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West Point Football players OD on Fentanyl-laced cocaine on SB in Florida


crash_davis

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As for the original article, it explicitly states "were hospitalized after overdosing on fentanyl-laced cocaine... the other two became exposed to it while performing mouth-to-mouth on their friends. Paramedics who responded to the scene at a vacation home used opioid-overdose-reversing drug naloxone - also known as Narcan - on the patients. Two men were rushed to the hospital in critical condition and had to be intubated."
All of this points to respiratory arrest from a fentanyl OD. If respiratory arrest remains without any treatment, cardiac arrest will occur within minutes of hypoxemia (low oxygen), hypercapnia(high CO2), or both.

He is right, The main and VERY significant concern of an opiod overdose is respiratory arrest as all opioids are respiratory depressants varying in strength, you have about 90 seconds after the opioid has slowed your breathing to the point that it ceases to the point your heart does some pretty bad stuff, mostly irreversible. That is all Narcan is really for they’re only try by to reverse the respiratory depression/arrest so the person starts breathing again which is the only truly immediate emergency. When respiratory arrest turns into cardiac arrest it’s pretty much game over unless there is help close by and even then it can be a coin flip Narcan really does save lives the only issue is the very short half life, if they don’t go to the hospital after it wears off, the opioid kicks back in and you can go right back to where you started.

Not a Med professional just a 20 year fireman, lots of experience with this
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Also there is something similar to Narcan for Benzodiazepines(Xanax, Valium, Ativan etc) called Romazicon which is not used anywhere near as often as NarCan and I’ve never seen it used in the field, Benzos in any sane amount are not remotely on the level of respiratory depressants as Opiods. Also, you don’t want to send someone who is chemically addicted to Benzos into immediate withdrawals, can cause seizures and death.

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2 hours ago, BrickTop said:

Also there is something similar to Narcan for Benzodiazepines(Xanax, Valium, Ativan etc) called Romazicon which is not used anywhere near as often as NarCan and I’ve never seen it used in the field, Benzos in any sane amount are not remotely on the level of respiratory depressants as Opiods. Also, you don’t want to send someone who is chemically addicted to Benzos into immediate withdrawals, can cause seizures and death.

That I was not aware of.  I mostly encounter benzo fiends that use them as an alcohol adjunct or substitute.  Don't think I've ever heard of an od, though.  I do know the withdrawal is vicious.

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That I was not aware of.  I mostly encounter benzo fiends that use them as an alcohol adjunct or substitute.  Don't think I've ever heard of an od, though.  I do know the withdrawal is vicious.

Always knew it was pretty rough stuff but until I had a buddy who’d been on it for ten years try to cold turkey and ended up with seizures and almost died, I really researched it’s Benzos and alcohol, the two vices you cannot just quit and power through, or maybe you can but the threat of death is very much there. And yea Benzos are pretty hard to Od on you take too much you fall asleep and the respiratory depression just isn’t there unless you go the poly pharmacy route
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When I first got into this I worked in an ER I’ve seen alcoholics walking around with a BAC of 2.0 and over that’s their normal every day baseline. Their med issues start when they can’t maintain and their BAC drops off threat baseline I’ve seen more than 1 hospital that had liquor on hand to treat DT and alcohol withdrawals, funny enough without that the treatment involves Benzos

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6 minutes ago, BrickTop said:

When I first got into this I worked in an ER I’ve seen alcoholics walking around with a BAC of 2.0 and over that’s their normal every day baseline. Their med issues start when they can’t maintain and their BAC drops off threat baseline I’ve seen more than 1 hospital that had liquor on hand to treat DT and alcohol withdrawals, funny enough without that the treatment involves Benzos

Yeah, I have known more than a few people that reported their own and their doctor's astonishment that they were toting around a massive BAC at 10AM in the doctor's office.  And yeah, librium during detox has always struck me as a little ironic.

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