Sober Living

Drug Overdose: Definition, Treatment, Prevention, and More

drug overdose meaning

These symptoms of stimulant overdose can lead to a seizure, stroke, heart attack, or death. The UN gives a figure of 300,000 deaths per year in the world through drug overdose. The term ‘overdose’ is often misused as a descriptor for adverse drug reactions or negative drug interactions due to mixing multiple drugs simultaneously.

Immediate care

  • This medication is available in a nasal spray and as an intravenous injection at the hospital.
  • While a ketamine overdose itself will likely be non-fatal, ketamine users are at risk of pulmonary aspiration – when stomach contents are breathed into the airways – and therefore death by suffocation.
  • A Commonwealth Fund study on drug overdoses in the United States reported last month that more than 100,000 lives were lost in 2023—a more than 50% jump since 2019.
  • Strengthening and expanding public health and harm reduction services to address overdose risk with smoking and other noninjection routes might reduce deaths.
  • Nervous system symptoms include confusion, hallucinations, tiredness, and ringing in the ears.
  • They may also experience kidney failure, bleeding disorders, and encephalopathy (swelling of the brain).
  • Do not share a prescription or take medications prescribed to another individual.

A person experiencing an opiate overdose usually will not wake up, even if their name is called or they are shaken vigorously. A drug overdose can occur after an individual takes too much of a medication or substance. Stimulants, alcohol, and benzodiazepines can also lead to drug overdose. Making matters worse, in the U.S., harm-reduction policies and practices are fragmented—meaning they differ considerably between states, and even among towns and cities within states. Moreover, emerging trends, such as polysubstance abuse and potent new drugs, complicate overdose prevention in the U.S.. For example, xylazine involvement in fentanyl deaths is on the rise.

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Overdose deaths have increased by an alarming 137 percent since 2000, and it stems from the growing problem of substance addiction. Nationally, 2014 saw a record number of overdose-related deaths, with three out of five resulting from opioid intoxication. If you think you or someone you may know is experiencing an overdose, the best thing you can do is treat it like an emergency. Afterward, you may experience many complicated emotions about the overdose, how you reacted, and what to do to prevent future overdoses. Know that medical and mental health community support is available, and you don’t need to go through this alone.

For Public Health Professionals

From January–June 2020 to July–December 2022, the number and percentage of overdose deaths with evidence of smoking increased 109.1% (from 2,794 to 5,843) and 73.7% (from 13.3% to 23.1%), respectively (Figure 1). The number and percentage of deaths with evidence of snorting increased 43.1% (from 2,858 to 4,090) and 19.1% (from 13.6% to 16.2%), respectively. In contrast, the number and percentage of overdose deaths with evidence of injection decreased 14.6% (from 4,780 to 4,080) and 29.1% (from 22.7% to 16.1%), respectively, from January–June 2020 to July–December 2022.

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It’s thought to not have addictive properties and, so far, human testing has shown it to be remarkably safe. The culmination of decades of work, Vertex’s Journavx is now cleared to treat the short-lived “acute” pain usually felt after an accident or a surgery. Vertex hopes to eventually get the drug approved for chronic pain as well, though clinical trials testing it in that setting have produced mixed results. Today’s legislation will see 22 substances banned under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, 6 of which will be controlled as Class A.

However, the drug did not prove more effective than a combination of Tylenol and a commonly prescribed opioid. Latest figures show since June 2023, there have been at least 400 drug-related deaths across the UK linked to nitazenes, a type of synthetic opioid, and this figure is expected to increase in the coming years. However, the risk of death from ketamine alone is low, because the type of unconsciousness it renders has a minimal impact on airway reflexes or blood circulation, making it a preferable sedative choice for doctors. This means you can likely still breathe and function normally in a k-hole from a high dose of ketamine.

Benzodiazepines are not more effective than barbiturates, but they have a wider margin of safety and are much less likely to cause severe toxicity in case of an accidental or intentional overdose. Safety is also the reason that newer antidepressants, such as fluoxetine and paroxetine, have largely replaced older but equally effective antidepressants, such as imipramine and amitriptyline (see tableMedications for Treatment of Depression). It is important that more is done to prevent overdoses and deaths. Prevention activities help educate and support individuals, families, and communities and are critical for maintaining both individual and community health.

Finally, routes could not be linked to the use of a specific drug unless only one drug class was detected. Analyses of single drug classes detected (IMFs only and stimulants only) were presented to better link routes to drugs. During January 2020–December 2022, a total of 139,740 overdose deaths occurred in 28 jurisdictions; deaths increased 20.2%, from 21,046 during January–June 2020 to 25,301 during July–December 2022. The percentage of deaths with IMFs detected increased 8.4% from 71.4% during January–June 2020 to 77.4% during July–December 2022. Evidence of at least one route of drug use was documented in 71,480 (51.2%) overdose deaths.

  • Xylazine, often known as ‘tranq’, is a high-strength veterinary sedative, which has increasingly been used in combination with opioids such as heroin.
  • This makes it difficult for the body to remove alcohol from the bloodstream and can harm other body parts.
  • 60 percent of drug overdoses involve an opioid, according to a 2014 CDC report.
  • For the 8.1% of deaths involving fentanyl that had insufficient evidence for classification as illegal or prescription, fentanyl was classified as illegal because the majority of fentanyl overdose deaths involve illegal fentanyl.
  • Once the ambulance is dispatched, the operator will stay on the line with you to monitor the person’s symptoms and situation, which they will feed through to the paramedics, so don’t hang up until instructed to.
  • Unfortunately, the number of deaths resulting from opioid overdoses continues to persist.

Opioids

drug overdose meaning

If they begin to have a seizure, ensure no harmful objects are close to them. Even after administering this medication, it is crucial to take anyone experiencing an opioid overdose to the emergency room. The movement to steer pain treatment away from opioids notched a major victory Thursday, as the Food and Drug Administration approved a new, highly anticipated drug from Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Xylazine, often known as ‘tranq’, is a high-strength veterinary sedative, which has increasingly been used in combination with opioids such as heroin. Its effects can leave users prone to non-healing skin lesions and more liable to overdose.

It can be difficult to determine if someone is overdosing, but erring on the side of caution can save a life. Symptoms of opioid overdoses include slow breathing, heart rate and pulse.6 Opioid overdoses can also cause pinpoint pupils, and blue lips and nails due to drug overdose meaning low levels of oxygen in the blood. A person experiencing an opioid overdose might also have muscle spasms, seizures and decreased consciousness.

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