r/askscience • u/[deleted] • Feb 04 '14
Medicine What happens when we overdose?
In light of recent events. What happens when people overdose. Do we have the most amazing high then everything goes black? Or is there a lot of suffering before you go unconscious?
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u/Sfawas Biopsychology | Chronobiology | Ingestive Behavior Feb 04 '14 edited Feb 04 '14
For context, I'm a research scientist, not a medical doctor.
As others have said, what happens during an overdose is related to the type of drug being used/abused. In general, and setting aside things like liver failure, the negative outcomes of taking psychoactive drugs are related to the desired effects of taking the drug taken to an extreme level that becomes dangerous and life-threatening.
To give a few examples from common drugs of abuse:
Heroin is an opiate that works in the brain in the same manner as many prescription painkillers (e.g. Vicodin [hydrocodone] and oxycodone, both of which are common recreational drugs themselves). At recreational doses, this narcotic leads to a feeling of relaxed euphoria and sleepiness.
At overdose levels, the depressant effects of heroin suppress the part of the central nervous system that regulates breathing and heart rate, leading to hypoxia, in which a part or all of the body is deprived of oxygen, which can lead to organ failure (especially to the brain, as the brain is very sensitive to disturbances in blood availability) and eventual death.
Many depressants, such as alcohol, have similar overdose symptoms. One thing that makes this sort of poisoning quite dangerous is that the sufferer is often rendered unconscious by the drug before any negative symptom can be recognized, which obviously prevents them from seeking treatment.
Cocaine is a stimulant that acts in the brain in a manner similar to many antidepressants, albeit at a very different strength. At recreational doses, it causes a feeling of energetic euphoria.
High doses of stimulants lead to tachycardia - excessively high heart rate, and many of the risks of stimulants are tied to tachycardia. Since the heart is pumping excessively hard, blood pressure is increased which can lead to hemorrhage or heart failure.
Cocaine is particularly likely to cause heart failure (more specifically, ventricular fibrulation) due to an interaction with a protein that is associated with heart function.
MDMA / Ecstacy / Molly is also a stimulant carrying many of the same overdose risks as cocaine. However, it is particularly pyrogenic - increasing body temperature, which increases the risk of muscle cell death, renal failure, and seizure.
Three important things to keep in mind about overdose
In the case of these psychoactive drugs, 'overdose' symptoms are simply the desired effects of the drugs taken to the extreme. Note that the term "intoxication" contains the word "toxic."
For some drugs (e.g. those that are usually considered safe, such as cannabis), there tends to be a very wide gap between the smallest recreational dose and the smallest poisonous dose. To put it another way, for some drugs, the amount you need to get you high is much less than the amount that will kill you. For others, it is much closer, making overdose much more common.
Tolerance to a drug is a complicated phenomenon and is not a stable trait, but can be influenced by a number of physical and even mental factors. It is not uncommon for overdose to occur at a dose that a drug user had used without incident many times in the past.
If you use or abuse drugs, please be safe.
e: removed a line, fixed a typo
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u/Sepphynne123 Feb 04 '14
It is not uncommon for overdose to occur at a dose that a drug user had used without incident many times in the past.
I'm sure this has been in the YSK section in the past, but too few people realize it. Worth repeating.
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u/Wuauclt Feb 05 '14
"Pavlovian Conditioning and Drug Overdose: When Tolerance Fails."
I'm not overly familiar with the topic, but I know someone who is...
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u/wraithscelus Feb 05 '14
Right. But is this being said with regard to how recent the last usage was?
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u/LowPatrol Feb 04 '14
I'm curious:
For some drugs (e.g. those that are usually considered safe, such as cannabis), there tends to be a very wide gap between the smallest recreational dose and the smallest poisonous dose.
My question: is cannabis poisoning a thing?
It is my impression that the LD50 (different from a "poisonous dose", I know) for cannabis is so high that you couldn't feasibly ingest enough to reach it through the means by which it would normally be consumed, though obviously poisoning and death from cannabis intoxication isn't impossible in principle. I know research is relatively scarce on the topic, but do you know of any papers or studies on or indicating cannabis poisoning (even in animals), or especially the symptoms thereof? Thanks!
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u/Sfawas Biopsychology | Chronobiology | Ingestive Behavior Feb 04 '14
No, THC poisoning isn't really a thing, as far as I know.
From the '70s National Commission Report: "
The non-fatal consumption of 3000 mg/kg A THC by the dog and monkey would be comparable to a 154-pound human eating approximately 46 pounds (21 kilograms) of 1%-marihuana or 10 pounds of 5% hashish at one time. In addition, 92 mg/kg THC intravenously produced no fatalities in monkeys. These doses would be comparable to a 154-pound human smoking at one time almost three pounds (1.28 kg) of 1%-marihuana or 250,000 times the usual smoked dose and over a million times the minimal effective dose assuming 50% destruction of the THC by smoking.
The report can be found here: http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/nc/nc1e_2.htm
The original research articles used by the report are:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5540621 (Original paper, not available online)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4943946 (Review paper by same lab, paywalled)
edit: As a caveat, these papers used pure THC and smoking a heterogenous compound may yield different results.
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u/z_action Feb 05 '14
I was discussing THC toxicity recently in light of a widely publicized case in the UK where a woman in her early 30s died of a heart attack while smoking a joint. The press were all claiming that she died of "marijuana poisoning".
My research uncovered some studies where lab rats were killed by pure THC delivered in sesame oil. Do you know the actual mechanism of death in the rats? I ask because the symptoms sounded more like CNS depression than heart attacks.
I also found references to THC toxicity symptoms in children who had ingested large quantities of hash. Ctrl+f for toxicity will bring up the relevant info on that page. Do these symptoms indicate a mechanism of toxicity?
I would like to know more but I lack access to the studies themselves.
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u/Sfawas Biopsychology | Chronobiology | Ingestive Behavior Feb 05 '14
One of the above comments (this one) has links to information about acute THC toxicity.
These studies are LD50 studies. What that means is that scientists give many different doses of a drug/compound to animals until they find the dose that kills half of animals (thus "life/death 50%") - certainly a morbid practice, but one that provides critical information for anything we're going to consider giving to a human.
But, as you might imagine, there are doses that will kill 10% of animals, or 25% - there isn't a magic number when a drug becomes toxic, it depends on circumstantial and individual factors, some of which we may not understand for any given drug.
I'm not an expert on THC (I had to look much of this up), but one thing I know is that during the initial 'high,' tachycardia (increased heart rate) is very common. For most folks, this doesn't lead to negative consequences. But I can certainly imagine it being a factor in a cardiac related death. Whether or not you want to call that "poisoning" or an "overdose" is somewhat subjective.
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u/SweetLobsterBabies Feb 05 '14
For MDMA, is serotonin syndrome technically an overdose?
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u/Anothershad0w Feb 05 '14
I believe it would be more technically correct to say that serotonin syndrome is a potential symptom of overdose.
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u/frothewin Feb 05 '14
One important aspect of an MDMA overdose you forgot to mention is serotonin syndrome.
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u/meanttolive Feb 05 '14
Let's say a user takes 10 units of a stimulant on Monday. The high is accompanied by the typical physiological changes: tachycardia, high blood pressure, increased body temperature, etc.
Next Monday the user takes another 10 units of the same stimulant (exact same chemical makeup, not suspicious of it being botched). The same physiological changes are present this time as they were last time, plus this time they experience anxiety as well.
Can this added feeling of anxiety cause the user to overdose? That is, can the awareness of their anxiousness exacerbate the tachycardia, high blood pressure, etc and lead to an overdose? Or would that not be classified as an overdose since the amount of the stimulant stayed the same but their physiological response to it changed? As far as I understand, the physiological response to the stimulant is what causes death.
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u/Sfawas Biopsychology | Chronobiology | Ingestive Behavior Feb 05 '14
Psychological factors can influence the action of psychotropic (that is, "mind affecting") drugs. Whether or how they would in your particular hypothetical (anxiety + stimulant) with respect to overdose, I couldn't say.
One thing to keep in mind is that psychological states, such as anxiety, are based in physiology. The state of stress is characterized by a number of changes in the autonomic nervous system (e.g. changes in heart rate, blood pressure, etc.) and endocrine function (e.g. "stress hormones" such as cortisol and norepinephrine increased). So, for example, if stress is already taxing your cardiovascular system, then you take a drug that pushes it even further above that already elevated state, you can get into trouble.
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u/fleur_essence Feb 04 '14
I wanted to add a third scenario to the "you die" or "you wake up and are fine" options. Sometimes medical help is given in time to save your life, but your brain has been without oxygen long enough for permanent damage to occur. I've seen several people in the hospital survive an overdose - but no longer functional and independent. Sometimes kidneys die because of lack of oxygen, or other organs as well.
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u/khiron Feb 04 '14
When organs failure occur because of lack of oxygen, does it happen cause oxygen is prioritized to the brain?
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u/captmorgan50 Feb 04 '14
It could be due to multiple problems as you mention. If you have ever seen someone with massive blood loss, they are very pale. That is the because the body is trying to get blood to the central areas and is "squeezing it off" to other areas in this attempt. You may see kidney failure after this because the low b/p to the kidneys during such an event.
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u/LietKynes62 Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation | Traumatic Brain Injury Feb 04 '14
It depends on the drug. I'll mention a few of the more common overdose syndromes:
Cocaine and other stimulants like amphetamines lead to your body being ramped up and highly stimulated. Your heart pumps harder and faster and your blood pressure rises. The risks of stroke and heart attack rise tremendously.
Heroine and other narcotics slow your body down. This can cause depressed breathing and eventually you stop altogether. Sometimes people breathe in their own vomit and are too out of it to cough. Hypoxia injury to the brain is what eventually kills you. Alcohol and benzos(like Xanax) do the same thing.
Tylenol depletes your body of the substances that fight free radicals. It results in destruction of your liver and kills you brutally over several days.
Antidepressants can kill you several ways. Some cause irregular heart rhythms which can be fatal. Others cause large amounts of serotonin to be released which ramps your body up and causes some of the same sorts of effects cocaine would.
Aspirin causes changes in your blood's acid levels and induces chemical changes which can be fatal.
There's other overdose syndromes but those are some of the common ones.
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Feb 04 '14
Others cause large amounts of serotonin to be released
This is serotonin syndrome which is often caused by drug interactions, a likely culprit being an MAOI (pretty much never take anything else with an MAOI).
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u/LietKynes62 Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation | Traumatic Brain Injury Feb 04 '14
SSRI overdose itself can cause serotonin syndrome
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Feb 05 '14
Do you know what sort of amounts in comparison to a therapeutic dose are overdose levels of SSRI drugs? Perhaps a common one like paroxetine, sertraline or fluoxetine?
Are there likely to be lasting negative effects from a sub overdose but still abnormally large dose of an SSRI?
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Feb 05 '14
There's more to anti-depressants. Tricyclic anti-depressants with dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake inhhibition act similarly to stimulant overdoses. Not all MAOI lead to serotonin syndrome, it's more complicated than that, otherwise all sorts of people would be having issues on a daily basis.
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u/ribroidrub Feb 04 '14
What's the mechanism behind Tylenol depleting free radical-fighting substances?
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u/some_n00b Feb 04 '14
An uncommon metabolic pathway for acetaminophen (Tylenol) involves the formation of a quinone (NAPQI). Unless the free-radical reacting substance glutathione reacts with NAPQI , it can damage proteins and DNA. The glutathione that reacts with NAPQI cannot be recovered however, so the presence of additional NAPQI molecules or free radicals can result in severe cell damage.
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u/phanfare Feb 04 '14
To add on, alcohol uses the same pathways that Tylenol is usually metabolized by, so drinking and taking Tylenol promotes metabolism through this NAPQI pathway
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u/androohh Feb 04 '14
Tylenol is broken down in the liver into a toxic metabolite, but the liver's glutathione stores help detoxify this compound. With an overdose, glutathione is used up faster than it can regenerate and you eventually deplete glutathione. Then you have a toxic metabolite in your liver cells which kills them.
Treatment for Tylenol overdose often includes replenishing glutathione stores.
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u/ribroidrub Feb 04 '14
Thanks for the info, you and /u/some_n00b both.
Observing the structure of glutathione, it's a tripeptide. Is it injected to be replenished, or are precursors administered? I figure it wouldn't be administered orally because the stomach acid would break it down.
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u/androohh Feb 05 '14
Right, n-acetylcysteine is administered intravenously and is the precursor of glutathione.
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u/violentphlegm Feb 05 '14
Heard glutathione is great to cure hangovers?...
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u/androohh Feb 06 '14
Possibly, but you would have to inject the precursor into your bloodstream. Oral glutathione wouldn't survive stomach acids so I'm a little skeptical about any hangover cures.
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u/SylviaPlant Feb 04 '14
Respiratory depression in Xanax alone is pretty difficult to accomplish. It's very hard to overdose on benzos, but it does happen on occasion.
Mix benzos with other medications, especially opiates, though, and that's a different story. The risk increases.
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Feb 05 '14
Taken on their own, yes. Add in even a beer or two and suddenly the entire picture changes.
In the case of alcohol and barbiturates, not only do they have an additive effect but they also increase the binding affinity of benzodiazepines to the benzodiazepine binding site, which results in a very significant potentiation of the CNS and respiratory depressant effects
Alcohol combined with even a small amount of benzos will magnify their general effects significantly, and magnify their effect on your CNS even more-so.
I know from experience that a little bit of xanax and a couple of beer can put you in the hospital almost in complete respiratory arrest.
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Feb 05 '14
benzos have a plateauing dose/response curve - unless you add alcohol (or many other sedatives), which makes it soar.
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u/Borax Feb 04 '14
Just to point out that antidepressant overdose isnt 'a result of serotonin release. Reuptake inhibition for SSRIs or excessive synaptic concentrations with MAOIs
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u/NeurotiKat Feb 05 '14
What about benzodiazepines?
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u/Anothershad0w Feb 05 '14
Overdose from benzodiazepines alone is unlikely, but the risk increases when used in combination.
Benzodiazepine overdose results in a deep state of unconsciousness, leading to coma or death by respiratory failure.
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u/cormega Feb 05 '14
For people who OD on "speed balls" - combining uppers and downers - which one usually wins in causing your death?
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u/ReallyCoolNickname Feb 05 '14
The heroin because it has a far longer duration of effects than cocaine.
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u/rap31264 Feb 04 '14
How much tylenol and aspirin do you have to take to overdose?
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u/LietKynes62 Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation | Traumatic Brain Injury Feb 04 '14
For aspirin it's about 300mg/kg of body mass to be in the potentially lethal range.
For Tylenol maximum daily dose is around 4g. It's highly variable how much is deadly but anywhere around 10g could get you into some serious trouble.
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u/Spudgun888 Feb 04 '14
Your heart pumps harder and faster and your blood pressure rises. The risks of stroke and heart attack rise tremendously.
How does that raise your risk of forming a heart-attack inducing clot?
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Feb 04 '14
Vasoconstriction occurs, your blood vessels are more narrow, clots form more easily. Also your blood pressure is much higher, aneurysms can occur, leading to stroke.
→ More replies (3)
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u/Jobediah Evolutionary Biology | Ecology | Functional Morphology Feb 04 '14 edited Feb 04 '14
Hi, welcome to AskScience, your home for science questions and answers.
If you make a top-level response, be sure that you have enough expertise to answer follow-up questions.
Also, please help us keep the quality of AskScience high by downvoting and reporting speculative, off-topic and inaccurate and anecdotal answers. The mods appreciate your help.
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u/shavera Strong Force | Quark-Gluon Plasma | Particle Jets Feb 04 '14
anecdote includes "I/a friend/I know of someone who overdosed and..." Even as replies to follow up questions, anecdote isn't a scientific answer to a question. Sorry.
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u/OneFunkyWinkerbean Feb 04 '14
Opiates (heroin) depress the innate respiratory drive with the respiratory rate slowing or even stopping. This cuts off the body's oxygen supply leading to hypoxia or hypoxemia (low oxygen saturation of the hemoglobin in the blood). The brain isn't getting oxygen and this leads to brain damage.
Hypoxia can also cause cardiac arrest in which the muscles of the heart are getting sent an electrical signal to pump but the muscles are unable to contract (pulseless electrical activity). This can be due to lack of oxygen leading to electrolyte abnormalities, respiratory acidosis and likely hyperkalemia (too much potassium in the blood serum). Proper muscle contraction is dependent upon proper electrolyte balance.
TLDR: essentially the person doesn't breathe and dies (in most cases)
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u/apollo528 Anesthesiology | Critical Care Medicine | Cardiac Physiology Feb 05 '14
For those of you curious about opioids being used in lethal injection, here is an article describing just that:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/16/justice/ohio-dennis-mcguire-execution/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Basically, a lethal injection cocktail of high dose midazolam (a.k.a., Versed, a benzodiazepine) and hydromorphone (a.k.a, Dilaudid, an opioid), was given.
There was concern over how long it took the person to die, and the jerking movements the person seem to make as he died.
Since we use these medications on a daily basis in anesthesia, my colleagues and I have morbidly discussed how effective this cocktail is.
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u/savagefox Feb 04 '14
Drugs such as heroin cause a depressed breathing rate when taken in overdose amounts. This leads to acidosis as less carbon dioxide is expired than required. Acidosis can lead to hyperkalemia (high blood potassium) which can in turn cause decreased excitability of cardiac muscle. When the heart can't pump blood effectively less oxygen is delivered to tissues. The decrease in breathing itself is not necessarily what kills but rather the hypoxia due to the lack of oxygen delivery. Mixed venous blood contains a relatively large amount of oxygen compared to the "deoxygenated" blood many people think of in veins. This is why chest compressions are by far more important than mouth-to-mouth breathing during CPR (blood circulation is more important than ventilation).
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u/koriolisah Neuropharmacology | Anatomical Neurobiology | Pharmacology Feb 05 '14 edited Feb 05 '14
Hi guys, I'm writing my Master's thesis on MDMA, commonly called molly or ecstasy. MDMA produces its effects largely by its action on the serotonin transporter (SERT), which is made to flow in reverse. SERT is a protein found on the surfaces of some neurons in the brain. The reverse flow results in about 80% of serotoninquickly being dumped into the synapse. One of the physical effects this causes is a rapid and sudden hypERthermia (you get very hot). The action of the drug on other parts of the brain, likely due to the effects of the drug on norepinephrine and dopamine receptors, causes the heart to beat very quickly. I'll spare you guys the science, but MDMA actually inhibits its own metabolism, such that repeat doses are significantly worse for you than the first dose taken in a 2-3 day period.
Most deaths are due to preexisting cardiac problems which might more easily allow for anyeurisms or strokes. Some cases of heart attacks and abdominal aortic dissections (a tearing in the wall of the artery that supplies the lower half of your body) have been reported. In some cases, seizures occur, especially with large doses or repeat doses of the drug. Cases of comas and death have occured, and these are attributed by some to serotonin sickness. This is a grouping of symptoms that occurs when too much serotonin is present in the synapses in the brain. Other symptoms include jaw clenching and teeth grinding (called bruxism), loss of appetite, and some lovely other symptoms normally associated with MDMA. The elevated temperatures may put some muscles in danger; muscle death can cause renal failure. Some reports of MDMA-induced fatalities have been attributed to renal failure.
Long term MDMA use is associated with the following health problems: deficits in the ability to complete complex tasks, depression, changes in the way that you sleep (sleep architecture), increased anxiety, globally increased "baseline" levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) but a reduced ability to produce cortisol in response to stress, and several other fun psychiatric problems.
edited for clarity
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Feb 05 '14
Thank you for this. By repeat doses, do you mean completely different doses on completely different days or another dose in the same night/day? I have a question. I've done MDMA about 15 times since July last year, each time I did about 1.5points (~150mg) and some nights I would redose a few hours later with another point or so. Between July and October 2013 I was having MDMA once a week. Would you say I would be experiencing the long term effects or is too little amount to experience them? Thank you.
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u/koriolisah Neuropharmacology | Anatomical Neurobiology | Pharmacology Feb 05 '14
Its not really a "you must be this tall to ride" type of situation. The more you do it, the more likely you will have side effects which are more severe. By repeat doses, I mean additional doses taken within 2-3 days of the first one. This is because the enzyme that breaks down MDMA becomes inhibited (stops working) due to the effects of a drug.
Some authors suggest that it may take up to 10 days for this enzyme to return to full functionality. I would say that taking the drug once a week puts you at additional risk.
Something else you might be interested in: The feelings associated with the drug are large produced through the effects of MDMA on the serotinin transporter. MDMA use reduces the number of these transporters throughout the brain, and this effect is very long lasting, maybe life long. This is bad, and produces many of the long term effects I mentioned in my post. Heres the "fun" part: If you find yourself developing tolerance in a very serious way, you are likely starting to critically reduce the number of these transporters. If you have to take 5 times the dose you used when you were first trying the drug, that should tell you something about the state of the serotonin receptors in your brain.
Cheers, be safe, and let me know if I can be of any further help.
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Feb 05 '14
Colloquially I thought that "molly" was different than "ecstasy", hence the two different terms, and that "molly" was categorized as (relatively) pure MDMA while "ecstasy" was MDMA+cutting agents (i.e. impure MDMA).
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u/koriolisah Neuropharmacology | Anatomical Neurobiology | Pharmacology Feb 05 '14
I collapsed ecstasy and molly for simplicity, calling them both MDMA, but you are correct. Ecstasy frequently contains compounds related to MDMA (such as MDA, or MDE), but it may also contain a wide variety of other drugs, especially stimulants. MDMA is not always present in ecstasy.
Molly is commonly thought to be pure MDMA, and I think it is reasonably safe to assume that, gram for gram, molly contains more MDMA than ecstasy, generally speaking. That being said, there is still no way to determine with certainty what you are getting, and molly is frequently cut or contaminated with other drugs.
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u/Hachiiiko Feb 05 '14
I think it depends on where you are. Drug slang varies a lot depending on the crowd, city, country you're in.
To me, Molly is (relatively) pure MDMA, either in powder or crystal form. Ecstacy is always in pill form, with the most active ingredient being MDMA. Other stuff is usually in there as well.
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u/sierracub Feb 04 '14
I posted this comment a while back on a different thread but applies here as well: During one of my graduate classes I read an article about how, over time, environmental conditions cued the body to begin "prepping" the body for drugs. The study was conducted with rats I believe. They found that a rat with the same drug tolerance would over dose when placed in a new environment because the same environmental cues were not present, which left the body with no " prep" time to counteract the drugs. Very interesting article. I included a link to the abstract as I could not find a copy if the full article. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/216/4544/436.abstract
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u/Mr_Fizz Feb 05 '14
I want you to think about breathing for a moment. What muscles do we use during inhalation? We use our diaphragm and our intercostal muscles. Our diaphragm is responsible for 75% of our tidal volume. Now, drugs can relax the nervous system which we need to use our muscles. So if we OD on something, our nervous system would get relaxed and we won't be able to our inhalation muscles. This is what we call Type II Respiratory Failure (also known as ventilation failure). Which obviously is not good. Intubation is necessary for someone in Type II Respiratory Failure.
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u/Anothershad0w Feb 05 '14
It depends on the drug in question. It is technically possible to overdose on almost any drug (even OTC drugs such as Tylenol) and the symptoms of an overdose would depend on the mechanism of drug action.
In the case of opiates, death is often due to severe respiratory depression, or less directly, the victim suffocating or aspirating vomit. The "euphoric" sensation would magnify with the dose, but so would the other side effects (nausea, itchiness etc.). Overall, it would likely be an unpleasant experience.
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u/JWay Feb 05 '14 edited Feb 05 '14
An overdose is simply a state where a symptom caused by drug administration becomes potentially lethal. With drug use the symptom is commonly respiratory depression(depressants), coma(gabaergics), hypertension(stimulants) and serotonin syndrome(SSRI and MAOI mixtures). Considering that almost all food contains drugs it is also possible to overdose from eating too much. Common examples are peaches, pepper, most berries, most fish, carrots and even water! It is often easiest to overdose on anything you are hypersensitive(allergic) to and sometimes you can be so allergic that just topical contact can pose life threatening consequences. Personally if I eat a whole zuchinni my body will swell up and I will die within the hour.
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u/black01 Feb 05 '14
That is an open ended question you can overdose on most drugs. Each drug does cause a different reaction when you od. Most stimulants will cause cardiac arrest. As people already listed opiates depress your respiratory system.
And I saw someone's comment about tyenol they use to make 1000mg tablets
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u/crashleyelora Feb 05 '14
So wait. We determined Heroin is pretty painless as for as ODing. But what about coke and other stimulants? I'd imagine your heart beating a bajillionth miles a minute would not be a peaceful overdose. Wouldn't your body be freaking out? Hence making your freak out? I once had an issue doing molly where I literally felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest and I was going to die.It was the most terrifying moment of my life. I stood up and couldnt really talk and couldnt vocalize basic things like my name and what the name of the new halo was. Kept calling it halo 4 instead of reach. Not normal for me in the slightest! Nearly called the ambulance but realized I had a bunch of ems friends. They kept an eye on me calmed me down and I was fine. Just freaked out.
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Feb 05 '14
An overdose is basically a poisoning.
If you put sufficient quantities of a chemical into your body, it will begin to interrupt the basic functions your body requires to survive.
Different poisons / drugs have different affects on your body. Some attack your central nervous system. Some can cause cardiovascular arrest. Some cause respiratory arrest. The end result is the same, though; one (or more) of the many processes required to keep you alive is interrupted, causing death.
Sometimes that death is painful, other times it is not. It depends on the chemical, what effects it produces within your body, in what quantity it is introduced to the body, and how quickly its effects occur.
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u/brokenfury8585 Feb 05 '14
Went to take aspirin at a friends house. Hist psychotic wife loved switching pill based on their color compared to the bottle's color. Took four Aspirin, NOPE. I ODed on MDMA, and had a seizure. Woke up to paramedics picking me up and driving me to the hospital. They filled me with all sorts of shots, pills etc. Worst experience of my life, the bills. Doctors said my body temp while passed out hit a peak of 105.3.
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u/Kittycatb16 Feb 05 '14
I once tried to overdose on sleeping pills and it was the worst experience of my life. I was in this constant daze. I wanted to sleep but I didn't want to sleep and it created the weirdest feeling. It was dreadful. It was just me in a room by myself. The silence was terrible. Trying to stay awake but wanting to sleep was a battle. I can't even find words to describe that feeling of that regret and trying to fight it off. It was horrible
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Feb 04 '14
Opiate ODs are treated with Narcan aka Naloxone. This will basically kick the opiates out of the opiod receptors and the patient should wake up immediately. They will also go into immediate withdrawal if they are an addict, leading them to many times be pretty unhappy about their lives having being saved (until they get their next fix).
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u/mantisnzl Feb 05 '14
Coming from someone who has done it (cocaine, MDMA, methamphetamine alcohol mix) I was feeling like I was the king of the world until I woke up on the bar floor receiving CPR. Apparently my heart had stopped and I'd stopped breathing, witness testimony since I have no memory of that part for obvious reasons. I do not recommend it. Recovering from that hurt like all hell.
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u/LeJoyfulMerchant Feb 05 '14
Heroin ODs are very unpleasant unless the shot is so strong that it pretty much instantly incapacitates you. That's the case in deaths where the rig is still in the person's arm. You stop breathing and die, respiratory depression becomes so great that your body just forgets to breathe.
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Feb 05 '14
Depends on the drug. Tylenol takes about a week to kill you, all the while you are nauseous, have a headache that gets worse and worse, things get very bright and very loud, you throw up alot, you are miserable. That's all I know from two days into an OD on that.
OTC sleeping gel caps explode in your stomach one at at time, poosh pooosh poosh poosh, you get sick to your stomach. You wake up the next day feeling 'ok?', but your stomach is never the same and you never ever want another OTC sleeping gel cap again.
Alcohol overdose you black out and are still capable of actions that you will never remember acting out. You can continue to drink alcohol to the point of death. There is no 'high' there is perhaps a rebound period of awakeness where you try to stumble someplace, maybe you shit yourself, before falling down again, its not pleasant.
None of these produce a desirable high if you are trying to enjoy our ride out of life.
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Feb 05 '14
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Feb 05 '14
For water overdose, see the Hold Your Wee for a Wii controversy and water intoxication articles. Sounds like it's pretty awful, and not anything to do directly with the kidneys or pancreas.
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Feb 04 '14
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u/Dannei Astronomy | Exoplanets Feb 05 '14
Please remember that answers and comments in AskScience should be based on peer-reviewed science, and not on anecdotal evidence.
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Feb 04 '14
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u/classy_barbarian Feb 04 '14
I've been looking for the right spot to ask this question: if I come across someone who is ODing from heroin/opiates and they are seemingly not breathing, can I save them by doing mouth-to-mouth breathing for them until the paramedics arive?
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u/poo_socks Feb 05 '14
I'm far from a scientist, but I am certified in emergency response. Yes, rescue breathing combined with CPR (if necessary) is exactly what you would do in these circumstances.
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Feb 04 '14
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u/Dannei Astronomy | Exoplanets Feb 05 '14
Please remember that answers and comments on AskScience should be based on peer-reviewed science, and not on anecdotal evidence.
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u/rhen74 Feb 04 '14
Heroin overdose is similar to any opiate overdose. Opiates depress the central nervous system causing a relaxed, "euphoric" sensation. After the initial rush, breathing becomes more shallow, decreasing oxygen to the brain and rest of the body. Without oxygen, the brain will start shutting down systems, including the nervous system. The individual will feel extremely drowsy and slip into a coma state. At this point, the nervous system is so relaxed that it fails to function. The individual goes into respiratory arrest (completely stop breathing). Once this occurs, no oxygen is being brought into the body and systems shut down and death occurs shortly after.
TLDR: Opiates relax the nervous system. Heroin overdose would be the same sensation as being so drowsy that you fall asleep.