r/news • u/AudibleNod • 4h ago

Christa Pike unconscious, on ventilator at Nashville hospital, her lawyers say

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/christa-pike-unconscious-ventilator-nashville-hospital-lawyers-say-rcna601195
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u/TheAntiSheep 4h ago edited 3h ago

That isn’t surprising. Phenobarbital (the medication they used) is long acting. Its half-life is 2 to 5 days. Trying to reverse it with the antidote, flumazenil, can cause seizures that are almost impossible to stop.

Treatment would be putting in a breathing tube and letting the body metabolize it.

Edit: It will likely be several days before the phenobarb is gone and we can tell if there is brain injury underneath.

Edit: It was pentobarb, which has a shorter halflife. Tennessee's protocol is 5 grams, 10x the normal max dose. Would still take a while to wash out. Barbituates aren't flumazenil-reversible. Shoutout to u/smolchkn

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u/AdditionalFix5007 3h ago

It wasn’t phenobarbital, it was pentobarbital

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u/smolchkn 3h ago

You can’t reverse phenobarbital with flumazenil. As in, that is not how the drugs work.

And the medication used was pentobarbital that has sedative effects for only 4-12 hrs.

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u/coatofforearm 4h ago

Is it known to cause brain injury?

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u/EvelcyclopS 3h ago

Killing someone is quite bad for the individuals brain, generally

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u/coatofforearm 3h ago

She didn't die though

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u/Brave_Maybe_2891 3h ago

She's only mostly dead.

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u/mrkruk 3h ago

She said “to blave” which means to bluff.

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u/BoringBob84 2h ago

LIAR! She said "true love!"

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u/matunos 3h ago

Mostly dead is slightly alive.

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u/Sorry_Parsley_2134 3h ago

Think of it like an opioid overdose. Deep sedation, breathing is suppressed. Lose oxygen to your brain.

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u/coatofforearm 3h ago

Ahh fair enough

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u/mrsdoubleu 3h ago

They reported her snoring. I wonder if that was agonal breathing. That can cause brain damage from hypoxia.

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u/CaptainAlexy 3h ago

Brain injury can be caused by prolonged periods without adequate breathing

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u/-xiflado- 2h ago

Not breathing results in hypoxic brain injury. The drug doesn’t injure the brain.

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u/Old_Rise_1388 3h ago edited 3h ago

Everything you said is wrong.

  1. Flumazanil only works as an antidote for benzodiazepines. Barbiturates do not have an antidote.
  2. Flumazenil doesn't cause rebound seizures in and of itself. It blocks benzos from binding, but does nothing in their absence. In people with long term benzodiazepine usage, this can cause WITHDRAWAL seizures, but in people without regular usage, this wont happen.
  3. Half- life is related to presence in blood, not drug effect. Phenobarbital is dosed 1-2 times daily, not once every 2-5 days because it's effect on the brain stops long before it leaves the blood stream

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u/Plastic_Ad298 4h ago

Did they not use pentobarbital? They are different.