Opioid overdose
| Opioid overdose | |
|---|---|
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| A naloxone kit as distributed in British Columbia, Canada | |
| Classification and external resources | |
| Specialty | emergency medicine |
| ICD-10 | F11.0, T40.0-T40.2 |
| ICD-9-CM | 305.5, 965.0 |
| eMedicine | emerg/330 |
Opioid overdose is an acute condition due to excessive opioids. Examples of opioids are: morphine, heroin, tramadol, oxycodone, and methadone. It differs from opioid dependency. Although opioid overdose does not constitute a majority of the overdoses seen in the emergency department it is important to rule out in people given its potential for mortality and the ease of reversal. Dependence on prescription opioids can stem from treatment of chronic pain and in recent years is the cause of the increased number of opioid overdoses.
Initial treatment involves supporting the persons breathing and providing oxygen.Naloxone is then recommended among those who are not breathing.
Opioid use disorders resulted in 51,000 worldwide deaths in 2013 up from 18,000 deaths in 1990. Prescription opioid overdose was responsible for more deaths in the United States from 1999-2008 than heroin and cocaine overdose combined. Overdose deaths from heroin have almost increased 5 times from 2001 to 2013 in the United States. In 2015, in the United States about 20,100 deaths resulted from prescription opioids and 13,000 from heroin.
Opioids, because of their effect on the part of the brain that regulates breathing, can during overdoses lead to the person not breathing (respiratory depression) and therefore result in death. Opiate overdose symptoms and signs can be referred to as the "opioid overdose triad": decreased level of consciousness, pinpoint pupils and respiratory depression. Other symptoms include seizures and muscle spasms. Sometimes a person experiencing an opiate overdose can lead to such a decreased level of consciousness that he or she won't even wake up to their name being called or being shaken by another person.
Prolonged hypoxia from respiratory depression can also lead to detrimental damage to the brain and spinal cord and can leave the person unable to walk or function normally, even if treatment with naloxone is given.
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