ATLANTA — There is a new warning out on a dangerous supplement that’s been dubbed “gas station heroin.”
The Food and Drug Administration said the opioid alternative can cause adverse reactions including seizures and loss of consciousness.
The substance called tianeptine, is being mixed into pill and liquid products.
It’s not approved for any medical use, yet it often claims to improve brain function and treat anxiety and depression.
But drug treatment counselors say it’s highly addictive and poses serious health risks for users.
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Substance abuse counselor Kim Castro knows firsthand the dangers of store-bought supplements containing tianeptine -- like Neptune’s Fix, Zaza, and Tianna Red.
“It’s an opiate agonist. So it acts on the same mechanism as opioids, heroin, and pain pills,” Castro said. “This is something that is really serious.”
The FDA recently issued a stark warning about tianeptine, telling consumers not to buy products containing what it calls a dangerous substance that can trigger seizures and loss of consciousness.
Castor told Channel 2′s Tom Regan that three of her clients in metro Atlanta using tianeptine wound up in the hospital.
“Sometimes they will get sick in the stomach first, and then they will have a seizure. But all three of them had to go to the hospital,” Castro said.
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Castro said tianeptine is still being sold at some gas stations, vape shops, and online despite Georgia making it an illegal drug.
Last December, Haralson County drug agents raided a store and seized more than 1,200 bottles of products containing the highly addictive compound.
“This is like heroin times 1,000. And it’s very devastating. It’s life-destroying,” said Alyssa Wood, a former tianeptine user.
Once addicted, some users say they spent hundreds of dollars a week on the so-called supplement.
“It was like a demon coming out of me as I started withdrawing,” a former user who asked only to be identified as Michele said.
She said she never used illegal drugs before but quickly got hooked on tianeptine, and the withdrawal was agonizing.
“It was the devil. Breathlessness, I couldn’t sleep at all, restless, legs kicked in, I couldn’t stop moving. I was depressed, sweating,” Michele said.
Dr. Gaylord Lopez with the Georgia Poison Center said the center has helped doctors treat patients who overdosed on tianeptine.
“We get called about them, unfortunately sometimes these things can end up tragically,” Lopez told Regan.
Castro said outlawing tianeptine won’t prevent people from getting it. She believes informing people on the risks of using it could spare them from an overdose, and a life-altering seizure.
“Some people think it’s going to help with my depression or my anxiety, and they don’t know what they’re getting into,” Castro said.
Tianeptine is now banned in 9 states including Georgia.
Channel 2 Action News has reached out to the company that makes Neptune’s Fix for a comment on the FDA’s warning against using it, but we have not heard back.
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