Last edited Sat May 12, 2018, 09:57 PM - Edit history (1)
I think what they're making sound like a 'violent' reaction was actually a description of the phenomenon of 'kicking'.
There's a reason they call it 'kicking dope' ... a person thrown into massive withdrawals by naloxone dosing basically loses control over muscles and just starts flailing around ... it's not (necessarily) that the person is attempting to cause harm to others cause their 'high was taken away'. In fact, they are made instantly, hopelessly dope-sick, and loss of motor function, with violent-looking muscle spasms are part and parcel.
He probably also shit himself, not to be too graphic, but ... that's pretty typical.
Granted, the naloxone may've well saved his life, but ... I've seen what happens up close, and it is NO FUN for the person getting the shot AT ALL. It's pretty accurate to describe it as torturing someone.
ON EDIT: In a sense, it's an 'unnatural' situation that's created by giving someone this drug, mainly because of the phenomenon of 'half-lives' of drugs when the body is metabolizing them normally.
Depending on the opioid (methadone probably being the most 'special case'), while it typically only takes 4-12 hours before the user normally begins 'withdrawals', the drug is really not really 'fully gone' from their system for 3-5 days, so that's about how long it normally takes for 'full-blown withdrawals' to be in effect when someone goes without.
But what one is essentially doing to a dependent person by giving them naloxone, is to take them from a state of 'satisfaction' (though, granted, perhaps dangerously satisfied), to a state of being about 3-5 days into 'cold turkey withdrawals' ... literally within the space of moments.
It's going to be especially rough on people who've been taking methadone regularly, because the very thing that makes it an effective 'addiction treatment' ... it's very long half-life ... also has the side-effect of making it VERY painful to have it's effects suddenly taken away. They call Methadone 'the orange handcuffs' for a reason ... it's literally the WORST withdrawals of anything in the world, from what I've read.
To be clear, I'm not saying one should hesitate to save another's life with naloxone, only that its effect should be 'expected', and some discretion be used ... a complete novice, giving it to someone willy-nilly, only because the user has nodded off ... may not turn out well for all involved.
Really, sadly ... the only reason that the general public is being sorta 'given this drug to use for emergencies' is because the epidemic has reached the point it has. Optimally, a qualified professional should be making the decision whether a user actually needs to be administered this powerful opioid antagonist ... which IS going to cause SERIOUS and immediate (albeit, perhaps life-saving) distress to the person receiving it.
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