tol is Tolerance.
The application of medication isn’t exact. There are many uncertain variables at play when someone is dying. It’s quite possible that its not the only reason the patient is crashing or they’ve taken what some call a ‘heroic’ dose and its simply wasn’t enough.
Krudler@lemmy.world 6 days ago
Tolerance is part of the equation, but breathing and circulation play a huge role too
If a nasal spray is administered but the person isn’t breathing it will still be absorbed, but if oxygen levels are low af it’s going to take more time, therefore you keep pumping the narcan until you’re sure. When I’m standing over an OD’ing street kid, I’m taking NO chances.
Same thing with intramuscular injections. Yes the drug is in the body but circulation helps a lot and if the heart has slowed or stopped… well. You keep pumping shots of narcan until they die or come back.
Final most important is that the user or person attending may believe the user took fent, but they probably had a dangerous street concoction consisting of fent + any other number of who-knows-what. Often referred to as “down”. There’s absolutely no way to know if they need more narcan because of tolerance or something else
southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 6 days ago
That’s pretty much exactly what I was told back when narcan first started being available easily for pain patients and such. There’s too many factors involved to piss around with trying to calculate anything in the time you have available to make it work, so you just give more and pump that damn chest.
Krudler@lemmy.world 5 days ago
There is no maximum dose of Narcan and more won’t harm a person. The general guideline is every 2-3 minutes until revival or death.
Chest compressions can kill an overdosing person if their heart is still beating, so not always chest compressions. This is the scariest decision to me…
I’ve worked in crisis shelters so I have wayyyyyyy more exposure to OD’ing people than anybody ever should :(
Anticorp@lemmy.world 6 days ago
It sounds like you’re actually saying that at the end, the correct amount was the amount it took to revive them.