Your doctor might prescribe fentanyl if you have severe pain due to cancer, nerve damage, serious injury, or major surgery. A sharp increase in deaths from illegal fentanyl use started in 2005 and continued through 2007. Again in 2011, both deaths from illegal fentanyl use and police encounters with illegal fentanyl Sober living home use rose significantly.
The Fentanyl Fold Explained: Identifying This Critical Overdose Sign and Its Urgent Implications
- The fentanyl epidemic is driving historic levels of drug overdose deaths in the United States.
- The physical and mental effects of fentanyl vary depending on how it is used.
If you witness these signs, call 911 immediately and administer naloxone (Narcan) if available. During a fentanyl high, your brain is flooded with dopamine while your central nervous system slows down. You feel numb, detached, or euphoric, but basic functions like breathing, movement, and alertness become suppressed. The effect is fast and overwhelming due to fentanyl’s strength and speed of action.
Why the Fentanyl Fold Is So Dangerous
While waiting for emergency services, try to keep the person awake and breathing. Speak loudly to them, tap their shoulders firmly and try to position them to keep airways open. If they become unconscious, place them in the recovery position on their side to prevent choking.
Public Health
The fact that someone has survived to this point represents an opportunity that may fentanyl fold not come again — fentanyl’s unpredictability makes each use potentially fatal. People in this state hover dangerously close to complete respiratory failure. The difference between the Fenty Fold and fatal overdose often comes down to minutes.
Alternately called “the fentanyl fold” or “the fentanyl bend over,” videos and photos of people reportedly using the drug have spread through social media. In a medical setting, people take prescribed fentanyl for severe or chronic pain. Over time, however, the brain adapts to fentanyl, making it difficult for someone to experience positive emotions without the drug. As with other opioid drugs, fentanyl binds to the receptors in the brain that affect pain and emotion. This causes feelings of well-being (euphoria) and relaxation and relieves pain.
Every community has resources available for prevention, treatment, and recovery. Policy changes have dramatically expanded access to treatment. Recent reforms removed long-standing regulatory barriers (the “X-waiver”) that limited which healthcare providers could prescribe buprenorphine, an effective medication for opioid use disorder. When someone takes it (often https://casanobreweb.com.br/global-burden-national-institute-on-alcohol-abuse/ without knowing it’s there), it causes heavy sedation. One of the biggest concerns is that naloxone (Narcan) doesn’t work on xylazine. It might help with the fentanyl portion of an overdose, but the tranq effects remain.
- Illicit fentanyl is often mixed with other drugs like heroin, cocaine, xylazine, counterfeit prescription pills, or legitimate prescriptions.
- In a statement, China said it had some of the strictest drugs laws in the world and had conducted joint operations with the US in the past.
- An overdose can occur quickly, especially if the drug is mixed with other substances.
- Spotting it quickly can mean the difference between life and death, giving only a short window to act before it’s too late.
- Many opioid overdoses involve substance use, where people are unaware they’ve ingested fentanyl.
Nearly 108,000 persons in the U.S. died from drug-involved overdose in 2022, underscoring the critical need for awareness and effective treatment interventions. Prescription fentanyl is FDA -approved to treat severe pain related to surgery or complex pain conditions. Over the past decade, fentanyl that is made and distributed illegally has become increasingly common in the illegal drug supply and has contributed to a surge in drug overdose deaths. Research has not yet pinpointed what exactly causes the fenty fold, as fentanyl use is not known to directly affect the spine. Instead, it’s becoming clear that it is a neuromuscular side effect of synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Understanding the fentanyl fold is crucial for recognizing the signs of fentanyl use, understanding its dangers, and knowing when to seek emergency help.