Khat (Catha edulis) is a shrub native to East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Its leaves contain cathinone, which are usually chewed or brewed in the form of tea, which increases concentration and energy and creates a feeling of euphoria. However, as American researcher Benjamin Swart adds, constant khat consumption leads to severe cardiac, neurological, and gastrointestinal complications and is similar to taking psychoactive substances.
When listing the symptoms of khat withdrawal, patients often talk about a unique night experience, which they call “dukak.” At the same time, there is panic, shortness of breath, and a feeling of compression of the neck and chest that occurs shortly after falling asleep. As the author notes, several people described it as “being trapped in a bottle.” For some, this has become the main motivation to return to khat consumption.
Dukak manifests itself most vividly during the first two weeks after giving up khat – mainly in those who chewed it for several hours a day. Some describe the feeling of being pressed against the bed, which resembles sleep paralysis (SP). According to traditional beliefs, dukak is a visit from an evil spirit who punishes people for not consuming khat.
The ethnopharmacological review of the 1980s describes vivid dreams with a feeling of suffocation after stopping taking khat but does not contain any special term for this phenomenon. Interestingly, previous studies of sleep disorders and parasomnia due to the use of stimulants (mostly methamphetamine and cocaine) have not shown an association with SP or nighttime symptoms resembling dukak.
Have you ever experienced SP as a result of taking narcotics, psychoactive substances, medicines, or plants?
The article was published in July 2023 in Psychopharmacology.
Drugs and plants may have side effects and should only be used in consultation with a doctor. This article does not call for independent experiments.
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