The OD or Panic attack checklist

[gregg]

Ok, so now you shot, sniffed, smoked or ate something and you are feeling off...
Do you go to the ER, sleep it off, or what?

what you must determine is if you are simply having a panic attack or what, but how?

Disclaimer: This is just my personal opinion here, though I do have a bit of experience with shit. when it doubt, go get checked out. Sometimes sitting in the hospital waiting room is enough to make you feel better when you are having a panic attack.

1)Opiate overdose...now one thing to figure out is are you peaking yet. For example if you snorted heroin an hour ago and are feeling it really strong, chances are it wont get much stronger...But if you ate methadone an hour ago, and its already too strong, then perhaps you should at least call someone, because that methadone may get quite a bit stronger.

Also if you took heroin, you have to also consider the cut, you may be having a reaction to the cut. How alert are you? Are you having trouble staying awake? If you are having trouble breathing, but you feel fairly alert and coherent, then perhaps you are either just panicing or have bad indigestion. sometimes opiates give you indigestion and gas which makes breathing a bit labored, epecially if you ate something recently.

Try taking a TUMS, drinking some water slowly, try to belch. See if that helps.

Lay down on your bed (on your back) Do not go to sleep if you are feeling drowsy! Put your hand on your stomach and breath slowly. If you are breathing correctly, your stomach should go up abnd down when you breath. sometimes when we panic, we tend to not breath correctly which makes it all worse. Make sure you are breathing with your diaphram. take a breath for 6 seconds in, hold it for 5 seconds, and breath out slowly, repeat.

If certain thoughts make you feel better, or certain thought make you feel worse, that is a good sign that you are just having a panic attack because if you were overdosing, it wouldnt matter what you were thinking most likely, you would feel bad. The fact that your state of mind can change your condition is a good sign you are only panicing.

Lastly a good hot shower can do wonders, but when in doubt, always at least call a friend, have 911 predialed, or at least go somewhere public where if you fall out can get help. Be safe!

 

[brutus]

Your advising people who think they may be overdosing to lay down on their back? That is completely horrible advice. I thought I was overdosing and laid down on my back just to eat a cupcake and I only took one bite before I fell asleep and woke up in the ER.

Have you ever overdosed? What if a person is overdosing that has panic attacks?

How is taking Tums going to help respiratory depression or arrest? It's not and I would hate to see someone follow your advice in this thread. No offense.

 

[gregg]

This is really more geared towards people who are freaking out, I recommend they call someone either way a friend to watch them. I said do not go to sleep if feeling drowsy, so I figure if someone is feeling at risk from instantly falling asleep upon laying down then they wont try the breathing exercise.

Yes I have overdosed, been given charcoal activator etc.. never fell out and was given narcan though, ive had more like "standing" overdoses. I've also dealt with OD'ing friends. I'm mostly writing this for those who freak out and need some assurance, there isa nothing wrong with goinbg to the ER if you are scared, but sometimes people just need to hear that maybe they are just having a panic attack to feel better.

 

[brutus]

Ok, well you should take out the part about laying down completely because that is just going to cause someone to go to sleep if they are on a heavy dose of opiates. They may not wake up from that sleep either.

I find it hard to believe that someone who thinks they are overdosing will read this thread and be reassured. It really isn't much of a checklist either. I'm not trying to bash, just give advice.

I'm working on a thread about what to do if you think you are overdosing.

 

[Hana]

I think it makes sense to bring up the fact that it could simply be a bad panic attack.

Some people don't know this.

I thought I was ODing once, but I was only (not that it's not horrible) having a really awful panic attack.

There's a big difference, but sometimes it's hard to tell which one you're having.

I think that was a good post..JMO.

Peace,
Hana

 

[Madmike]

Checklist

I hate panicking on stronger opiates. It just ruins the high.

Checklist
1. check your pulse, if it is strong and fast -> panic
2. check pupils, if you can do this, -> Panic
3. If you can't stand, losing muscle tone -> OD
4. Tremors -> Panic
5. Limb heaviness -> OD
6. shallow breathing -> Panic / OD
7. closed eyes -> OK, no worries, check pulse
8. vomiting/nausea -> may get Panic Worse if you can't vomit, drink or eat a bit and lay down
9. Nausea , loss of sight, vomiting, see if you feel better after vomiting. If you just vomit for hours-> OD, not always dangerous. rest and take liquids.
10. Unconsciousness -> OD, get patient to ER

If you panic, don't let it go to full blown panic attack, one (1) benzo should help, or you're posting crap again here. Never take new drugs alone.

 

[redpaint]

every time one does drugs it does more and more damage to one's heart, lungs, circulatory system, and the rest of one's guts. one's body will take it differently, and it will take longer to recover.
so it might not be an overdose, but it might not be a panic attack either. there is a lot of different heart conditions that might develop over time. and if not caught on time (and with more drug use) these conditions might morph to something worse and fatal.
so if one keeps writing off chest pains or breathing problems on a panic attack, one might find himself dying while reading bad advice online.

 

[Madmike]

so if one keeps writing off chest pains or breathing problems on a panic attack, one might find himself dying while reading bad advice online.

First panic attack can be a cause for emergency call.

My EKG was fine tachycardia, so I can let my self believe that my heart should be still OK

 

[redpaint]

First panic attack can be a cause for emergency call.

My EKG was fine tachycardia, so I can let my self believe that my heart should be still OK

it's not clear to me what you're trying to say.

 

[brutus]

every time one does drugs it does more and more damage to one's heart, lungs, circulatory system, and the rest of one's guts. one's body will take it differently, and it will take longer to recover.
so it might not be an overdose, but it might not be a panic attack either. there is a lot of different heart conditions that might develop over time. and if not caught on time (and with more drug use) these conditions might morph to something worse and fatal.
so if one keeps writing off chest pains or breathing problems on a panic attack, one might find himself dying while reading bad advice online.

What the fuck are you talking about? Your statement makes no sense at all. Not all drugs are cardiotoxic or cause heart disease. I take opiates and benzos daily. Also, I have several heart problems that were not caused from using drugs frequently for years. Do you expect me to die because of the opiates and benzos? My cardiologist fucking told me that I needed a benzo to handle my anxiety because it was putting even more stress on my heart.

It is blatantly obvious that you have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[redpaint]

My response was to drug related or caused situations, and not limited only to opiates.

 

[jdizzle]

Worst thread ever. LOL

 

[johanneschimpo]

...
Checklist
...
2. check pupils, if you can't see them , severly pinpointed -> OD
...

I don't know about that list...
Severly pinpointed pupils = OD?
LOL, No!!! I can't even see my pupils right now, and I'm not even high, I just took my maintenance dose of suboxone, which I don't even feel. Pinned eyes doesn't mean anything, it just means you're on opiates or you're around bright light.
And some of those other #s are funky too. I mean, they might be potential signs of a panic attack or OD, but they don't mean that if you have that symptom, you are actually overdosing.
That should be cleared up so people don't take it literally - like some kid takes 2 vicodin and gets a nice high, then he looks in the mirror and sees his eyes are pinned and freaks out thinking he's overdosing because your checklist said that severly pinpointed pupils means you're overdosing.
Thats all I have to say for now, I have to go to work.

 

[Madmike]

it's not clear to me what you're trying to say.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinus_tachycardia

In simple english, fast heartbeat without problems in heart itself.

 

[Madmike]

I don't know about that list...
Severly pinpointed pupils = OD?
LOL, No!!! I can't even see my pupils right now, and I'm not even high, I just took my maintenance dose of suboxone, which I don't even feel. Pinned eyes doesn't mean anything, it just means you're on opiates or you're around bright light.
And some of those other #s are funky too. I mean, they might be potential signs of a panic attack or OD, but they don't mean that if you have that symptom, you are actually overdosing.
That should be cleared up so people don't take it literally - like some kid takes 2 vicodin and gets a nice high, then he looks in the mirror and sees his eyes are pinned and freaks out thinking he's overdosing because your checklist said that severly pinpointed pupils means you're overdosing.
Thats all I have to say for now, I have to go to work.

OK, I haven't experienced a situation where pupils won't react to light at all.

It is actually very hard to tell if your OD'd if or not, you're right. But a faq would be nice to be done, I just wished to contribute.

 

[johanneschimpo]

^ Yeah, I wasn't trying to "diss" you, just stating my take on the situation. Fortunately you're not the type of person to get crazy from one disagreement and start flaming like crazy.

About this thread, normally I would close it, but I'm hoping that people will contribute with some good, factual, true, accurate (catch my drift ) information that can be turned into an FAQ.

Although it was a good idea, gregg, it doesn't look like thats going to happen.
I'll give it some time to turn into something productive, but if not it might get axed.

 

[Madmike]

People are too high to care.

I suffer from anxiety and want to make sure drugs won't make it too much worse.

 

[sonic]

Thanks for creating this thread. It is a good attempt at least. It does support harm reduction, the only problem is that it needs more content. This thread is somewhat similar to the, "what to do in the case of an overdose" thread that exists elsewhere in this forum but I think there's room for another thread that tries to answer the question, "am I actually overdosing?" This question is normally a foolish one to attempt to answer for someone. I will always tell someone that if they think they're in serious danger then they should consider getting help because you never know.
A thread like this containing general information about drug side effects (potentially scary ones) can serve as a useful tool for calming down a paranoid user. The problem is that most paranoid users are just going to make a thread first without doing any other reading on the board. Oh well, it doesn't mean we shouldn't stop trying.

 

[HYDRO_CHRONIC]

another thing to look out for is when somone "falls out" a friend did a "normal" shot he was totally comfotable with and bam hes laying in my lap ,plus he was talking to me for about 2 minutes after words and thats plenty of timefor it to have madeit to the brain

anyway he fell out i panicked,he was limp but also rather damn stiff when i tried to move him his eyes were open ,he was drooling and kinda moaning

i called th emts(well somone else did) ,basically he didnt OD case his heart was pounding and he woke up like 15 min later with a emt's cleavage(sP) in his face and s like "what?"


so the next time im with him the same thin happened i got rid of my spoon etc just in case i had to call somone and basically i just kept checking his pulse in is juggular and like before it was beating fast ,i set him up in the seat ,wiped his drool and kept watch on his pulse for about 8-10 min then e just started blinking his eyes and came too

what that was i hae no idea ,the dope wasnt cut with coke or amps cause i did the same dope ...anyway i dont know what this explains but just cause somone falls out they arent od'ing every time and th first time i called the emts and it really didnt hrt at all ,they searched didnt find anything cause i hid it and gave a story about he said he did a bag but i have no clue what that is and i said we had just met and just hanging out riding around i thik they thought we were gay maybe haha

but everything worked out

 

[Ham-milton]

every time one does drugs it does more and more damage to one's heart, lungs, circulatory system, and the rest of one's guts. one's body will take it differently, and it will take longer to recover.

you're an idiot.