For example, an asthma attack or chest pains may be triggered. But there are a number of signs and symptoms that show someone has overdosed, and these differ with the type of drug used. Learn more about how an overdose might appear depending on the drug type and how you can respond below.
Some examples are drug toxicity or drug poisoning (or drug toxicity deaths or drug poisoning deaths). Within 3-5 minutes without oxygen, brain damage starts to occur, soon followed by death. With opioid overdoses, surviving or dying wholly depends on breathing and oxygen.
This is because the half-life of naloxone (60-90 minutes) is considerably less than heroin and morphine. Drugs like methadone and sustained-release opioids such as oxycodone (brand name OxyContin) release doses of the drug slowly over 12 hours or more. So, the effect of naloxone will wear off long before those drugs have left a person’s system. To prevent drug overdose from prescription medications, only take the prescribed dose. Follow a doctor or pharmacist’s directions for taking any prescription. Do not take additional doses to make up for any missed doses.
How can a person prevent drug overdose?
The State of Victoria and the Department of Health shall not bear any liability for reliance by any user on the materials contained on this website. A depressant is a drug that slows the vital activities of the body including breathing and the heart rate. An overdose occurs when a person has more of a drug (or combination of drugs) in their body than the body can cope with.
Suicide prevention
A drug meaning of overdose overdose is taking too much of a substance, whether it’s prescription, over-the-counter, legal, or illegal. If you’ve taken more than the recommended amount of a drug or enough to have a harmful effect on your body’s functions, you have overdosed. To prevent accidental overdoses, medications, even over-the-counter pain relievers and vitamins, must be kept in a safe, secure place.
Can You Die from a Drug Overdose?
- Learn more about how an overdose might appear depending on the drug type and how you can respond below.
- Adulterants can also include substances such as synthetic benzodiazepines and cathinones, synthetic opioids like fentanyl, and xylazine.
- If they do wake up, then the snoring (airway obstruction) will resolve.
- Each person responds differently, and reactions are hard to predict.
- People with certain mental illnesses need the help of family and friends to assist with medication therapy and to lend social support.
- And states should retain in perpetuity naloxone access laws that lower barriers to various naloxone formulations, including injectable.
An overdose can still be an emergency, even if the person seems okay at first. An overdose is when you take a toxic (poisonous) amount of a drug or medicine. In the context of substance use, snoring is not something that should be seen as “normal”. Don’t let someone “sleep it off” if they are snoring; this may be a sign of significant and life-threatening emergency.
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Fortunately, this process is rarely instantaneous; people slowly stop breathing which usually happens minutes to hours after the drug was used. While people have been “found dead with a needle in their arm,” more often there is time to intervene between when an overdose starts and before a victim dies. Anyone noticing these or other symptoms should contact emergency services or seek immediate medical treatment. A doctor can help recognize the signs of drug overdose and provide treatment recommendations. A range of signs and symptoms can occur when a person overdoses, and everyone responds differently.
Another method for decreasing overdose risk is drug checking or testing substances for adulterants. Laws that limit access to harm reduction programs or criminalize these tools can discourage their use. For example, overdosing on opioids adversely affects an individual’s ability to breathe.
Drug Overdose
The most obvious way to tell if these symptoms indicate overdose is if you know you have taken drugs or have seen someone else take drugs. Getting medical help quickly can make a big difference in the effectiveness of drug overdose treatment. A history and physical examination to look for evidence of drug poisoning will be performed. The doctor may order laboratory tests based on the organ systems that can be harmed by the specific drug overdose to make a diagnosis. Adulterants can include legal and readily available substances such as chemicals, caffeine, paracetamol, and sugarsv.
All drugs can cause an overdose, including medication prescribed by a doctor. It is important to know the right amount and the right time to take your medication. It is also vital to know what drugs should not be mixed (see more about polydrug use below), and to seek help if you feel you are not in control of your drug use.
In many places, the police will only attend if there is a fatality or other circumstances warranting police attendance, such as a threat to the ambulance crew. Drug adulteration or drug contamination refers to the presence of substances in a drug other than those that are expected. Adulterants may be deliberately added to drug supply for many reasons, such as increasing bulk or potency in order to improve profit margins. It is possible to overdose on amphetamines such as speed and ice. Amphetamine overdose increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, seizure or drug-induced psychotic episodes. If you drink a large amount of alcohol quickly the level of alcohol in your bloodstream (blood alcohol concentration, or BAC) can become dangerously high.
Carfentanil is the most common type of fentanyl analog trafficked in the United States and it is approximately 10,000 times more potent than morphineiii. A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, for Health Content Provider (). URAC’s accreditation program is an independent audit to verify that A.D.A.M. follows rigorous standards of quality and accountability. A.D.A.M. is among the first to achieve this important distinction for online health information and services.
Illicit drugs, used to get high, may be taken in overdose amounts when a person’s metabolism cannot detoxify the drug fast enough to avoid unintended side effects. If they do wake up, then the snoring (airway obstruction) will resolve. If they do not wake up, call emergency services and ask for an ambulance.
After calling 911, stay with the individual experiencing an alcohol overdose. If they begin vomiting, help them lean forward so they do not choke. Alternatively, if they have lost consciousness, an individual can place them in the recovery position. If you receive medical attention before serious problems with your breathing occur, you should have few long-term consequences.
Often, emergency services are not the first people on the scene of an overdose. Increasingly, bystanders, many of whom also use drugs, are administering naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses. While overdose prevention differs depending on the substance used, there are some general precautions that can decrease risk. Using prescription and over-the-counter medication according to the directions provided by the prescribing health care provider or on the packaging are the best ways to prevent overdose.
This is why periods of abstinence from drug use, such as after release from prison and after a period of detoxification and/or rehabilitation, are risk-factors for overdose. The prevalence of polydrug use – whether intentional or not – has been increasing in many parts of the world. Anyone receiving an opioid prescription should speak with their doctor to learn more about the risk of overdose. Combining different drugs can cause a particularly dangerous overdose. This can lead to breathing difficulties, lowered heart rate, seizures, and loss of consciousness. Overdosing on a stimulant such as cocaine increases heart rate, temperature, and blood pressure.