• BASIC DRUG
    DISCUSSION
    Welcome to Bluelight!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Benzo Chart Opioids Chart
    Drug Terms Need Help??
    Drugs 101 Brain & Addiction
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums
  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

What exactly IS respiratory depression?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Normal respiratory rate in adults is 12-18 (ish) breaths per minute. I'd say anything below 10 was respiratory depression.

I've noticed on opioids that I can go a long time in between breaths - the uncomfortable feeling you usually get is absent. Usually you breathe automatically, and your body regulates the rate, but opioids slow this down and occasionally I've had to make a conscious effort to make sure I am breathing enough. This is a sign that you have taken too much!!

Technically, difficult/laboured breathing would be termed dyspnoea and is not as common on opioids as respiratory depression.
 
Dyspnoea on opiates/opiods is a sign of overdose.


They tend to use this term hand in hand in literature for some odd reason. I agree they aren't the same thing.

I'm guessing if your respiratory depression is heavy enough it is dyspnoea?
 
If your body fights against it, it's dyspnoea. The terms are often used interchangably but technically they are different things. Dyspnoeic people are heavy smokers with COPD, people with fluid on their lungs, or with other lung disease..

It's a technicality though really, hah. You can get dyspnoeic on opioids if you take too much, but equally you can be calmly hypoventilating and not even realise/pass out..
 
Yeah, you can develop pulmonary oedema (fluid on the lungs) but it's actually not that common (see this for example). Would be very unusual in mild respiratpry depression, as you said it would be at the more extreme end..
 
Here is a thread dealing with what respiratory depression feels like: click me.
It is generally described as slowed breathing and a strong urge to fall asleep (commonly known as nodding away on opiates), but read yourself.
 
Think of feeling like you're not able to get a full breath of air, even if you are. Having to constantly remind yourself to breathe. Thinking you're going to die and having a strong urge to pass out, but you decide to stay awake because you fear that if you do, you may wake up. There's a fine line to where opiates and benzos go from euphoria, to dysphoria. That's the best way I can describe it.
 
I think that this thread has been answerered enough and had some very good replies and I have learnt something too.

Any further development of the thread could perhaps be discussed in the BDD Social and Information Booth

Am going to close the thread now but please feel free to carry on the disccusion in the Social Thread I have linked to above :)

If anyone has any problems with my closing of the thread or think that it should be reopened then shoot me a PM

Mugz :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top