heroin overdose

And is called acute intoxication due to drugs.

This acute poisoning seen in general in the addict who injects an overdose, but also in the transport of drugs "in corpore"

- Either by ingestion of bags during the arrest of the dealer,

- Either by breaking intrarectaux bags or intravaginal.

SYMPTOMS

Acute poisoning based drug morphine or morphine-mimetic is characterized by:

- Impairment of consciousness, coma, reflecting cerebral anoxia (not enough oxygen reaches the brain);

- A very tight miosis: the pupil is very small pinhead;

- Respiratory depression with bradypnea (slow breathing which results in a decrease the amount of oxygen carried by the blood and an increase in carbon dioxide);

- Apnea (breathing) can occur at any time with the risk of cardiac arrest;

- We need to know more than acute pulmonary edema can occur 24 to 48 hours after taking an overdose.

TREATMENT

It is based on word of mouth, or better, the manual insufflation device connected to an oxygen source. In case of severe respiratory depression, controlled ventilation after tracheal intubation is required. The patient will be transferred to the ICU for monitoring.

Intravenous injection or infusion of naloxone (Nalone) quickly corrects respiratory depression due to heroin.

The intramuscular injection can be made in cases of venous problems, but the effect is longer to manifest.

Finally, be aware that the concomitant use of alcohol may cause a dangerous hypoglycemia (collapse of the sugar levels in the blood).