LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – On Tuesday, the Health District of Southern Nevada revealed that Xylazine—also known as “Tranq”—has been detected in illicit drugs in the valley.
It’s a dangerous non-opiate that Narcan cannot reverse the effects of.
Report: Health officials detect Xylazine in Southern Nevada (fox5vegas.com)
This prompted FOX5 to check in with an emergency medical provider about exactly when and how Narcan should be used.
“By us being able to get it in the hands of more people, it’s allowing us to use it in those emergency situations,” said Glen Simpson, senior director of Community Ambulance. “What the education’s not necessarily doing is telling you when not to push Narcan.”
Simpson says there seems to be some confusion about when and how to administer Narcan—meant to treat opioid overdoses only from drugs like heroin, fentanyl and codeine.
“Somebody who’s unconscious, unresponsive, their respirations are shallow, their pulse may be weak,” he said. “That is clinically the patient we want to administer Narcan to.”
These are all symptoms that could indicate an opioid overdose — or a number of other health conditions not treatable with Narcan.
“For example, somebody who’s going into a diabetic coma may exhibit those exact same signs, cardiac arrest are going to exhibit those same signs. So those are the individuals that Narcan’s not going to work,” said Simpson.
Another misuse of Narcan may be administering it to someone passed out drunk with no opioids in their system.
However, if there’s even a chance that the person could have ingested an opioid, prescribed or possibly laced, Simpson says go ahead and administer the Narcan because the risk is relatively low.
“There are no long-term side effects that we are aware of,” said Simpson. “Short-term side effects are very minimal, the most severe being someone that may be allergic to it.”
If you do administer Narcan, call 911 immediately.
“I think one of the misconceptions is that once you give Narcan, and that person wakes up, that we’re good, we’re good to go,” said Simpson. “It’s very common that depending how much opiate is in their system, that they may go unconscious and unresponsive again within a matter of minutes.”
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