Signs of An Overdose: Recognizing What to Do Next

• Severely cognitive functions
• Significant confusion
• Slurred speech
• Slowed, shallow, or labored breathing
• Respiratory arrest
• Coma
• Extreme drowsiness
• Loss of coordination
• Somnolence (extreme sleepiness or prolonged periods of sleep)
• Diplopia (double vision)
• Anterograde amnesia (inability to create new memories)
• Ataxia (Lack of coordination, trouble eating and swallowing, deterioration of fine motor skills, difficulty walking, gait abnormalities, eye movement abnormalities, tremors)

• Severe pulmonary depression (gasping for air or shallow breathing)
• Discoloration of fingertips and lips (blue tinge)
• Extreme drowsiness
• Inability to stay awake
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Spasms and twitches
• Seizures
• Constipation
• Severe disorientation
• Delirium
• Altered mental state
• Hypotension (severely low blood pressure)
• Weak pulse
• Discolored tongue
• Pinpoint pupils
• Coma

A person’s tolerance could work in one of two ways. A person with a low drug or medication tolerance could potentially suffer from an unintended overdose if the particular medication happens to be quite potent. For those with a particular sensitivity to substances, even the slightest bit over the tolerable quantity could already constitute an overdose and trigger the symptoms.

Conversely, a person with a high tolerance could experience a delay in the effect of the taken drug or medication, in which case, the person might try to take more of it, or before the prescribed frequency. In this manner, the delay in effect plus the added quantity could trigger an overdose. A person’s tolerance level could also change with specific changes in behavior towards medication, such as when a person spends time in addiction treatment, in rehab, or when the medication or substance has not been taken for a long while.

The fastest way for any kind of drug or medication to get into the system is usually through intravenous routes, as this introduces the substance directly into the bloodstream. As such, it is immediately circulated where the blood goes. Depending upon the person’s reaction to the medication or substance, some people tend to need a bit more time when it comes to absorbing and processing the medication, while others need quick-acting medications.

Medication or drugs taken orally will necessarily have to go through the digestive system first before it is delivered into the bloodstream. The time spent in the digestive system could already be a time for the person to “acclimate” to the substance, which is not the case when the medication is delivered intravenously.

People with certain mental health issues are particularly at risk of an overdose due to several reasons. One reason is that many people who suffer from depression would want to take more of any substance that reduces the melancholy or misery that they feel. People who suffer from panic attacks may want to take more or any medication that calms them, and so on.

Some people with mental health issues that cause significant stress, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may take anything to reduce the distress that their condition brings, including highly toxic substances. These individuals with dual diagnoses will need PTSD and addiction treatment to help them recover from their suffering.

Reading the label and contraindication could spell the difference between being relieved and going on an overdose when it comes to medication. Many people end up in the emergency room not knowing that there was something in the medication they took that they should not be exposed to, or should not have taken under certain circumstances.

In cases where a person takes a substance illicitly, the danger lies in the actual purity of the substance being taken. It is not uncommon for many drug dealers to “cut” or mix an additive to substances they sell just to increase their supply. This is common with fentanyl addiction cases, and why so many people overdose or die, as they are unaware of what’s in the drugs that were sold to them.

Another highly dangerous practice of many people who take substances is mixing different substances just to intensify the effect. The accumulated chemicals could become highly toxic and cause severe damage to the body, even if taken in relatively small quantities. In cases where people mix alcohol and drugs, the effect is quite similar, as the combination could quickly impair the person’s reasoning abilities, causing them to lose track of how much they had already consumed, thus leading to an overdose.

In most cases, many people fail to realize that alcohol could act as a catalyst for certain substances, depending on their chemical composition. When this happens, the substance is taken changes in chemical composition and could become something highly toxic, even in small quantities. These people will have to go to an alcoholism rehab to recover.

Just like a person’s natural tolerance for certain substances, a person with a preexisting condition could be particularly sensitive to certain substances, which could cause significant effects when taken by the person with the condition. In certain instances, people with maintenance medications could suffer from an overdose because of the reaction of another substance with the chemical compounds still in their bodies because of the maintenance medication they take regularly.

In many cases, the cause of the overdose is not even anywhere near illicit use. One example is in people who take medication intended to regulate their blood pressure. Certain substances, such as energy drinks, might appear completely harmless but could be damaging when taken by people who have conditions that don’t mix well with them. Energy drinks are known to be infused with a large amount of sugar and even stimulants, such as caffeine. Depending on the quantity consumed, this could cause a person’s blood pressure to spike to levels it should not go to.

The recent pandemic and the ensuing quarantine served to increase the number of people succumbing to the lethal effects of an overdose. Most would think that those who suffered an overdose would be only those who took substances illicitly, but in reality, there were also reports of people who suffered an overdose because they were forced to use medication while in isolation. Some of these people were forced to use other medications in place of what they typically took because they could not procure more of their usual due to the quarantine.

Others had the misfortune of not knowing what they were taking, and with no one around to help them due to the quarantine, they also suffered from either an overdose or the toxicity of medication they should not have taken. This was particularly true with elderly people who did not have their usual caregivers to assist them with their usual medication.