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CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association Journal logoLink to CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association Journal
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. 2017 Apr 24;189(16):E613. doi: 10.1503/cmaj.732933

Zopiclone overdose and flumazenil rescue

Nevio Cimolai 1
PMCID: PMC5403648  PMID: 28438958

An and Goodwin appropriately detail the use of flumazenil in select circumstances of benzodiazepine overdosing.1 As also suggested, most patients with benzodiazepine overdose recover after supportive therapy and without the need of pharmacological intervention. Z drugs (including zopiclone) share gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors more or less with the benzodiazepines.2 Along the same lines, zopiclone overdose has been effectively treated with flumazenil, although again most such overuses can be treated with supportive therapy only.2,3 It would be prudent then to share the same precautions for using flumazenil in zopiclone overdosing as it would be for the benzodiazepines.

Footnotes

Competing interests: None declared.

References


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