Am J Psychiatry 1989; 146:1479-1483
Copyright © 1989 by American Psychiatric Association
Response to sodium lactate infusion in alcoholics with panic attacks
DS Cowley, CF Jensen, D Johannessen, L Parker, SR Dager and RD Walker
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle 98195.
The authors studied the response to sodium lactate infusion of 12
alcoholics with a history of panic attacks, 10 alcoholics without a history
of panic attacks, and 16 nonalcoholic patients with panic disorder. The
rate of lactate-induced panic was significantly higher in alcoholics with
panic attacks than in alcoholics without panic attacks. Alcoholics with
panic attacks were similar to nonalcoholic patients with panic disorder in
their response to lactate. These findings support the specificity of
lactate-induced panic for panic states and suggest that panic attacks in
alcoholics resemble those in nonalcoholics. Lactate infusion may prove
useful in the diagnosis of panic disorder in alcoholics.
