What will an overdose shot of opiates (heroin/fent) feel like for the user?

[mathcrimes]

I think the search terms I'm using to see if this has been discussed already are too common, maybe, and that's partly why I can't find anything on this topic. Or, perhaps this is so obvious to most people that no one has been dense enough to ask this.

I'm wondering: when someone shoots a syringe filled with an excess of opiates like heroin or fentanyl, is there some amount of time when they are conscious, coherent and able to be alarmed about causing themselves to overdose? If so, what are the red flags to look for? What about being able to notify others around them (911?) or even administer themselves a dose of Narcan?

My gut feeling on this is that the way an opiate overdose works, the user won't be able to do much for themselves. I believe the first symptom the user will experience is a sudden loss of conscious awareness and, therefore, they will be blacked/blanked out before they have a chance to do anything.

Recently, at my workplace, a resident overdosed on fentanyl and her boyfriend did say that right after she did her shot, she told him that she was really nervous because she thought she did too much. (In that case, unfortunately, he blacked out on his own shot right after she told him this, and he snapped out of it a while later, to find her severely overdosing.)

Thanks for any helpful wisdom you might have…

 

[negrogesic]

It varies by type of opioid and route of administration.

With something like heroin, even IV heroin, there can sometimes be a moment when one realizes one took too much. Whether or not you can do anything about it, i'm not sure. Perhaps one could administer a naloxone nasal spray since it takes a minute or two for the full effect to unfold.

But with something like IV fentanyl that doesn't really happen. When I've had too much IV fentanyl I've just woken up on the floor after the fact. You cannot call for help or self administer naloxone in the case of IV fentanyl overdose. You are almost instantly incapacitated. I have never blacked out on even massive doses of heroin in the same way I have with fentanyl. It's a lights out, "count backwards from 100", general anesthesia type situation.

 

[ConeyIslandBaby]

What negrogesic said. I overdosed on morphine a few times, and had a definite period of being able to say 'oh no, too much' and even managed to get help before it was too late. Overdosing on IV heroin was a little more immediate but still had time for someone to help me. Fentanyl, it is just night night - a sharp black hole.

 

[plumbus-nine]

I once OD'd on oral, extended release morphine when I was already drunk and tossed a 200mg capsule (one week before I was routinely taking three of them every day). Don't remember anything, just waking up in the hospital, according to my gf did she find me with blue fingertips and shallow breathing. They thought it was just alcohol, didn't do a drug test and I'd have died if it was a fatal overdose but one appears indeed to just pass out if not expecting the OD.

 

[ConeyIslandBaby]

So glad you made it out of that one plumbus!

 

[plumbus-nine]

So glad you made it out of that one plumbus!

Thanks. I'm quite a hard head when it comes to drug dosages, I tolerated 30mg methadone without artificial tolerance or DXM+serotonergic antidepressant (again, I was lucky), guess this saved me. Was quite a slap into the face to be more careful with my drugs.

 

[TheUltimateFixx]

Usually I just passed out. But a couple times I remained conscious long enough to know I'd had too much and wse gonna go over. Even successfully narcan'd myself once and called my own ambulance.

 

[nznity]

A total black out, it doesn't hurt or anything. You either wake up athe hospital, looking at someone who narrando u or u don't wake up at all ..

 

[jsinger]

I think the search terms I'm using to see if this has been discussed already are too common, maybe, and that's partly why I can't find anything on this topic. Or, perhaps this is so obvious to most people that no one has been dense enough to ask this.

I'm wondering: when someone shoots a syringe filled with an excess of opiates like heroin or fentanyl, is there some amount of time when they are conscious, coherent and able to be alarmed about causing themselves to overdose? If so, what are the red flags to look for? What about being able to notify others around them (911?) or even administer themselves a dose of Narcan?

My gut feeling on this is that the way an opiate overdose works, the user won't be able to do much for themselves. I believe the first symptom the user will experience is a sudden loss of conscious awareness and, therefore, they will be blacked/blanked out before they have a chance to do anything.

Recently, at my workplace, a resident overdosed on fentanyl and her boyfriend did say that right after she did her shot, she told him that she was really nervous because she thought she did too much. (In that case, unfortunately, he blacked out on his own shot right after she told him this, and he snapped out of it a while later, to find her severely overdosing.)

Thanks for any helpful wisdom you might have…

This Happened to me last September and it was from Fentanyl via iv administration.
I was off heavy opiate use but remained on Suboxone and November 2018 I went to rehab all though my love for methamphetamine was really how i was able to not endure ridiculous withdrawal from heroin and ive been on/off physical opiate dependency a handful of times. Was near two years clean from methamphetamine and before that relapse I was on a sub regiment and for a year and a half did fantastic with 1/4 daily. One day it didn’t cut it and then starting chasing a buzz. Sub buzzes require increasing dosage fast and when I relapsed I was taking two a day and possibly the highest opiate tolerance ive had bc one of them did the trick as far as not getting sick when I was heaviest on boy. After the relapse back to methamphetamine my first shot was a speed Ball and the girl I was seeing at the time mixed up the amount and I told her my level so it was at just under a point which was my normal of h 5 years ago. I didnt nod or anything else and exactly why i dont know whats different about me but I hate speed balling. I dont mind one hours away from the other but same time it cancels eachother out to me. A really low opiate tolerance makes it better but after discovering my love for meth i perfer feeling it as much as possible.
I was supplying this girls habit and my own and wained off the subs and not much withdrawal either but opiate cravings returned and where I live it’s all that I can find. The second time i did it i was floored and a little more then I wanted to be but not the worst I’ve been. The should’ve been fatal shot I was at no opiate tolerance whatsoever and i didn’t even consider it. I put a sprinkle in my shot of ice and i didnt even finish pushing down the plunger and new immediately it was too much. I work at a gas station and did it in the bathroom at 630. My eyes got so fuckng heavy I could barely open them and I dumped the last ten units left in the rig and remember thinking I better tell my coworker i fucked up. Was gonna rinse my rig and next thing i remember is hearing my name being shouted and a total state of confusion. Two paramedics asking me questions and i was really agitated and couldn’t grasp the fuck was happening. They asked my age and I said 34 which was wrong bc i was 39 and increased anger bc they kept saying guess again. He asked what I was on and I said I took a vicodin. Pry 5 minutes or better it clicked and asked the ems if he narcaned me and he said he did and asked again what i was on and replied truthfully. Was forced an hour in the hospital and called my work to get my phone so I could look up my gf number. I still feel bad he witnessed that. They are afghans and don’t know shit about drug culture but do know i use. There’s a tiny gap in the door and a customer alerted him to someone being on the bathroom floor that someone was me. He said he dial 911 immediately and they were there within five minutes 725 when I came to not sure how long I was out that’s it was white as a ghost and barely breathing.
It’s absolutely pain free and you know it’s too much as soon as it hits. I had luck in the speed i felt it as I usually have the shot in all the way with a confident register luck that anyone saw me and luck the ems was there as fast as they were.
Was always careful with opiates even when primary drug and abided by use a little less then u think u need. Tolerance mindfulness is also really important and fentanyl is ridiculous. Boy was plenty strong enough and im glad I was out my opiate love when it became primary.

 

[jsinger]

This Happened to me last September and it was from Fentanyl via iv administration.
I was off heavy opiate use but remained on Suboxone and November 2018 I went to rehab all though my love for methamphetamine was really how i was able to not endure ridiculous withdrawal from heroin and ive been on/off physical opiate dependency a handful of times. Was near two years clean from methamphetamine and before that relapse I was on a sub regiment and for a year and a half did fantastic with 1/4 daily. One day it didn’t cut it and then starting chasing a buzz. Sub buzzes require increasing dosage fast and when I relapsed I was taking two a day and possibly the highest opiate tolerance ive had bc one of them did the trick as far as not getting sick when I was heaviest on boy. After the relapse back to methamphetamine my first shot was a speed Ball and the girl I was seeing at the time mixed up the amount and I told her my level so it was at just under a point which was my normal of h 5 years ago. I didnt nod or anything else and exactly why i dont know whats different about me but I hate speed balling. I dont mind one hours away from the other but same time it cancels eachother out to me. A really low opiate tolerance makes it better but after discovering my love for meth i perfer feeling it as much as possible.
I was supplying this girls habit and my own and wained off the subs and not much withdrawal either but opiate cravings returned and where I live it’s all that I can find. The second time i did it i was floored and a little more then I wanted to be but not the worst I’ve been. The should’ve been fatal shot I was at no opiate tolerance whatsoever and i didn’t even consider it. I put a sprinkle in my shot of ice and i didnt even finish pushing down the plunger and new immediately it was too much. I work at a gas station and did it in the bathroom at 630. My eyes got so fuckng heavy I could barely open them and I dumped the last ten units left in the rig and remember thinking I better tell my coworker i fucked up. Was gonna rinse my rig and next thing i remember is hearing my name being shouted and a total state of confusion. Two paramedics asking me questions and i was really agitated and couldn’t grasp the fuck was happening. They asked my age and I said 34 which was wrong bc i was 39 and increased anger bc they kept saying guess again. He asked what I was on and I said I took a vicodin. Pry 5 minutes or better it clicked and asked the ems if he narcaned me and he said he did and asked again what i was on and replied truthfully. Was forced an hour in the hospital and called my work to get my phone so I could look up my gf number. I still feel bad he witnessed that. They are afghans and don’t know shit about drug culture but do know i use. There’s a tiny gap in the door and a customer alerted him to someone being on the bathroom floor that someone was me. He said he dial 911 immediately and they were there within five minutes 725 when I came to not sure how long I was out that’s it was white as a ghost and barely breathing.
It’s absolutely pain free and you know it’s too much as soon as it hits. I had luck in the speed i felt it as I usually have the shot in all the way with a confident register luck that anyone saw me and luck the ems was there as fast as they were.
Was always careful with opiates even when primary drug and abided by use a little less then u think u need. Tolerance mindfulness is also really important and fentanyl is ridiculous. Boy was plenty strong enough and im glad I was out my opiate love when it became primary.

Answer directly when I needed narcan I was unconscious under a minute and didnt make it one step off the toilet which is where i injected. Immediately knew I needed narcan but couldn’t make the move. I’ve seen others fall within around a minute and knees buckle sometimes catch themselves sometimes not. Narcan is extremely important especially with fet shooters. The vets usually no worries any one new to the game or raw always scares me.
It can vary greatly though and I’ve known people who needed narcaned from intranasal administration of boy which was told basically immediately

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

I've only OD'd once, but that was enough.

I was on a break from heroin so tolerance was down, but I'd been eating clonazepam like sweets for a couple of weeks. Then decided to shoot a quarter bag of brown (approximately 25mg). All I remember is an amazing rush of pins and needles all over my body, then I hit the deck like a rag doll. The next thing I knew was waking up in hospital as the doctor was pulling a needle out of my arm. That was the naloxone. I'd flatlined twice in the ambulance and am lucky to be alive.

When you OD big style, it comes on fuckin quick...

 

[TheUltimateFixx]

When you OD big style, it comes on fuckin quick...

Yeah I've keeled over with the needle still stuck in my arm a few times. Once or twice I hadn't even pushed home the full shot.

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

Yeah I've keeled over with the needle still stuck in my arm a few times. Once or twice I hadn't even pushed home the full shot.

Were other drugs involved on those occasions, or just heroin?

 

[TheUltimateFixx]

Were other drugs involved on those occasions, or just heroin?

Mostly just heroin but reckless amounts of it. For a period I was on methadone (not by choice), and kept trying to break through the blocking effect by taking higher and higher doses. A couple other times I was mixing my intake with alcohol or benzos. Both of these is just asking for it really.

 

[Delmonte421]

I've only OD'd once, but that was enough.

I was on a break from heroin so tolerance was down, but I'd been eating clonazepam like sweets for a couple of weeks. Then decided to shoot a quarter bag of brown (approximately 25mg). All I remember is an amazing rush of pins and needles all over my body, then I hit the deck like a rag doll. The next thing I knew was waking up in hospital as the doctor was pulling a needle out of my arm. That was the naloxone. I'd flatlined twice in the ambulance and am lucky to be alive.

When you OD big style, it comes on fuckin quick...

Jesus man that a fucking rough. how do you keep yourself from using these days or do you just do it in a more controlled manor?
It would assume that Bluelight would be a HUGE trigger for most recovering addicts or alcoholics

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

Jesus man that a fucking rough. how do you keep yourself from using these days or do you just do it in a more controlled manor?
It would assume that Bluelight would be a HUGE trigger for most recovering addicts or alcoholics

I've not used heroin since 2010 and sacked the methadone a couple of years later. I don't miss it one bit, though I still occasionally use codeine and poppy pod tea just to scratch that opiate itch.

I personally don't find BL to be a trigger at all. What I do find is people making the same ill informed choices that I did. So if I can help others to avoid that path, then that's a win in my eyes.

 

[GetMeOutOfThisCRAP]

The problem with this question is that most people just nod out peacefully and never live another day again. You won't know "what it feels like" because you can't for the most part tell that you've crossed the line *because you're nodding out and half-conscious.* The narcan part--if you're lucky to even be saved via narcan--will definitely be a feeling to remember though lol. Unfortunately I just don't think there's an answer to this question that would be objective enough for you to be content with our responses. Fent hits like a hammer... plenty of people smoked just a bit more once they started feeling good and nodded the hell out into the afterlife. Most addicts when narcan'd back to life have no idea what happened until someone informs them that they overdosed on opiates. Many can't remember how they ended up in a hospital bed because the heroin is that good lol.
The line between dying and getting substantially high are both incredibly much the same thing if you push it.. and too many push a comfortable high into a lethal one over greed/impatience and wanting to instantly redose as much as possible throughout the day. **********BUT most likely the user would be vomiting intensely and passing out intermittently. There would at least be tremendous nausea and super pinned pupils during an overdose/half-conscious. Sometimes a person who OD's just peacefully looks like they fell into a nice nap. I've never overdosed on it but know ppl who have plenty of times lol. They snorted one extra line and went into an overdose so...

 

[TheUltimateFixx]

The problem with this question is that most people just nod out peacefully and never live another day again. You won't know "what it feels like" because you can't for the most part tell that you've crossed the line *because you're nodding out and half-conscious.* The narcan part--if you're lucky to even be saved via narcan--will definitely be a feeling to remember though lol. Unfortunately I just don't think there's an answer to this question that would be objective enough for you to be content with our responses. Fent hits like a hammer... plenty of people smoked just a bit more once they started feeling good and nodded the hell out into the afterlife. Most addicts when narcan'd back to life have no idea what happened until someone informs them that they overdosed on opiates. Many can't remember how they ended up in a hospital bed because the heroin is that good lol.
The line between dying and getting substantially high are both incredibly much the same thing if you push it.. and too many push a comfortable high into a lethal one over greed/impatience and wanting to instantly redose as much as possible throughout the day. **********BUT most likely the user would be vomiting intensely and passing out intermittently. There would at least be tremendous nausea and super pinned pupils during an overdose/half-conscious. Sometimes a person who OD's just peacefully looks like they fell into a nice nap. I've never overdosed on it but know ppl who have plenty of times lol. They snorted one extra line and went into an overdose so...

THIS IS WHY I tirelessly campaign for legalization; or as we should more accurately say 're-legalization'.

The absolute VAST majority of 'drug deaths' are entirely avoidable, as the danger isn't directly due to the pharmacology of the drug. It's due to the user never being in the position to know what he's about to put into his body, nor exactly how much of it. (this is especially true for opiates)

PS in case anyone doubts my credentials to make such a statement, or believes my stance to be irresponsible; I'm a veteran of a grand total of 18 overdoses, just about EVERY ONE OF WHICH could have been avoided through access to a clean, uncontaminated pharma - grade equivalent of the 'take your best guess' street shit I was buying. (exceptions for when I was being an idiot and mixing)

 

[plumbus-nine]

I personally don't find BL to be a trigger at all. What I do find is people making the same ill informed choices that I did. So if I can help others to avoid that path, then that's a win in my eyes.

For me bluelight is indeed triggering cravings. But I might be an atypical user who was somewhat addicted to trying out new substances (research chemicals) and am now living in a place where I can't get them. Over time the cravings lessen but i might be better off avoiding bluelight. I just stay here because I have time to waste and too little friends to kill it.

 

[ChemicallyEnhanced]

^definitely depends on the opioid.
I accidentally overdosed on Codeine (lol, yes really, before I abused drugs and didn't know the side-effects etc) and it was HORRRRRIIIIBLLEEE.

So I had recently gotten out of the hospital after a (safe, medical) detox from alcohol and having a lot of trouble sleeping. I had codeine for back pain and remembered it made me kinda sleepy so I took 3 or 4 and then still couldn't sleep so decided to just keep taking another one or two like every 20 minutes until I COULD sleep.

Next thing I know, my face feels funny and it's there's a strange pressure around my eyes forcing me to squint slightly. I then get the WORST AND MOST INTENSE BURNING ITCHING I had ever experienced in my life (and haven't since either) I had red blotches all over and I was bleeding in several places from writhing at my skin. I was trying not to 'cause I knew it'd make it worse but it was so intense and unbearable I HAD TO.
I went to the bathroom and looked at my (puffy-feeling) face in the mirror and it WAS all puffy and my eyes were swollen half-shut. At this point I was feeling so weak I couldn't make it back to my bedroom and just sat on the floor.
[Oh, I forgot to mention, I had an unusual paradoxical reaction: SEVERE diarrhoea]
And soon I was lying on the floor and couldn't even raise my head off the ground. I realized I had royally fucked up and yelled for my parents to call an ambulance.
I was honest about what happened and they gave me naloxone [which was fine because thi was pre-drug abuse so I had no opioid tolerance or dependance so no withdrawal] and they told my mum I had the lowest blood pressure they had ever seen on someone who was still conscious.

I spent the night in the hospital getting both IV and oral anti-histamines and was given the okay to go home in the morning.
Over the next 24 hours or so the itching and swelling faded away.

So, yeah, that was my only ever overdose on opioids and it was terrible.