On Aug. Fentanyl — in powder and pill form — is a significant U. Over the past two months, working in concert with federal, state and local law enforcement partners, DEA seized 1. The amount of deadly fentanyl-laced fake pills seized by DEA since Aug. These recent seizures add to the more than 9. During the two-month law enforcement surge targeting fake pills, DEA also seized kilograms of fentanyl powder: enough to make tens of millions of lethal pills.
DEA seized weapons and many of the enforcement actions are tied to violence and overdose deaths. Additionally, DEA seized 4, kilograms of methamphetamine and kilograms of cocaine. That's one reason most doctors won't renew a prescription unless they see the patient — they want to examine the patient to make sure he or she isn't getting addicted. If a doctor prescribes a pain medicine, stimulant, or CNS depressant, follow the directions exactly.
Also be sure to:. Finally, never use someone else's prescription. And don't allow anyone to use yours. Not only are you putting others at risk, but you could suffer too: Pharmacists may be stopped from refilling a prescription if a medicine has been used up before it should be.
And if you're found giving medicine to someone else, it's considered a crime and you could find yourself in court. Larger text size Large text size Regular text size. Which Drugs Are Abused? The most commonly used prescription drugs fall into three classes: 1. Opioids Examples: oxycodone OxyContin , hydrocodone Vicodin , and meperidine Demerol Medical uses: Opioids are used to treat pain or relieve coughs or diarrhea.
How they work: Opioids attach to opioid receptors in the central nervous system the brain and the spinal cord , preventing the brain from receiving pain messages. Different opioids can be more or less severe. Where it may take a few minutes for someone who just took heroin to feel the effects of an overdose, someone who uses fentanyl will feel it within seconds. These powerful opioids are the reason the President of the United States declared a national opioid epidemic in Naloxone , popularly sold by the brand name of Narcan, is an opioid agonist that can block the effects that opioids have on the body.
Narcan is available without prescription across the country. An alcohol overdose happens when you drink more alcohol than your body can safely process. Generally, the body can safely process around one unit of pure alcohol per hour estimated to be the amount of alcohol in a small shot of liquor, a half pint of beer, or a third of a glass of wine. If an individual consumes more alcohol than this in shorter time periods, the alcohol builds up in the body due to the body not being able to metabolize the alcohol fast enough, and an accumulation of alcohol spreads throughout the body.
This may lead to an alcohol overdose, better known as alcohol poisoning. Additional risks that can occur due to consuming larger amounts of alcohol than the body can metabolize are:. Make a Call Stimulants, such as meth or cocaine , work on the CNS, but in the opposite way of opioids. They will increase the heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and breathing.
A stimulant overdose occurs when the cardiovascular system, respiratory system, or blood circulation rate is overworked to the point of breaking down. There are no FDA approved treatments for stimulant overdose. However, there are medications that can help reduce or stabilize elevated vital symptoms, such as blood pressure, pulse, body temperature and any respiratory irregularities.
There are also medications that can be used to stop an individual who is experiencing convulsions or seizures, such as anti-epileptic medications. Getting the individual to the nearest emergency room can save the persons life. Remember, that being able to treat an overdose at home is not a replacement for a hospital. Even if the moment has passed, and the victim seems fine, there is still a chance that something is going on that cannot be seen by the human eye.
Taking the victim to the hospital, can mean the difference between life and death. Luckily, medicines can replace what's missing like insulin or they can block production of a chemical when the body is making too much of it. Most of the time when kids get sick, the illness comes from germs that get into the body. The body's immune system works to fight off these invaders. But the germs and the body's natural way of germ fighting, like getting a fever, can make a person feel ill.
In many cases, the right kind of medicine can help kill the germs and help the person feel better. People take medicines to fight illness, to feel better when they're sick, and to keep from getting sick in the first place. When deciding which medicine to give a patient, a doctor thinks about what is causing the patient's problem.
Someone may need to take more than one type of medicine at the same time — one to fight off an infection and one to help the person feel better, for example. When it comes to fighting illnesses, there are many types of medicines.
Antibiotics say: an-ty-by-AH-tiks are one type of medicine that a lot of kids have taken. Antibiotics kill germs called bacteria , and different antibiotics can fight different kinds of bacteria. So if your doctor found out that streptococcal bacteria were causing your sore throat, he or she could prescribe just the right antibiotic. But while the antibiotic is starting to fight the bacteria, you might still feel achy and hot, so the doctor might tell your parent to also give you a pain reliever.
Pain relievers can't make you well, but they do help you feel better while you're getting well.
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