Why people overdose on heroine?

[GoreBreath]

Is it because after so much repeated use your heart just slowly deteriorates or is it due people taking more and more because of developing tolerance and one day taking too much? If the latter is the case then could you just take the same dose every time and never od?

 

[onmyway]

i think there are two things going on with overdoses.

1) some drugs are cut a lot. people get used to this until a supply of stronger stuff comes though. then they overdose by accident.

2) drugs affect your judgment. people that are high might overestimate how much drugs they can handle, or screw up a measurement.


for heroin i think its mostly #1, because people tend to pass out before they od from #2.

there are plenty of precautions to take, but nothing will totally insulate you from some risk of overdose. there are plenty of smart, experienced drug users that overdosed despite good practices.

 

[Peace Farmer]

ive had a few friends overdose on purpose

to leave this cruel world behind them

most times it's an accident tho, the dope is stronger than anticipated

 

[Tommyboy]

here is a link to a similar thread- http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=502037

I don't think that peoples hearts slowly deteriorate leaving them suseptible to OD.

It is usually from getting stronger more potent heroin than usual. Many times, it is the "seasoned junkies" that OD, as compared to new users. This is because experienced users have a higher tolerance. With their higher tolerance, they may be doing 10 bags per shot, as opposed to a 2 bag shot for a newer user. So if the experienced user gets really potent heroin, then the 10 bag shot is so much stronger than a 2 bag shot of more potent heroin.

Hypothetically if a bag usually has 100 mgs of actual heroin in it, and there is purer bags with 120 mgs of pure heroin, that the person that usually does 2 bags is going to be taking 40mgs more that usual. But the person doing 10 bags will be taking 200mgs more which is obviously a lot more than they are used to.

 

[Coolio]

Almost all heroin overdoses are from combining it with ethanol, benzos, or other respiratory depressants.

See more about the myth of heroin overdose at:

http://www.peele.net/lib/heroinoverdose.html
http://skeptically.org/recdrugs/id24.html
http://www.drugpolicy.org/library/darke2.cfm

 

[CTdopeLove]

Figured I'd chime in with one common cause of overdosing on opioids, and another not so common one.

One of the most common ways people overdose is after a hiatus from opioids, whether it be a cold-turkey kick, rehab, or whatever. They relapse and use the same dose they were using before they quit (or maybe slightly lower but not low enough) and end up overdosing because their tolerance has dropped so significantly.

Another factor contributing to overdose is the setting. If a person injects daily in the same surroundings and then one day uses in an unfamiliar setting, tolerance can be reduced and overdose becomes a greater risk. Not common or likely, but it definitely happens.

~CTdopeLove

 

[Shambles]

^ Definitely in both cases.

Have known many addicts OD (plenty fatally) the day they get out of prison - they want their "Welcome Home!" shot to be a monster but never occurs to them that their tolerance is virtually nil if they've been locked up for a few months or years and don't wanna hear what anybody tells them if it means having to use a "weak" shot... that would still have them totally fuxxorred with such low tolerance

The second cause you mention is an odd one. Think it's called Sudden Injection Death Syndrome or something like that and is widely recognised as a genuine issue. Just as you say. the dose or potency of the heroin seems almost irrelevant - the death seems to be caused by injecting in unfamiliar surroundings. These are the cases where you don't even have time to take the needle out of the vein before you drop. Happened to me one night when I was too sick to wait and my dealer let me shoot as his place - he never lets anyone shoot at his. The gear was good but just the same as I had been using daily for months at the time - nice steady, quality supply. Wasn't even a particularly big shot but I went down like a sack of shit before I'd even finished injecting. Nobody knows how it happens and unfamiliar surrounding seems to be the main (even the only) factor at work. Odd, but it happens.

 

[lightofmeaning]

ive heard the dose to get you high and the dose that can kill ya is very close, no? i always thought that in combo with not knowing the mg of dose was a major factor. i think most of the opiate od's are from combos tho, esp.benzos. all the ones ive been around.