# 100

Livescience attempts to explain: Here's What Happens During a Fentanyl Overdose, in below hyperlink.

Previous posts on this blog have explained how Central Nervous System depressants do not produce "highs."  The descent these substances produce can be illustrated in the following way:

Glide (like an escalator going down):

Administration

         Respiration and heartrate slow, pupils constrict

                   Sleep

                             Coma

                                        Death if volume is sufficient, respiration control center ceases breathing

Elevator Shaft ( like an elevator descent with broken cables) :

Administration

Respiration and heartrate slow, pupils constrict

 Sleep

  Coma

  Death if volume is sufficient, respiration control center ceases breathing

The scientific and pharmacological stages illustrated in the "Glide" example occur most frequently in lower potency Heroin and some of those stages are not reached due to small doses or Narcan revival.

The stages illustrated by the "Elevator shaft" example come when opioids like Fentanyl and Carfentanil are administered because Fentanyl is 40 to 100 times more potent than Heroin and because Canfentanil is 100 times more potent than Fentanyl.  As the article indicates, revival from the more potent opioids requires more Narcan attempts and, sadly, they are not always successful.

http://www.livescience.com/58682-fentanyl-overdose-characteristics.html