How a former addict uses Reddit to save drug users’ lives

Re:How a former addict uses Reddit to save drug users’ lives by cwyers on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @12:14PM (#9923307)

Very droll. But band-aids don't have side effects. Naloxone does. For instance:[1]

> a reversal of opiate effects achieved too rapidly may induce nausea, vomiting, sweating, tremor, tachycardia, increased BP, seizures, ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation, pulmonary edema, and cardiac arrest, which may result in death.

http://www.drugs.com/monograph/naloxone-hydrochloride.html

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Re:How a former addict uses Reddit to save drug users’ lives by marcos123 on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @01:32PM (#9924060)

Those are not really side-effects of Naloxone, they are side-effects of reversing the effect of opiates. So if an addict were to quit an opiate addiction cold turkey, they would experience some (or very rarely, all) of the effects you listed. If you give Naloxone to someone without opiates in their system, they wouldn't experience those effects. What Naloxone does is kick opiates off of opiate receptors in the body, which instantly puts the addict into a state of opiate withdrawal.

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Re:How a former addict uses Reddit to save drug users’ lives by joesmo on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @01:39PM (#9924134)

Not having Naloxone on hand also has a guaranteed side-effect: death. That makes its side effects irrelevant.

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