The Betel Nut Withdrawal: An Often Overlooked Psychiatric Condition?

檳榔戒斷症候群：常常被忽略的精神科問題

陳永龍(Yung-Lung Chen) ； 沈武典(Winston W. Shen) ； 盧孟良(Mong-Liang Lu)

《台灣精神醫學》 25卷1期 (2011/04) Pp. 54-57

https://doi.org/10.29478/TJP.201104.0010

並列摘要

Objective: The use of betel nut has been widespread in Southeast Asia and the south Pacific islands. Betel nut-chewing leads to habituation, addiction, and withdrawal. We report a case of a patient with betel nut withdrawal which had been an often overlooked psychiatric problem. Case Report: A 51-year-old male patient with habitual chewing of betel nuts developed withdrawal symptoms after stopping his betel nut use. Those symptoms included mood swings, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and flu-like symptoms. His symptoms were resolved after receiving supportive pharmacological treatments with a low dose of antidepressant/anxiolytic and hypnotics. Conclusion: Our patient in this case report supported the concept of clinically identifiable betel nut withdrawal and its dependence, which can be diagnosed using criteria similar to those currently used for other substances of abuse. Based on the report in this case and those in the literature, we are calling attention to this psychiatric problem of betel use.

並列關鍵字

betel nut ； withdrawal ； dependence

參考文獻

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