Drotaverine is among the means of suicidal actions

Drotaverine is one of the most popular medicines in the general population in Russia; it is widely used at home as a means of self-medication for various painful manifestations, mainly associated with disorders in the digestive and genitourinary systems. Taken in large doses, the drug causes severe complications, and if timely assistance is not provided, it can be fatal. These properties can be used to implement suicidal actions. The lack of a recording system currently does not allow us to determine the real rates of poisoning with this drug. This limits the possibility of a more complete study and description of the leading characteristics of the suicidal population, identifying risk groups, key motives and anti-suicidal factors. Currently, preventive measures have been poorly developed and require improvement. Summarizing the data of predominantly isolated observations presented in the literature, it can be noted that among those who use drotaverine (no-shpa) for suicidal actions, women predominate. As a rule, these are young and middle-aged people with little education and suffering from depression. In the case of simultaneous intake of large doses of a toxicant (one package or more), the true motives to die prevail. In the absence of help, death occurs after a few hours, mainly from cardiac dysfunction. This determines the importance of improving and implementing preventive measures, including general issues and work with risk groups, limiting access to toxicants, increasing the level of thematic training of medical personnel, working with the media and Internet resources. Considering the relevance of the problem and the objectively poor development of suicide prevention measures, more in-depth studies of this issue are justified.