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Opioids What Does it Feel Like to OD on Opiates?/Long Term Damage

E

Eva 33

Bluelighter
Joined
Mar 19, 2009
Messages
75
Location
California
If anyone here has OD'ed on opiates (either accidentally or on purpose) I'd be curious to know what it feels like. I hope this is appropriate for this forum? I didn't want to post this on The Dark Side, because I don't want to trigger someone who might be suicidal.

For the record, I'm NOT suicidal, but I know someone who might be. I'm not going to call the cops on this person, because that might make his problems even worse. I don't think it's an imminent situation.

My friend is another chronic pain patient, just as I am. My friend has lots of strong opiates, like morphine and dilaudid. Perhaps Fentanyl, too. He's got Valium. And of course alcohol. I don't know everything that he's prescribed. He might be getting meds off the street, too. I really have no idea about that.

My friend is going through tough financial times in addition to his chronic pain. I'm really trying to help him by getting an answer to this question. I will relay the answers.

My friend has made a couple of comments about taking a "lethal cocktail"-----apparently a combo of extended-release morphine, Valium, and alcohol. He thinks that this would result in a "painless death", but I think he may be wrong about that. Ultimately it's his life, but I really don't want him to do something stupid that he'll regret forever.

I once read of a woman who tried to kill herself via a methadone overdose and she ended up in a WHEELCHAIR due to hypoxic brain damage. I told my friend about that, and he says he thinks that only the SYNTHETIC opiates cause hypoxic brain damage. He's under the impression that because morphine is ORGANIC, it can't cause PERMANANT damage due to hypoxic brain damage. I think he's wrong?

I also googled this subject, i.e. "what does it feel like to OD on opiates/painkillers?" I got to Yahoo answers and got some conflicting and unscientific info as to whether or not this would be "painless". I think my friend would be DISSUADED from doing this if I could find some scientific info about the long-term damage that an opiate overdose might do the body. OR scientific evidence that supports that it is NOT a "painless" death.

I really have no idea if an opiate overdose is "painless" or not, because I've never attempted it.

When I looked this up on Yahoo Answers, some people said that a painkiller overdose would lead to vomiting (that I believe) and even bleeding of the stomach (not sure about that). My friend already knows that acetaminophen is toxic to the kidneys. But even PURE morphine is NOT going to get him his "painless death", right?

I read some "answers" on Yahoo that taking this "cocktail" would actually lead to a very painful situation. Maybe people who IV meds are the ones who go out "peacefully"? (As far as I know, he doesn't IV meds). Swallowing a combo of E.R. morphine, Valium, and alcohol has GOT to result in a nasty situation? Or would he go out "peacefully"?

I'm trying to find some scientific info and/or anecdotal evidence to support the presumption that this is basically "poisoning" oneself and could cause PERMANENT damage should a person survive this, and that it would NOT be "painless". Maybe it would cause permanent damage to the liver and kidneys? Or a stroke?

I want to tell my friend that he'd just end up FAR WORSE than he already is, but I don't know that for certain.

I don't want to just tell my friend a lot of lies that the research does not support. I really think that REASON and FACTS are the way to scare him out of this. Then he can look it up for himself if he doesn't believe me.

Thanks for any help! It's really tough to have a friend who's talking about this.
 
Brain damage is possible with any substance that depresses respiratory system in a way that is not sufficient to death but leads to insufficient oxygen levels. One should be injecting massive amount to be 100% sure. Taking it orally is way too risky to end up injured and alive.
 
It's definitely not painless and is quite painful.

I had a non-fatal overdose (where I obviously did too much but I didn't need to administer naloxone) on IV heroin. I vomited at least two dozen times in 12 hours. If I had a sip of water, it would come right back up. It was incredibly painful to have just a sip of water in my stomach due to the extreme nausea the heroin was causing me. I've also known other people who overdosed and had seizures and became unresponsive on heroin...which sounds even more painful.
 
There are varying levels of overdoses... some of them are more serious than others and thus feel differently. It depends how overboard you go. If it's a large OD, you'll simply just loose consciousness.. You go from being high, to out cold, and if you're lucky.. waking up surrounded by emt's or in the hospital.

The more "painful" OD's occur on a lesser level, meaning that you may not even black out, but you will have an extreme head and body ache, vomiting, etc.. Certainly not pleasant.

Unlike an overdose on something like stimulants, an opiate overdose leaves you pretty unaware. There have been times where after I injected, I knew something was wrong.. my face and fingers stated tingling, the rush hit way too hard, and my vision started to blur. At that point, you may actually even have time to call for help before you pass out because not all OD's happen instantly, as a matter of fact, a lot happen 5-10+ minutes after an injection. However, a lot of the times you are just completely unaware. Respiratory depression sets in and you're out.. Sometimes, depending on the severity of the OD, you can come out of it on your own.. other times, you're not waking up without the help of a nice dose of Narcan and if there's nobody around to call an ambulance or give you the dose themselves, you will die.
 
If you fall unconscious on hard surfaces or lay on one of your own body parts you can get pressure injuries from your own body weight. If your are strongly intoxicated your reflexes will fail and even sitting on the toilete for hours can cause severe damage. Just to mention a few: numb and unmovable body parts, large black pressure spots, compartment syndrom, total renal failure (from dead myofibrils), nerve damage, neuropatic pain. I had this happen twice, one time i was out cold on the floor, the other time i was sitting on the chair with my head on my arm. Some symptoms persisted for years.
 
Acetaminophen is mainly toxic to the liver were it accumulates and depletes all the enzymes used by the liver to breakdown toxic substances that are your bodys byproducts. This is mainly what frys the kidneys in paracetamol overdose, its not pretty or peaceful, ive seen it and wish I hadnt. Regarding opiates if I were wanting to OD on them then I wouldnt do them orally, its surprising how much if a drug the body can survive if taken by mouth. I wouldnt want have that large an overdose and survive either because the leftover damage could be huge and more debilitating then his current situation. Also yours friends tolerance will affect his ability to OD. I was discussing this in a thread with mr scagnattie the other week and he gave me info that surprised me with just how high tolerance to a drug can get.
 
Yeah, there are far better and safer suicide methods than this.
 
Like others have said, there are different variables that affect the outcome. I overdosed one time from IV heroin. I was use to shooting ~.4 grams at a time and this time I only had .1. g. I don't even remember pulling the rig out of my arm but had respiratory failure without pulse for around 30 minutes and have no memory until 4 hours later when I woke up in the hospital. So, ya. It can be painless. But my body was just so run down that I think it couldn't put up any amount of a fight and just shut down.
 
Your friend is definitely wrong that only synthetic opioids like methadone can cause hypoxic brain damage. I know 2 people who OD'd on heroin and had brain damage. Myself when I seriously overdosed it was painless, I just quickly passed out and woke up surrounded by paramedics. NOT everyone is that lucky and it really depends on the circumstances, the individual, and the specific cause of death/life-threatening symptoms (it's not always just that you fall asleep and stop breathing). When I've taken too much but did not have a life-threatening overdose it was pretty miserable. You are right to try to convince your friend that suicide is not the answer and that attempting suicide could make his life even more miserable, as if he fails he could get very sick and/or be left with permanent damage. This is a very real possibility. It's not as simple as take a lot of downers have an easy painless guaranteed death. I'm glad he has a friend looking out for him. I hope he is not actually serious about suicide <3
 
I'd be scared of not dying and waking up with brain damage....but a massive dose of oral benzos followed by a massive IV dose of heroin will kill you, and you'll have no idea...I just have to be honest here....

Of course, people survive some pretty ridiculous drug combos/doses, and waking up brain-damaged would scare me out of trying it! It's always the one you didn't see coming that seems to kill you, IME....
 
SlidingDown said:
Wow, how did you feel, how long were you out? Did you try to end your life?
Click to expand...

Are you asking me? It was unintentional. I have no idea how long I was out, luckily I was using with a friend (never use alone!) who noticed that I was unconscious and turning blue and called 911. I don't think I really want to go into much more detail in a thread about suicidal ideation because I don't want to make death by opioid overdose sound desirable in any way.
 
To me it felt like I really had to go to sleep. Like when ur up late watching Tv and you think "ill just close my eyes for 10 seconds then ill wake back up and not feel tired any more. Then I was in an ambulance getting naloxone shots. Definitely a very peaceful way to go. If I had to chose a way to die it would be heroin overdose. Not peaceful for your loved ones though, nothings more senseless than losing someone you care about to a drug.

As far as long term damage goes, if your lucky you will be breathing 4 times per minute, your heart rate will be so low it takes a machine to even tell your still alive. Because of this your organs start to fail from oxygen deprivation, at a half hour, sometimes less, the risk of permenant brain damage, coma, and irreversible organ damage becomes huge. This is why when you think someone is overriding you need to call 911 instantly. The kid I was with pussed out and was afraid to call 911, even though in my state there are laws in place that protect peoeple who call for help in the case of an overdose. During the time I was out he sold some weed, drove 2 miles down the road to pick up my other friend, brought him back to see me and then they dragged My body Down the street, slamming my head on the stairs, before calling the ambulance and saying they found me on the side if the road. These are generally the same type of people who let the police search their car because "if I say no then they'll think I'm guilty."

When I woke up my temperature was so low that I lost control of my muscles due to shivering. When they asked me what I took I could barely make out the words "opiates" through my clenched jaw. Although a heroin overdose may be peaceful for the person oding, it is a traumatic experience for everyone involved. My friend who was the one to call 911 ended up on suicide watch at a psych ward a few months afterwards because he was so fucked up from watching me die. People who are close to him says he hasn't been the same since. Paramedics are known for exaggerating things when it comes to drug users, in an attempt to scare someone straight, but I could see in the eyes of the first responder as they brought me into the er how serious it was. He said if it had been 5 more minutes before I got the narcan I wouldn't have made it, and I have a hard time not believing him. Looking at my stats upon arrival in the ambulance I was close to death than most people ever will be until the day they die of course.

Every time I think about things being shitty I look at that day and thank my God for giving me another chance at life. I don't feel quite as sharp as I did before this incident, but I'm alive and that's what I need to be thankful for.

If your on heroin and feel the extreme urge to fall asleep, especially if your in a strange place where u wouldn't normally sleep, fight the urge skin and teeth and find someone to keep an eye in you. Write heroin, or whatever drug it is your on on your hand in case something happens and your unable to tell them what you took. If you feel extremely tired, like you don't have the energy to get up, call 911. Worst case scenerio you'll take a ride in an ambulance and get some odd looks from the nurse, best case scenerio u avoid dying.

And have a talk with your friends about overdosing. Make it clear to them that if they fall out you'll will take whatever illegal shit they have on them and call 911. And if you need to, don't hesitate. Tell them that you expect them to the same for you. Maybe make up a story about a cousin you had who overdosed and his friends were too scared to call for help, and they feel responsible ti this day for not saving him. I had a gram of heroin on me at the time, but I had it in my sock. The police searched me while I was unconscious but didn't find it, and I remember when I was in the hospital they tried to take off my shoes and I was like hey! And snatched my foot away.I would have gladly taken the dope rap though if it meant I got to live, same goes for if any of my friends od'd. If there is a needle exchange that distributes naloxone in your city you have no excuse not to have some. I carry a vial on me now even though I don't even do h any more.


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I think your going about this all wrong. Your friend isn't going to care about permement brain damage if his goal is to die, he wants to die so any organ damage that happens in the process is going to happen no matter what route he takes. That is if your even talking about your friend.

You should be helping your friend by getting to the source of why he wants to kill himself, not arguing over the nuances of his chosen method. If he genuinely wants to die, hes going to do it regardless of how much pain or organ damage it causes. I hats to say it but a massive opiate overdose will be the closest thing to a painless death out there. You want us to find you scientific studies about single cases in which opiate overdoses were painful, when the reality is they rarely are. Your friend needs your help, he doesn't need you to try and pick apart his chosen method in an attempt to dissuade him. Seriously, this thread is all wrong. You should be asking "how can I convince my friend to seek help.for his suicidal depression, and if hes not willing when should I call the authorities to get him sectioned so he wont go through with it.

A problem with poisening in suicide attempts is people have second thoughts and decide to take lower doses than needed, this J's what causes the majority of failed attempts and the subsequent organ damage. If he has 1000mg of morphine but has second thoughts about it and decides to only take 300mg, he could slip into a coma and end up with brain damage fir the rest of his life. If someone really wants to die they will take every last one of their pills, exceeding the lethal dose 10fold, because if they don't they are more likely to wind up a vegetable. I'm not condoning suicide, just explaining why you see cases of brain damage in failed attempts. There was a kid in my town who wanted to commit suicide eih his friend, they both snorted a half gram of ketamine and tried to drink bleach, but the bleach was so gross they started throwing up, and the ketamine isn't lethal in most cases so they basically ended up fucking up their bodies and living to tell the tale. In their case its a good thing they are still a live, they are in recovery now and I'm sure thankful to be alive. That example is a mild one, and there are many more like it. They ended up telling the police where they got the ketamine and a bunch of people got raided. You mentioned apap, same goes For that.people think if they take 20 tylonels it will kill them (usually teenage girls), they just end up with liver damage and a really unaching head.

So talk to your friend, and if hes not willing to get help, you need to intervene. All the people I know who've attempted suicide are glad it didn't work, those who I grew up with and succeeded (the ones who hanged themselves)... well no one knows what they think, but I'm sure their families wish they had failed even if it meant only being able to visit them in the hospital on life support. Suicide sends a shockwave of greif throughout the community. I wish I could talk to the kids I grew up with who hanged themselves, I wish I had known they were going through what they were going through and tried to help. I never had that chance, you do, so don't blow it on arguing about whether a fatal opiate overdose will be painful, because chances are you will lose.
 
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I overdosed on fentanyl and soma's. I was IVing the patches and the last thing I remember is laying on my bed eating Dorito's, the next thing I know my mom is above me (having shot me with some Narcan) and she's on the phone with 9-1-1 and I had to goto the hospital, I get to the hospital and pass back out, wake up 8+ hours later and checked myself out. Relatively painless, but scary as hell none-the-less after you sober/wake up.
 
You could vomit uncontrollably. You could have double vision. You could be like me, and nod off and stop breathing mid nod. Wake back up with blue lips, dizzier than you have ever been, gasping for air, basically TRIPPING because the things you were "dreaming" are still there in front of your eyes, slowly fading away, while your friend calls your phone constantly or (if they're there) slaps your face a lot so that you stay conscious and manually breath on your own.

In short a lot of bad shit can happen, and ODs can vary quite a bit. The constant is you are REALLY fucked up. So fucked up that its not even fun, and you derive no enjoyment out of being high. You are usually incapable of thought, and if you are you are SCARED. You are usually in no condition to do more than vomit, nod, or gasp for air. Perhaps a combination of all 3, or none at all if youre really unlucky (and dead).

Generally a rule of thumb that I have with overdosing is that if you have to BREATHE ON YOUR OWN you got some problems. Another rule is that if youre able to do anything that requires some thought or concentration, or even basic motor skills, you're probably just really high. Keep in mind though I said rule of thumb, not universal.

eg. people who come on BL asking if they OD'd probably didn't, as they're able to turn on a computer, go on to bluelight, login, and write a post asking if they OD'd.
 
I OD'ed on zopiclone once. Defo wsnt a normal blackout as I hadnt done any weird shit etc. one minute I was layed on tge sofa watching tv, next minute I open my eyes (without even realizing id closed them) and an hour had gone by, my lips were blue and I felt extremely sick and dizzy. Id had a couple of whiskeys before the pills so that compounded my stupidity really. Moral is (i guess) that taking enough of anything to make yourself pass out and stop breathing is very scarey and pretty traumatic.
 
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