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SYRACUSE, NY – A Northeastern New York poison control official is warning the public not to use the herbal kratom supplement because it can cause heart arrhythmia, others Serious health problems and even death.
According to a study published in Clinical Toxicology, the center, based at SUNY Upstate Medical University, and in other poison control centers across the country, recorded a significant increase in the number of phone calls concerning kratom.
Since January 1, 2018, the Northeast Poison Control Center of New York State has received 32 calls regarding kratom. He received only four calls regarding the supplement in 2017. The center serves 54 counties in New York located north of Westchester County.
Jeanna Marraffa, pharmacist and clinical toxicologist at the center, said some kratom users are going to hospitals complaining of an increased heart rate and withdrawal symptoms. The study reported 11 deaths associated with kratom nationwide between 2011 and 2017.
A police sergeant from Tupper Lake died of an overdose of kratom in 2017.
The kratom plant grows in Malaysia. The leaves are usually crushed, processed into tea and used to treat pain and reduce cravings for opioid medications. It was not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, which advised the public not to use kratom for health problems.
Kratom is available without a prescription and users often buy it online, said Marraffa.
Some people use it as an alternative to opioids or to relieve the symptoms of opioid withdrawal. Marraffa said that some users end up in hospitals complaining of withdrawal symptoms after they stop using kratom.
"My suggestion is not to use kratom because the product has certain toxicity and concerns about adverse effects," she said.
According to the study, the number of calls on poison control centers for kratom rose from 13 in 2011 to 682 in 2017.
A police sergeant from northwestern New York died of an overdose following a controversy over a kratom, a legal and controversial drug
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