Appendices of ‘Heroine Gas Station’ are widely available – but experts warn of ‘Basic Risk’

Washington health officials want you to think twice before buying one of those small bright color bottles that are often sold at gas stations, convenience shops and smoke stores.

Sometimes they are called the station’s station heroine, â € products are usually marketed as energy shots or cognitive supplements, but actually contain tiapeptin, an unproven drug that can be dependent and carries risks of serious side effects.

US poison control centers have reported a continuous increase in medicine -related calls for more than a decade. And last month the Food and Drug Administration sent a warning to health professionals regarding “the size of the fundamental risk of these products.â €

Here is what to know about the heroine of the fuel station.

How are these products sold in the SH.BA?

Tianeptin is adopted in a number of foreign countries as an antidepressant, usually as a low -dose pill taken three times a day. But it has never been approved by the FDA for any medical condition in the SH.BA

Moreover, the medicine cannot be legally added to foods and drinks or sold as a dietary supplement – something FDA has repeatedly warned of US companies.

Still, the firms under the radar sell the Tianeptin in different formulas, often with brand names like Zaza, Tiana, Pegasus and TD Red. Although this is technically illegal, the FDA does not predict the added ingredients in additions and drinks.

The type of this gray area of ​​consumer products, or supplements, where the content is not regulated or tested as they would be with a drug, “said Dr. Diane Calello from the New Jersey poison information and poisoning system.

Last year, Calello and her colleagues published a study documenting a set of Emergency Calls in New Jersey associated with an aromatized elixir called Fix Neptune. People suffered discomfort, rapid heartbeat, low blood pressure and seizures after drinking it. More than a dozen of 20 patients had to be accepted for intense care.

Why use these products?

Many Tianeptin products claim – without evidence or FDA approval “to help users treat medical conditions, including addiction, pain and depression.

In 2018, the FDA issued a warning letter to the manufacturer of a product called Tianna, who claimed to provide – an unparalleled solution to the wishes for opiums.â €

While tianeptin is not an opioid, the drug is associated with some of the same receptors in the brain, which can temporarily produce effects similar to oxycodone and other opioids. Tianeptin also carries some of the same physiological risks of opioids, including the potential to depression dangerously breathing.

“This is what tends to put people in trouble,” said Dr. Hannah Hays from the country’s hospital nationwide in Columbus, Ohio. “They use it for effects similar to opioids or for self-treatment opioid attraction and this can lead to slow breathing and such problems.

People dealing with opioid addiction, pain, depression, anxiety and other conditions should see a health professional to get a recipe for FDA -approved treatments, Hays said.

Is the use of tianeptin growing?

Experts are not sure, but national figures show a huge increase in urgent calls involving the medicine.

Calls at poison control centers increased 525% between 2018 and 2023, according to a data analysis published earlier this year. In about 40% of cases, the person had to seek medical attention, with more than half of them needed critical care.

An explanation for increasing calls is simply that more Americans are using products.

But experts also say that products are causing more urgent cases as they become more powerful and dangerous. And researchers in New Jersey who analyzed Neptune’s regulation found that the fluid also contained synthetic cannabis and other medicines.

“You never know what’s in that bottle,” Calello said. â € is important for people to know that even if they have used a product before, they can get a bottle that contains something very different from what they are looking for.

Are there policies that can reduce the use of tianeptin?

Tianeptin is not included in the federal law of controlled substances, which prohibits or restricts medicines that do not have medical use or have a high potential for abuse, such as heroin, LSD and PCP. But about a dozen states have adopted laws that prohibit or limit Tianeptin, including Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Tennesses.

In some cases, those laws have led to more cases of withdrawal among tianeptin users, which can be chemically dependent. But state data also show some success in reducing the damage related to the drug.

Until recently, Alabama had the highest rate of calls linked to Tianeptin south of the US, which increased more than 1,400% between 2018 to 2021. But after the state limited Tianeptin in 2021 the calls began modestly to reduce as calls to other southern states continued to climb.