuses on distinguishing good from poor treatment outcome subjects on the basis of their response patterns for alcohol during a simulated drinking binge. Alcoholic subjects were assigned to one of two treatment outcome groups based on treatment success evaluated at follow-up two months after hospital discharge. An analysis of the alcoholic's response patterns for alcohol during a simulated drinking binge revealed that good outcome subjects showed decreases in disposition to drink as their blood alcohol levels (BAL) rose, while poor outcome subjects showed increases in disposition to drink as their BAL increased. These results indicate that individual differences in behavioral response to alcoholization and withdrawal can index the alcoholic's potential for readdiction and relapse subsequent to hospital treatment and illustrate the role which behavioral assessment techniques can play in developing and refining models of human alcohol abuse.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Slow wave sleep changes: alcohol tolerance and treatment implications.

Slow wave sleep abnormalities characterize the sleep of alcoholics. In this report, two questions are addressed: (1) Does the slow wave sleep loss in alcohol withdrawal relate to withdrawal treatment? (2) Do the slow wave sleep changes on and off alcohol relate to the clinical course of alcoholism? The first question was addressed by comparing recovery in sleep EEG and clinical measures following two types of alcohol withdrawal treatment. Eighteen subjects were randomly assigned to either a low dose ethanol or chlordiazepoxide treatment for alcohol withdrawal. The results indicate that chlordiazepoxide produces a marked synergism with alcohol withdrawal suppression of slow wave sleep. The second question was addressed by an experimental alcoholization study involving 9 subjects who drank for 5 consecutive days, with 18 ounces of 95 proof ethanol consumed daily. Changes in slow wave sleep from baseline (abstinent) values to those on alcohol showed faster rate of tolerance development for the low slow wave sleep subjects. The rate of tolerance development was significantly related to treatment outcome, with faster tolerance development associated with poorer treatment outcome. In this regard it is noted that the use of chlordiazepoxide in alcohol withdrawl needs to be reviewed for potentially prolonging tolerance ""carryover" and thereby being counterproductive for treatment outcome.

Adult↗