3 Steps to Take When in a Drug Emergency - Teenage Drug Overdose

Adolescents are highly susceptible to drug abuse. They are careless in the amount of drugs that they take and they usually think that they can handle more than what they can.

Drug overdose, more commonly known as OD, refers to the ingestion of a drug or substance in doses or quantities that are greater than prescribed or recommended. Drug overdose is very dangerous to one's health and it may even lead to death.

Drug overdoses may be done intentionally to commit suicide or induce self-harm. However, most cases of drug overdoses are not done on purpose and are commonly the result of irresponsibility or carelessness in reading labels or overlooking the appropriate drug dosage.

Other reasons for drug overdose include the simultaneous use of multiple drugs with counter indications (e.g. heroin/specific prescription pain medicines and amphetamines /alcohol/cocaine).

1) Determine The Drug First

Before employing first aid on a teenager who seems to be exhibiting signs of drug abuse or drug overdose, you must first be able to determine what kind of drug that he or she consumed because the first aid treatment may vary depending on the drug that was taken in.

The help or first aid that will be administered will greatly depend on the circumstances presented at the time (e.g. whether the patient is drowsy but conscious, tense and panicky, overly excited, dehydrated, or unconscious). By properly assessing the physical symptoms that the patient is exhibiting, the proper first aid treatment can be given while waiting for the paramedics to arrive.

2) First Aid

For teens that abused the use of depressants, first aid can successfully prevent death since it takes several hours for the substances found in depressants to take over the body's system. The common drugs under the category of depressants include opiates (ie. morphine, methadone and heroine), alcohol, and certain prescription drugs such as Benzodiazepines.

Signs and symptoms of depressants overdose include slow, shallow or infrequent breathing, bluish lips or fingernails, pale or cold skin, faint or slow pulse, gurgling or snoring noises, and unresponsiveness.

On the other hand, teenagers who have taken too many doses of Stimulants (such as amphetamines and cocaine) may experience rapid heartbeat, seizures, muscle cramps, psychosis, paranoia, confusion, loss of control of movement, lack of consciousness and vomiting. If not attended to right away, stimulants overdose may lead to cardiac arrest or excited delirium that's why immediate rescue should be carried out to save a teenager from the fatal effects of stimulants overdose.

Since stimulants increase the excitement of a person, the first aid in this kind of case is to stay with the teenager and help him or her to remain calm. Bringing them to a quiet area may help alleviate the situation temporarily. Applying a wet cloth on their forehead and neck can also be helpful.

3) Stay Calm

When you find a teenager who is a victim of a drug overdose and you already find him or her in an unresponsive state, don't panic. You should stay calm so that your presence of mind will be intact. You can try to confirm the teenager's unresponsiveness by pinching the back of his or her arm, calling his or her name or by rubbing your knuckles against his or her chest. If you get no response at all, the next thing you should do is to check that the airway of the teenager is not blocked and make sure that he or she is still breathing.

If you can't detect a pulse or signs of breathing, immediately perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation. If you don't know how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, it's best that you call for help immediately.

If ever you find an unresponsive or unconscious teenager, don't waste time in trying to revive him or her, especially if you have no specific knowledge on how to do so. Immediately rush the teenager to the nearest hospital so that the proper medical measures can be performed to save his or her life.