Word: opioid
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...known what measures the emergency workers took to save Jackson, but if they had determined that he suffered from cardiac arrest triggered by an overdose of narcotics, they would have likely used a shot of naloxone, a drug that counteracts opioid overdose, to get the brain back online and the heart beating again, says Connie Meyer, an EMS captain in Johnson County, Kans. In cases where it's not clear whether narcotics are involved - cardiac arrest may be caused by a wide range of factors, including stress - some EMTs will use epinephrine, a shot of adrenaline that jump-starts...
Overdoses kill some 22,000 Americans each year - more than homicide and, in some states, like Utah, more than car accidents. Most overdose deaths happen accidentally, and most involve a combination of an opioid - either prescription painkillers, like methadone or OxyContin, or street drugs like heroin - and other depressant drugs, such as alcohol or Xanax. (Such deadly cocktails were responsible for the deaths of actor Heath Ledger in 2008 and former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith in 2007.) Typically, people who overdose on prescription drugs have a history of addiction, and they end up either taking more than their prescribed...
Advocates also note that the drug, which has been used for decades in emergency rooms and ambulances, is safe. Naloxone reverses a high by blocking the brain's opioid receptors, where drugs like heroin and narcotic painkillers bind. According to Daliah Heller, an assistant commissioner of the New York City Department of Health, who is involved with the city's naloxone program, serious side effects from the drug (aside from triggering withdrawal symptoms in addicts) are extremely rare. But they're not unheard of: in rare instances, high doses of naloxone have caused seizures, but, says Heller, "It's much...
...most recent anti-drinking drug to have negative side effects. Some of these side effects are considered to be the treatment itself: disulfirman, also known as Antabuse, which has been used with alcoholics for many years, causes hypotension and vomiting when a person has alcohol. Naltrexone, which blocks opioid receptors in the brain, is another option for chronic drinkers, but it can cause nausea...
...what can be done to get problem gamblers to quit? Medication, in theory, may help. Psychologists like G. Alan Marlatt of the University of Washington are interested in the potential of so-called opioid antagonists, drugs that might partially disrupt the neurochemistry that produces feelings of well-being, thus denying gamblers the kick they seek...