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An opioid overdose is toxicity due to excessive consumption of opioids, such as morphine, codeine, heroin, fentanyl, tramadol, and methadone. [3] [5] This preventable pathology can be fatal if it leads to respiratory depression, a lethal condition that can cause hypoxia from slow and shallow breathing. [3]
Special consideration must be taken in individuals with opioid dependency as naloxone administration can induce severe opioid withdrawal, hence the recommended starting doses above. [20] Goal of naloxone therapy is to restore respiratory drive in the individual, however mechanical ventilation may still be necessary during initial resuscitation.
By definition it causes an increased concentration of carbon dioxide (hypercapnia) and respiratory acidosis. Hypoventilation is not synonymous with respiratory arrest, in which breathing ceases entirely and death occurs within minutes due to hypoxia and leads rapidly into complete anoxia, although both are medical emergencies. Hypoventilation ...
Hypoxia can be due to external causes, when the breathing gas is hypoxic, or internal causes, such as reduced effectiveness of gas transfer in the lungs, reduced capacity of the blood to carry oxygen, compromised general or local perfusion, or inability of the affected tissues to extract oxygen from, or metabolically process, an adequate supply ...
Opioids were the most common substance contributing to the poisoning deaths of children ages 5 and younger, according to a new study. The research, published Wednesday in the journal Pediatrics ...
Chest wall. Wooden chest syndrome is a rigidity of the chest following the administration of high doses of opioids during anesthesia [1]. [1]Wooden chest syndrome describes marked muscle rigidity — especially involving the thoracic and abdominal muscles — that is an occasional adverse effect associated with the intravenous administration of lipophilic synthetic opioids such as fentanyl [2].
The opioid epidemic took hold in the U.S. in the 1990s. Percocet, OxyContin and Opana became commonplace wherever chronic pain met a chronic lack of access to quality health care, especially in Appalachia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls the prescription opioid epidemic the worst of its kind in U.S. history.
The majority of drug-related deaths involve misuse of heroin or other opioids in combination with benzodiazepines or other CNS depressant drugs. In most cases of fatal overdose it is likely that lack of opioid tolerance combined with the depressant effects of benzodiazepines is the cause of death.