Substance Abuse
Ms. Renee doesn’t mind sharing with you that she herself has experience with her own pitfalls of using drugs or alcohol. She feels strongly: if she made it out, so can you.
What is substance abuse? Substance abuse is defined as when you take drugs that are not legal. It’s also when you use alcohol, prescription medicine, and other legal substances too much or in the wrong way. Substance abuse differs from addiction. Many people with substance abuse problems are able to quit or can change their unhealthy behavior.
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Fentanyl Overdose Symptoms and How to Help
Drugs like fentanyl are unpredictable and dangerous. Always assume that any pill or drug not from a pharmacy could contain fentanyl. It’s critical to carry naloxone (Narcan, Kloxxado) and know how to use it. Naloxone is a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose, but it’s only temporary. Medical intervention is required immediately after administering/receiving naloxone.
The symptoms of Fentanyl Overdose include:
- Unconsciousness
- Tiny pupils
- Slow or shallow breathing
- Vomiting
- An inability to speak
- Faint heartbeat
- Limp arms and legs
- Pale skin
- Purple lips and fingernails
If you’re not sure if a person is overdosing, treat it like one and take these steps: call 911 immediately (47 states and D.C. have Good Samaritan laws, which protect people who call emergency services when they’re experiencing or witnessing an overdose)
In the meanwhile:
- Administer naloxone if available.
- Try to keep the person awake and breathing.
- Lay the person on their side to prevent choking.
- Stay with the person until emergency assistance arrives.
The best way to prevent a fentanyl overdose is to avoid illicit drug use or to seek immediate help for addiction.
Alcohol
Alcohol affects everyone differently. But if you drink too much and too often, your chance of an injury or accident goes up. Heavy drinking also can cause liver and other health problems or lead to a more serious alcohol disorder.
If you’re a man and you drink more than four drinks on any day or more than 14 in a week, you’re drinking too much. For women, heavy drinking means more than three drinks in one day or more than seven drinks a week.
One drink is:
- 12 ounces of regular beer
- 8-9 ounces of malt liquor, which has more alcohol than beer
- 5 ounces of wine
- 1 1/2 ounces of distilled spirits like vodka and whiskey
Signs of a Substance Use Problem:
When you first start taking a substance, you may think you can control how much you use. But over time, you may need more of the drug to get the same feeling or effect. For some people, that can lead beyond abuse to addiction. Some signs that you may have a problem with substance abuse include if you:
- Lack of interest in things you used to love
- Change your friends a lot
- Stop taking care of yourself
- Spend more time alone than you used to
- Eat more or less than normal
- Sleep at odd hours
- Have problems at work or with family
- Switch quickly from feeling good and bad
- Crave or strong desire to use the substance
