For people with addictions to drugs like stimulants or cannabis, no medications are currently available to assist in treatment, so treatment consists of behavioral therapies. Treatment should be tailored to address each patient’s drug use patterns and drug-related medical, mental, and social problems. Like treatment for other chronic diseases such as heart disease or asthma, addiction treatment is not a cure, but a way of managing the condition. Treatment enables people to counteract addiction’s disruptive effects on their brain and behavior and regain control of their lives. And if you or someone you know has experienced a drug overdose, this may indicate the presence of a substance addiction.

Although many drug overdoses involve the use of illegal drugs, it is also possible to overdose on prescription medication. Many doctors prescribe opioid medications for pain management. These medications carry a high risk of addiction and overdose, especially if taken outside a doctor’s directions. This can include taking any amount of someone else’s medication or more than the doctor prescribed. Prevention strategies mainly focus on harm reduction, evidence-based treatments, and recovery support. Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) is a cooperative agreement that provides funding to 90 health departments under two distinct OD2A programs (State and LOCAL) to reduce drug overdoses and related harms.

Alternatively, if they have lost consciousness, an individual can place them in the recovery position. Even after administering this medication, it is crucial to take anyone experiencing an drug overdose: definition, treatment, prevention, and more opioid overdose to the emergency room. Combining different drugs can cause a particularly dangerous overdose.

Online Therapy Can Help

When too much of a substance is in your system, your body’s normal functions can be disrupted. Let’s explore what a drug overdose is and the steps you can take to get help. People with certain mental illnesses need the help of family and friends to assist with medication therapy and to lend social support. Drug abusers also need this same support in order to stay clean and safe. Treatment will be dictated by the specific drug taken in the overdose. Information provided about amount, time, and underlying medical problems will be very helpful.

An adult (especially elderly persons or people taking many medications) can mistakenly ingest the incorrect medication or take the wrong dose of a medication. Purposeful overdoses are for a desired effect, either to get high or to harm oneself. Overdoses of drugs or chemicals can be either accidental or intentional. Drug overdoses occur when a person takes more than the medically recommended dose of a prescription or over-the-counter drug. However, some people may be more sensitive to certain medications so that the high end of the therapeutic range of a drug may be toxic for them.

Overdose Prevention with White Oak Recovery Center

BetterHelp can connect you to an addiction and mental health counselor. This includes continuous monitoring of vital signs, supportive care, and treatment of any complications that arise. In cases of respiratory failure, mechanical ventilation may be necessary. Once a person is stabilized, the detoxification process begins. This process aims to remove the toxic substance from the body and mitigate its harmful effects.

Drug Overdose Prevention: Accidental and Intentional Overdoses

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. When someone arrives at the emergency room (ER) with a suspected drug overdose, their healthcare provider’s immediate priority is to stabilize their condition.

What is overdose prevention?

Some insurance companies may not give money if someone dies by suicide. This might mean that intentional overdoses are not always reported accurately, according to experts. The CDC states that over 70% of all types of overdoses involve some form of opioid. Another factor that raises the risk of overdose is relapsing after a period of sobriety. Knowing how to prevent an overdose and recognize its symptoms is important to save a life.

Intentional Overdose Prevention

OD2A focuses on understanding and tracking the complex and changing nature of the drug overdose crisis by seamlessly integrating data and prevention strategies. This is because they are central nervous system (CNS) depressants, which slow down brain activity. Taking a toxic dose of a CNS depressant is what leads to stopped breathing, coma, and death.

Taking too many pills may lead to an overdose in some people. Symptoms of a drug overdose may include breathing difficulties, changes in heart rate or body temperature, seizure, stroke, and more. The drug naloxone (Narcan) can also help treat an opioid overdose by blocking opioids’ effects in the body.

• 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.
• Learn about the various drug overdose treatments available and what to do if someone you know overdoses on drugs.
• Behavioral therapies can also enhance the effectiveness of medications and help people remain in treatment longer.
• If you have any questions about drug overdose or how to help a loved one who is struggling with drug addiction, please contact us at any time.
• Intentional overdoses can be a cry for help or a suicide attempt.

Evidence Based

• If people stop following their medical treatment plan, they are likely to relapse.
• That means a patient must adhere to all doctor’s instructions and make necessary lifestyle adjustments.
• GDG members were selected by WHO technical staff based on their technical expertise, their role as end-users (e.g., programme managers and healthcare providers), and their representation of affected communities.
• Each person responds differently, and reactions are hard to predict.

Large overdoses of some medications cause only minimal effects, while smaller overdoses of other medications can cause severe effects, possibly death. A single dose of some medications can be lethal to a young child. For example, an asthma attack or chest pains may be triggered.

With the right care and prevention strategies, it is possible to treat drug overdoses or prevent them altogether. One way CDC is working to address drug overdoses is to advance overdose prevention in communities across the country. There were two funding announcements made available in 2023 for city, county, state, and territorial health departments known as the Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) cooperative agreements. These funding opportunities support innovation, expand prevention strategies, link people to life-saving care, and make the latest data available to help get ahead of the constantly evolving epidemic.

Many fatal overdoses across the country could have been prevented if an onlooker had called 911 to get the person emergency medical care. But many people don’t call out of fear of legal repercussions related to drug possession. Even if someone recovers from a drug overdose, there can still be long term effects that may affect them for the rest of their lives. Drug overdoses are a serious health issue and a risk for anyone who uses drugs – whether by prescription or recreationally. It’s critical to understand what a drug overdose is, why it occurs and what happens in the body when someone overdoses.