title: Signs & symptoms of Dextromethorphan exposure from YouTube.
abstract: Detailed data on the recreational use of drugs are difficult to obtain through traditional means, especially for substances like Dextromethorphan (DXM) which are available over-the-counter for medicinal purposes. In this study, we show that information provided by commenters on YouTube is useful for uncovering the toxicologic effects of DXM. Using methods of computational linguistics, we were able to recreate many of the clinically described signs and symptoms of DXM ingestion at various doses, using information extracted from YouTube comments. Our study shows how social networks can enhance our understanding of recreational drug effects.
authors.affiliation: Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chary
authors.affiliation: Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America.
authors.forename: Emily H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McKenzie
authors.affiliation: Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Toxicology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Alex F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Manini
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Genes
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003915:Dextromethorphan / Q000009:adverse effects*; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D020407:Internet; D008037:Linguistics; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D061108:Social Media; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D063189:Symptom Assessment
chemical_list: D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D003915:Dextromethorphan