Surviving an overdose is a traumatic experience for the individual involved and their loved ones affected. It can be overwhelming to process and accept having undergone such a major health crisis.
The aftermath of a nonfatal overdose is a highly sensitive time for the person recovering, as well as their friends and family. As a loved one, it’s normal to feel a range of intense and fluctuating emotions, from sadness, anger, and fear to gratitude and hope. However, after such a serious scare, it is evermore important to support the person recovering with love and care. Physical and mental healing is in store for all involved, and it may take some time. Here are some tips for beginning the process.
How To Support A Loved One Following A Nonfatal Overdose
If a loved one suffers a nonfatal overdose, knowing how to react and respond can be a challenge. You may feel consumed with worry about them returning to substance use and possibly suffering another overdose. You may feel compelled to closely monitor their whereabouts and the people they interact with. You may also feel a sense of betrayal about the notion that your loved one’s decision-making could have left you to move forward in life without them. Feelings and thoughts such as these are overwhelming to process and digest.
While your feelings are valid, it’s important to remember that support after overdose is key to your loved one’s recovery. People in recovery for substance use disorder (SUD) need to establish a healthy support network they can rely on. One component of this support network is family and friends, though other components may include peers involved in the recovery community, healthcare professionals, and more. Although it is difficult to see your loved one suffer, it’s also impossible to imagine the deep-seated feelings of shame, guilt, and remorse, as well as trauma, that has influenced their substance use. Responding to their overdose with anger and guilt-tripping, for instance, will not provide a healthy foundation on which they can build a new life.
The suggestions below can help you keep yourself in a good headspace as you support your loved one following a nonfatal overdose.
Encourage Professional Addiction Treatment
The best way that people with substance use issues can avoid another overdose is by seeking treatment. If your loved one is already attending inpatient or outpatient treatment, encourage them to continue and complete their program. If they aren’t currently in treatment, provide them with information about treatment centers that are nearby and/or available under their health insurance. You may also encourage your loved one to attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings. If he or she is in outpatient treatment, they will likely be encouraged or required to attend these meetings by a counselor.
If your loved one is adamant about not going to treatment, you can set healthy boundaries, as discussed next. These boundaries protect you from what may or may not occur and establish consequences for not pursuing treatment.
Set Boundaries
Setting boundaries is an important part of providing support after overdose. If you are a parent, spouse, sibling, child, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or even friend, you may feel consumed with an unwavering fear of losing your loved one. You may be hyper-focused on them, which becomes expressed as control, and though it comes from a place of love, it can feel suffocating to the person recovering. At the same time, you might try to make your loved one as comfortable as possible with the hopes of keeping them happy and possibly dissuading them from future substance use. However, it’s important to remember that nothing you do or don’t do will keep a person sober, no matter how close they are to you. If someone wants to recover, it must be their own decision and no one can force them into making that decision. It’s hard, but acceptance is key.
People set boundaries to determine how other people are allowed to treat them. Setting boundaries in regards to your loved one will help you maintain your own peace of mind, regardless of what they do. To maintain healthy boundaries, you may need space from your loved one, especially at first, to process your own feelings without their influence. Your loved one suffered the overdose, but it isn’t their responsibility to manage your emotions in the aftermath, just as it’s not your responsibility to control what they do. It’s also important not to enable them; they need to find their way and that involves having consequences. None of this is simple, and seeking outside support is strongly encouraged.
You may seek counsel from a therapist or support network, such as Nar-Anon, Ala-Teen, Al-Anon, or Adult Children of Alcoholics & Dysfunctional Families, all of which are anonymous groups that provide support to people whose lives are affected by people with substance abuse issues. These groups can be attended in-person or online. While attending, participants learn how to not shoulder the blame for their loved one’s actions, and how to understand their loved one through the lens of a person suffering a disease, while also establishing boundaries to help them cope. You may also develop friendships with like-minded people who experience similar challenges while attending these groups.
Offer Emotional Support
When a person overdoses, it’s normal for them to experience guilt and shame about what happened. These deep feelings may cause them to isolate, and isolation is like poison for people with substance abuse issues. Even though friends and family members feel hurt about what happened to their loved one and their own suffering related to such a traumatic event, it’s important to remember that their loved one is certainly hurting too.
When you feel prepared to do so, have a conversation with your loved one about communication, what they need from you, and what you need from them. Work gradually on regaining trust and also talk about what that looks like. Express empathy for their situation and the fact that they’re hurting, and have patience for them throughout their journey, especially in the beginning. Throughout, remember that you can sympathize with your loved one’s experiences but you don’t have to take on their emotions.
Prepare For Potential Risks
Although challenging, it is important to prepare yourself for the potential risks after someone has a nonfatal overdose. Overdose is a terrible reality today for hundreds of thousands of families. Substances purchased on the street may contain contaminants that increase the potency of a drug, dramatically elevating a person’s risk of overdose.
To prepare for future incidents or reduce possible risk, consider the following:
- If you’re aware of your loved one’s drug of choice, familiarize yourself with the telltale signs of overdose, discussed below. If you notice any of these signs, dial 9-1-1 immediately.
- If your loved one abuses opioids, purchase naloxone, learn how to administer it, and always have it handy at home and/or in your vehicle.
- If your loved one lives with you after the overdose, you can choose to make periodic drug tests a condition of their being able to stay there.
- If money is or has been a concern for your loved one, do not leave cash, credit cards, jewelry, or anything of value unattended in the home and/or around your loved one. Preventing their access to potential funds to purchase substances may reduce their likelihood of doing so.
Education is important for family members and other supportive loved ones. Keep reading to learn more about overdoses, including identifying when one is happening, common substances involved, and more.
What Is An Overdose?
An overdose occurs when the amount of drugs and/or alcohol in a person’s body exceeds what they can handle. In some cases, the body responds by shutting down. Overdoses aren’t always fatal, but there’s no way to determine the outcome until after a substance is consumed. Even if an overdose isn’t fatal, the experience can produce long-term health effects. For this reason, using drugs and alcohol can be like a game of Russian roulette, especially because street drugs may be contaminated with fillers (products like baby powder, flour, or baking soda, used to add bulk) and other, more lethal drugs, like fentanyl or nitazenes.
Signs of an overdose differ depending on the substances involved and whether the substances are stimulants or depressants. When abused, nervous system depressants like benzodiazepines, alcohol, and opioids can cause breathing and heart rate to slow and even stop.
Signs that may indicate a person is overdosing from a depressant include:
- bluish-tinted lips, skin, and fingernails
- choking or gurgling sounds
- cold, pale, and/or clammy skin
- limpness
- slowed, shallowed, or stopped breathing
- slowed or abnormal heart rate
- vomiting
- unconsciousness
- unresponsiveness
Stimulants, like cocaine, methamphetamine, and ecstacy, cause the heart rate to quicken, thereby requiring the heart to work harder, which constricts blood vessels. In more severe cases, stimulant overdose can cause seizures, heart attack, or stroke.
Signs that may indicate a person is overdosing from a stimulant include:
- chest tightness or pain
- confusion
- fast heart rate
- hallucinations
- high blood pressure
- intense mood swings
- nausea and/or vomiting
- profuse sweating
- psychosis
- rapid breathing
- severe anxiety
- tremors and/or seizures
Physical And Mental Effects Of Overdose
The most serious complications in the aftermath of a nonfatal overdose are caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain. According to MedlinePlus, permanent brain damage can occur within four minutes of not receiving oxygen. The longer oxygen flow is reduced or impeded, the more severe the brain injury. Overdose can affect any part of the brain, and there’s no telling what the severity is until the regions affected are identified. There is also no way to predict if and to what extent the brain will recover.
Signs of brain damage after a nonfatal overdose may include:
- delays in cognition, i.e., thinking, concentrating, and decision-making, and short- and long-term memory
- hearing impairments
- issues with coordination and balance
- problems communicating, e.g., aphasia
- reduced motor control
- speech impairments
Drugs Commonly Linked To Overdose
Alcohol and all addictive street and legal drugs carry a risk of overdose. However, some substances have a higher potential for overdose than others.
A total of 107,941 overdose deaths were reported in 2022, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Synthetic opioids other than methadone were responsible for 73,838 of these deaths, which were mainly attributed to illegally manufactured fentanyl. NIDA also reported an increase in deaths due to stimulants. In 2022, there were 27,569 overdose deaths from cocaine and 34,022 overdose deaths from psychostimulants, primarily methamphetamine.
When discussing overdose, it’s also important to mention alcohol. Every day, six people die from an alcohol overdose, more commonly referred to as alcohol poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Alcohol poisoning occurs when a person drinks a large amount of alcohol in a short period of time, and is associated with binge drinking.
Find Freedom From Addiction At Bedrock Recovery
If you or a loved one is ready to start on the road to recovery, don’t wait. The professionals at Bedrock Recovery Center are here to help you.
