Signs and Symptoms
| Symptoms | BP | HR | RR | Temp | Pupils | bowel sounds | diaphoresis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| anticholinergic | ~ | up | ~ | up | up | down | down |
| cholinergic | ~ | ~ | unchanged | unchanged | down | up | up |
| opioid | down | down | down | down | down | down | down |
| sympathomimetic | up | up | up | up | up | up | up |
| sedative-hypnotic | down | down | down | down | ~ | down | down |
Signs and symptoms of an overdose varies depending on the drug or toxin exposure. The symptoms can often be divided into differing toxidromes. This can help one determine what class of drug or toxin is causing the difficulties.
Symptoms of opioid overdoses include slow breathing, heart rate and pulse. Opioid overdoses can also cause pinpoint pupils, and blue lips and nails due to low levels of oxygen in the blood. A person experiencing an opioid overdose might also have muscle spasms, seizures and decreased consciousness. A person experiencing an opiate overdose usually will not wake up even if their name is called or if they are shaken vigorously.
Read more about this topic: Drug Overdose
Famous quotes containing the words signs and, signs and/or symptoms:
“Time has an undertaking establishment on every block and drives his coffin nails faster than the steam riveters rivet or the stenographers type or the tickers tick out fours and eights and dollar signs and ciphers.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we take our place among them.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“The human condition is such that pain and effort are not just symptoms which can be removed without changing life itself; they are the modes in which life itself, together with the necessity to which it is bound, makes itself felt. For mortals, the “easy life of the gods” would be a lifeless life.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)