Piracetam in severe breath holding spells.

BACKGROUND: Breath holding spells (BHS) are apparently frightening events occurring in otherwise healthy children. Generally, no medical treatment is recommended and parental reassurance is believed to be enough, however, severe BHS can be very stressful for the parents and a pharmacological agent may be desired in some of these children. OBJECTIVE: In this prospective study aim was to determine the usefulness of piracetam as prophylactic treatment for severe BHS. METHODS: Children were recruited from Neurology Clinic in Children's Hospital, Islamabad between January 2002 to December 2004. Diagnosis of BHS was based on characteristic history and normal physical examination. Piracetam was prescribed to those children who were diagnosed as severe BHS in a dose ranging from 50-100 mg/kg/day. Iron supplements were added if hemoglobin was less than 10 gm%. Patients were seen at 2-4 weeks interval and follow-up was continued until 3 months after the cessation of drug therapy. RESULTS: Fifty-two children were enrolled in the study, 34 boys and 18 girls. Ages ranged from 4 weeks to 5 years with mean age of 17 months. In 81% of children, spells disappeared completely and in 9% frequency was reduced to less than one per month and of much lesser intensity. Prophylaxis was given for 3-6 months (mean 5) duration. CONCLUSIONS: Piracetam is an effective prophylactic treatment for severe BHS.

Apnea in postsurgical hypnotherapy of an esophageal cancer patient: a brief communication.

Use of clinical hypnosis in the postsurgical psychotherapy of an esophageal cancer patient who could not swallow involved reenactment of the successful surgery and producing hallucinations of taste and smell, as well as working through emotions relations to the surgery and her disease. An apnea that occurred in a late phase of the treatment was addressed with the familiar arm pumping technique that had been used as a deepening technique, resulting in the patient's resuming normal breathing. The experience reminds the practitioner of the possible unexpected professional demands when working in a medical environment. It also provides clues as to the underlying psychological mechanisms and their role in successful symptom removal. A 6-year follow-up confirmed the lasting effect of this brief psychotherapy.

Metabolic rate, respiratory exchange ratio, and apneas during meditation.

We tested the hypothesis that a drop in metabolic rate (MR) causes the apneas observed in some subjects during transcendental meditation (TM). We measured O2 consumption (VO2) and CO2 production (VCO2) in three groups of experienced meditators and one group of nonmeditating controls. Measurements were made before, during, and after TM for the meditators and before, during, and after eyes-closed relaxation for the nonmeditating controls. The three groups of meditators consisted of 1) those showing little change in the frequency of ventilation (f) with meditation, 2) those showing a marked decline in f, and 3) those showing numerous apneas and a marked fall in f. There were significant trial effects but no group or interaction effects for the decline in VO2. Thus we concluded that a drop in MR is not the cause of the apneas. However, there were significant trial and interaction effects for the changes in VCO2 and the respiratory exchange ratio (R), with a significant drop in R for the meditators but not for the controls. We report additional evidence and speculate that the drop in R is a consequence of mild hypoventilation.