Opioid and Heroin Harm Reduction- Overdoses
Opiod overdoses are most common in those who inject(mainline) heroin, morphine, or painkillers, followed by those who snort the drugs. However, it is important to remember you can STILL OVERDOSE on smoking. This, however is much less likely as you will likely pass out before you can overdose. Most often, an overdose occurs after one has had a break in useage. This can also happen if one has been given fetanyl-spiked drugs or an otherwise very strong batch of drugs.
Symptoms of a heroin(and most other opiates) overdose include but are not limited to:
muscle spasms
slow and labored breathing
shallow breathing
stopped breathing (sometimes fatal within 2-8 minutes, as no more air is reaching the brain)
pinpoint pupils
dry mouth
cold and clammy skin
tongue discoloration
bluish colored fingernails and lips
spasms of the stomach and/or intestinal tract
constipation
weak pulse
low blood pressure
drowsiness
disorientation
coma
delirium
If someone is overdosing, DO:
PHONE AN AMBULANCE. Dispose of all paraphenellia. DO NOT say it is a drug overdose; cops will arrive. Say there is an unconcious person and the ambulance will arrive quickly. Tell them what was taken on arrival.
Administer naloxone if possible. Be aware that many active useres will go into withdrawls and will be unpleasant to deal with in the immediate aftermath.
Put them in the recovery position. Check to see if the tounge is blocking the airway and if so, remove it.
REMEMBER NALOXONE CAN WEAR OFF AFTER 20 MINUTES AND THEY CAN COLLAPSE AGAIN.
DO NOT
Inject with salt, milk, saline, etc. These are myths and are ineffective.
Smack or yell at them. If they are not responding to a light touch, they are not alert. Do not assume they are sleeping.
Put them in a cold bath. This can cause additional stress on the respiatory system.
Refuse to tell the doctors what was taken. They will not search you for drugs, it is not in their job description!
Reminder: if you leave the scene and the person dies, the police will come to investigate the cause of death.
Myths, broken:
You can not wake up an overdosing person with anything other than naloxone. DO NOT inject anything else into their body,as this will make it worse.
The average overdosing drug user in a older male who in not in drug treatment.
Thank you for posting this helpful information!
@calmZebra60 Thank you so much for posting this. I agree with Emily, this is very important information for our community to have access to.
I do want to point out that some places in the world do have good samaritan laws protecting those who assist with an overdose situation from drug-related charges. If that's the case, it would be important to tell the 911 operator that it's a drug overdose in order to make sure that the paramedics are prepared to offer the person the best help possible. However, if your area doesn't have these laws or if you are unsure, it would be a good idea to dispose of paraphernalia and wait until the paramedics arrive before disclosing that it's an overdose.
Also, if you are unsure of the drug the person is overdosing on and whether or not it's an opioid, do not hesitate to administer naloxone. Naloxone is non-toxic and won't cause any harm when administered to someone overdosing on a drug that's not an opioid.
For more information, here are some infographics and factsheets from the National Harm Reduction Coalition:
http://harmreduction.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/dope-brochure-sept-2010.pdf
http://harmreduction.org/issues/overdose-prevention/overview/overdose-basics/
@calmZebra60 so sad that it's not just fentanyl spiking anymore some people are actually injecting it in powder form cut of course but how do u measure mcg s its literally causing a crisis in my country as people die everyday last I heard it will effect the country's over all life expectancy of the population and there using overdose victim organs with hep c to save lives cause they can cure hep c after the transplant I have personal experience with this and wow so glad I never picked up a needle I'm not ready to be an organ donor .
