Pubdate: Fri, 04 Mar 2005
Source: North Shore Sunday (Beverly, MA)
Contact:  2005 Community Newspapers Inc.
Website: http://www.northshoresunday.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3465
Author:  Galen Moore and Frank Carini
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?132 (Heroin Overdose)

HOW NALOXONE WORKS

Heroin, like OxyContin and other opiates, binds to opiate receptors in the 
brain, stopping the receptors' other functions. In an overdose, too many 
receptors shut down, and the brain can no longer tell the lungs to breathe. 
Victims of the most severe overdoses turn blue around the lips and 
fingernails  from lack of oxygen flowing to the brain.

Naloxone,  an anti-overdose drug also known by the brand name Narcan, 
blocks heroin and  other opiates from reaching the brain's receptors, 
restoring a person's  breathing function almost immediately. But an opiate 
overdose may cause other  emergency medical conditions, such as cardiac 
arrest, that naloxone does not  address.
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