Reflection

I participated in in-person training to administer Naloxone in an emergency overdose. In the training, we were explained what opioids were and what they caused. Likewise, they told us about fentanyl, how quickly it is expanding in the country, how it has become common to mix it with other drugs, and how difficult it is to identify it since it has no smell or taste.

I learned many things in the training, I learned that the medication (Naloxone) only serves to reverse opioid overdoses. If you give it to someone who didn't take any opioids, it won't have any effect, but it won't do any harm either. It will not harm the person's system if no opioids are present. Likewise, they taught us that we should use Naloxone regardless of whether we know what the person consumed because nowadays it is very common for dealers to use fentanyl to cut other substances (they do it to make it cheaper or to give it a different “touch”).

The medicine is found in different presentations, as a nasal spray, as an injectable, and as a nasal spray with assembly. The sale of the drug is available without a prescription, it is freely available over the counter. In addition to getting, it in most pharmacies, it can be obtained on store shelves, or for free through public health programs.

I learned to identify the signs to know if someone is having an opioid overdose or not:

Likewise, I learned that the symptoms of cocaine and crystal overdose are different, they vary in certain things. In the case of a cocaine overdose, breathing and heartbeat are faster, there are muscle cramps, chest pain, seizures or convulsions, dehydration, and sweating accompanied by chills. During a crystal overdose, the face turns red, rapid breathing and eye movement, extreme paranoia, hallucinations, fever, trembling body, stroke, and cardiac arrest.

I learned that there are some steps to responding to an overdose. If the person does not react to anything (they were called by their name, shaken, and different things were done to “annoy them”), that is when we should start with the following steps:

• The first thing is to check your breathing

• Insert the device into the nostril and press firmly to release the medication

• Call 911 (you would think that the first thing to do is call emergencies, but it is more important to administer the medication, since every second counts)

• Do chest compressions (100 to 200 compressions per minute)

• If there is no response within 3 minutes, apply another dose

• Place it in the recovery position: place it on its side, with the arm up, placed as support for the head, and overlap the knee to prevent the person from rolling

The medication takes 3 minutes to take effect; if the person does not respond after 3 minutes, another dose should be administered. It should continue to be administered until the person wakes up, but usually, the person wakes up after the second dose.

They explained to us that, even though the medication was administered to the person, and they woke up, it was necessary to continue administering another dose until the ambulance arrived. The effect of the medication lasts approximately 30-90 minutes, but the substance that the person used, the particles of the substance are still present in the person's body, so they could overdose again. You should call the ambulance and put it on speaker, it is important not to lose sight of the person and administer the medication as quickly as possible (even before the call, since every second counts).