Overdosed reversed by Buprenorphine

[radric davis]

I didn't know where to put this, mods move it if you need to. So over the weekend, my friend shot enough dope to make him overdose. He turned purple in the face and fingertips and was unresponsive. we had a small bit of suboxone and about 2mg was prepped and IV'd. Within a minute he woke up very responsive and said he didnt feel much.
I have always wondered if Suboxone could be used to reverse an overdose because it is much easier to aquire tha naloxone. Is it feasible that the Suboxone is what reversed the OD?

 

[Slapdragonx]

Bupe affinity trumps heroin so it took over, and bupe is very hard to OD on so he was brought back.

 

[onmyway]

suboxone has naloxone in it to discourage IV use and prevent overdose. naloxone have very high affinity for opiod receptors, so much that a small dose can counteract a high dose of narcotics.

 

[Turing Machine]

It's been discussed on here before that the buprenorphine trumps the naloxone dose given in suboxone. I suppose your friend does not have a physical addiction to opioids, or he would have gone into precipitated withdrawal?

 

[seep]

naloxone should be sold otc just like antivenom is otc. What a sick reality we live in that we can't simply call 911 when someone stops breathing & loses pulse & begins to resemble an eggplant

But yeah I keep Subutex on hand for possible overdoses cuz I exhausted my vials of naloxone some time ago. Can't say I always trust those around me to know what to do with it but at least it's there.

It'd be interesting to know if anyone's life has been saved by bupe being tucked under their tongue.

 

[radric davis]

^ That ROA has a longer onset and im not gonna waste any time when my friend is potentially not getting oxygen. I would only IV bupe to reverse an OD. Shooting pills is bad but won't kill you if its occasional, not getting bupe in time to reverse an OD will kill ya.

 

[onmyway]

just want to throw this out there

in an opiate overdose, the most important thing is VENTILATION. death is from lack of respiratory drive, the heart is still pumping. if there is no antidote available somebody must breath for the victim until help arrives. it would make sense for everyone to have one of these on hand

or even better:

an antagonist is good, assuming somebody knows how to administer it, but any idiot can figure out one of the above tools, and it will save lives.

 

[seep]

No yeah surely if the OD is advanced and you're able to prepare a bupe for IV then definitely. I meant more like when me and whoever shoot up we usually leave the works at home and/or sometimes we're just passed out in a car and have no solvent. You can imagine many such scenarios. I'm just asking if anyone knows of someone who was hypoxic and cyanotic but survived due to a sublingual bupe.

Thinking back to my OD, my girlfriend at the time was giving me CPR for (she says) like half an hour before I got a pulse again, but she says we had both nodded out like 90 minutes before that. I figure if someone had seen me go hypo and didn't know how to prepare a pill for IV a sublingual bupe still would've reversed it cuz mine was a gradual respiratory depression.

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@devices: Be sure to check the carotid for a pulse before ventilating; if you feel no pulse then go right into CPR and figure out a way to get paramedics on the scene if u can.

 

[onmyway]

opiates don't usually cause cardiac arrest, but yeah no pulse-> chest compressions, ventilate if there is a second person to help.

laypeople cannot be expected to find weak pulses, especially in the face of profound bradycardia. my guess is that ventilation is the highest priority in opiate overdose. if hypoxia is so profound that the heart has stopped, there is probably nothing to bring back because the brain is gone.

 

[Jabberwocky]

No yeah surely if the OD is advanced and you're able to prepare a bupe for IV then definitely. I meant more like when me and whoever shoot up we usually leave the works at home and/or sometimes we're just passed out in a car and have no solvent. You can imagine many such scenarios. I'm just asking if anyone knows of someone who was hypoxic and cyanotic but survived due to a sublingual bupe.

Thinking back to my OD, my girlfriend at the time was giving me CPR for (she says) like half an hour before I got a pulse again, but she says we had both nodded out like 90 minutes before that. I figure if someone had seen me go hypo and didn't know how to prepare a pill for IV a sublingual bupe still would've reversed it cuz mine was a gradual respiratory depression.

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@devices: Be sure to check the carotid for a pulse before ventilating; if you feel no pulse then go right into CPR and figure out a way to get paramedics on the scene if u can.

sixpartseven, another of the current OD mods, has a post out there descripting him saving his gf at the time with sublingual bupe when she was going out.

 

[seep]

Thanks that's really interesting