Recognizing the symptoms of a drug overdose is crucial to treating this reaction. Providing supportive care, administering medication such as naloxone, and calling 911 can all help treat certain types of drug overdose. For example, overdosing on opioids adversely affects an individual’s ability to breathe. This lack of oxygen can cause organ damage, unconsciousness, and even death. A drug overdose is the ingestion or administration of a drug or drugs in an amount that exceeds recommended levels, resulting in toxicity. It can involve prescription, over-the-counter, or recreational drugs and can be intentional or accidental.

Many people don’t think about alcohol when drug overdoses are mentioned, but it is possible to overdose on alcohol and it is considered a depressant. Opioids, such as fentanyl, tramadol and morphine, are commonly used for the treatment of severe pain.6  They are generally safe when taken for a short time and as prescribed by a healthcare provider. However, if opioids become an addiction, misuse can lead to overdose.

Symptoms of overdose

If you witness someone with these symptoms, it is important to seek medical help immediately. The sooner they can get medical help, the better the chances of effectiveness of the drug overdose treatment. An opioid overdose is dangerous because it affects the part of the brain that regulates breathing. It can lead to a slowing or stopping of breathing – and the person having the overdose will go into oxygen starvation. This will eventually stop the vital organs such as the brain and the heart, which will lead to unconsciousness, coma and then death.

• A stimulant drug, such as ecstasy, speed or cocaine, will raise the heart rate, body temperature and blood pressure and speed up breathing.
• For other substances and uses, titrating doses (i.e., slowly increasing the quantity or potency of a substance used) can help achieve the desired effect while decreasing the likelihood of overdose.
• Fatal overdoses involving legal and illicit drugs increased drastically from 1999 to 2014.
• There is only a small difference between the maximum daily dose of paracetamol and an overdose, which can cause liver damage.

Preventing Overdoses

Of course, moderating the consumption of alcohol and other substances can be challenging for individuals with a substance use disorder. This chronic condition involves the ongoing overuse of a substance. After calling 911, stay with the individual experiencing an alcohol overdose.

We Care About Your Privacy

Intentional misuse leading to overdose can include using prescribed or non-prescribed drugs in excessive quantities in an attempt to produce euphoria. In a 2020 study, 75% of overdose deaths involved a prescription or illicit opioid, including 62% that involved a synthetic opioid other than methadone, such as fentanyl. Each person responds differently, and reactions are hard to predict. Many people who are directed to go to the emergency department may not develop any physical signs of poisoning. Generally, in an overdose, the effects of the drug may be a heightened level of the therapeutic effects seen with regular use.

What matters is that the person has taken an amount that causes harm to the body. It reverses an opioid overdose by drug overdose meaning blocking the effects of opiates. It is available in injection form and in the form of a pre-filled injection device that can be administered to a patient at the time of overdose. 60 percent of drug overdoses involve an opioid, according to a 2014 CDC report. Short-acting barbiturates expel out of the body within 24 to 48 hours as opposed to long-acting barbiturates such as phenobarbital, which require emergency services. Sedatives are designed to be short-term solutions due to the serious risk of dependence that can form when consumed for too long.

Alcohol and drugs

For example, when the drug Naloxone (also known as Narcan) is administered quickly, it can overturn an overdose. If you are able to get the Narcan into the person’s system in time, they can be saved from a potentially fatal opioid overdose. Overdoses can also occur from taking over-the-counter medications or even seemingly harmless substances, such as vitamin supplements, which the FDA does not regulate.

An overdose is a huge sign that substances have taken control of your life and you likely need professional help for alcohol or drug addiction. Fatal overdoses involving legal and illicit drugs increased drastically from 1999 to 2014. Americans are more likely to die from overdoses than car crashes or gun violence.

• However, there are certain conditions and factors that can increase the risk of the overdose.
• For this reason, programs that distribute naloxone at no cost should be supported by opioid settlement and other public funding mechanisms.
• This number should be copied and placed near a telephone or programmed into an automatic-dialing telephone or cellular phone.
• A lower risk of overdose toxicity is often the reason doctors prefer one medication over another when both medications are equally effective.
• Drug overdose is when a person ingests more the recommended, safe, or typical dose of a prescription medication, recreational drug, or illicit substance.

Prevention activities help educate and support individuals, families, and communities and are critical for maintaining both individual and community health. Anyone experiencing a substance use disorder should seek treatment to address their symptoms. Treatment may involve therapy, certain medications, or rehabilitation programs.

If a suicide attempt was the reason for the overdose, psychiatry services may need to be consulted. Your doctor, your local poison center, or the emergency department of your local hospital may be able to help determine the seriousness of a suspected drug overdose. Development of any symptoms after drug overdose requires immediate and accurate information about the specific name of the drug, the amount of the drug ingested, and the time when the drug was taken. Often, the bottle the drug came in will have the information needed.

Dose-related reactions may or may not be serious, but they are relatively common. Dose-related adverse drug reactions represent an exaggeration of the drug’s therapeutic effects. For example, a person taking a medication to reduce high blood pressure may feel dizzy or light-headed if the medication reduces blood pressure too much.

Follow a doctor or pharmacist’s directions for taking any prescription. The drug naloxone (Narcan) can also help treat an opioid overdose by blocking opioids’ effects in the body. This medication is available in a nasal spray and as an intravenous injection at the hospital. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that 106,699 people died of a drug overdose in the United States in 2021. Drug overdose is sometimes used as a means to commit suicide, as the result of intentional or unintentional misuse of medication.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that GSLs should provide immunity from arrest, detention, prosecution, parole violations, and warrant searches. Furthermore, comprehensive laws extend these protections to all parties present, not just the person who called emergency services or the person experiencing an overdose. Many states’ GSLs do not include all of these suggested protections.