FLINT, MICH. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — More than a hundred thousand people die from opioid overdoses each year. Many states and local communities around the country are developing programs to help save addicts. Keeping more people alive may enable us to get more of them into treatment.
Amy Dicicco nearly died at this motel near Detroit six years ago after a second opioid overdose.
Recovering Addict/Peer Recovery Coach, Amy DiCicco, “Literally, i was this close to not being here.”
Narcan, also called Naloxone, was FDA approved in 2019 to reverse opioid overdose. Free Narcan vending machines are being installed in many public places, in many states … like this bus station in Flint, Michigan and in Cincinnati, Ohio and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Carrie Chanter Director of Prevention, Health and Wellness at Genesee Health System in Flint, Michigan says, “We try to remove barriers and having it in a really open place like this will increase access and get it into the hands of people that need it.”
Narcan works for opioid classification prescriptions like morphine and methadone and street level drugs like heroin. Narcan goes into the brain and kicks it off, allowing that person to breathe again.
Chanter says, “There was a young lady who came up sobbing and said, ‘Gosh, I wish we had this about five years ago. I lost my mother to an overdose.’”
Overdose symptoms include: shallow breathing, unconsciousness, pale skin, limp arms and legs, inability to speak, small pupils, vomiting, and purple lips and fingers.
“Naloxone has no risk of becoming addicted to it. And if given to a person that is not experiencing opioid overdose, it will have no medical effect on them.” Explains Chanter.
There is currently no national database listing the free vending machines. Amy Dicicco wants to see them everywhere.
Amy says, “These vending machines, they’re a godsend.”
The National Institutes of Health says a high rate of Narcan distribution could avert 21 percent of opioid deaths.
Naloxone is now also available over the counter, which means you do not need a prescription from a doctor to get it.
Contributors to this news report include: Hillary Rubin, Producer; Roque Correa, Editor and Darius Smith, Videographer.
Sources:
https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates
https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/what-we-do/impact-nih-research/improving-health/substance-use
NARCAN TO THE RESCUE!
REPORT #3092
BACKGROUND: Addiction is a condition in which something that started as pleasurable now feels like something you can’t live without. Anyone who takes opioids is at risk of developing addiction. Personal history and length of time opioids are used play a role, but it’s impossible to predict who’s vulnerable to dependence on and abuse of these drugs. Doctors define drug addiction as an irresistible craving for a drug, out-of-control, and compulsive use of the drug, and continued use of the drug despite repeated, harmful consequences. Opioids are highly addictive, in large part because they activate powerful reward centers in the brain. Researchers have found that taking opioid medications for more than a few days increases the risk of long-term use, increasing the risk of addiction.
REVERSING OPIOID OVERDOSE: The FDA has approved Naloxone, which is a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose. It binds to opioid receptors and can reverse and block the effects of other opioids, such as heroin, morphine, and oxycodone. When someone is showing signs of opioid overdose, naloxone is administered as a temporary treatment and its effects do not last long. Therefore, it is critical to obtain medical intervention as soon as possible. The medication can be given by intranasal spray, intramuscular, subcutaneous, or intravenous injection. Candidates for naloxone are those who take high doses of opioids for long-term management of chronic pain; receive rotating opioid medication regimens; have been discharged from emergency medical care following opioid poisoning or intoxication; take certain extended-release or long-acting opioid medication; and those who have had a period of abstinence to include those recently released from incarceration.
BREAKTHROUGH IN UNDERSTANDING ADDICTION: Jun Wang, associate professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics at the Texas A&M University School of Medicine, and members of his laboratory, have identified a specific brain circuit that characterizes how fentanyl affects the brain. They specifically looked at the striatum, which is a brain region that controls voluntary behaviors and is heavily implicated in drug relapse. Many people relapse because of depression, anxiety, and other negative emotions that accompany withdrawal. Suppressing these negative emotional states could greatly increase a person’s chance of overcoming opioid use disorder. The findings of this research provide new insights into the mechanism underlying opioid-induced negative emotional states and pave the way for potential treatments for opioid use disorders. The study provides new understanding of the brain circuits involved in opioid addiction and withdrawal and could lead to the development of new treatments.
(Source: https://today.tamu.edu/2023/02/20/researchers-identify-breakthrough-in-understanding-fentanyl-abuse/)
* For More Information, Contact:
Amy DiCicco
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