"Many people abusing opioids experience "nodding," a symptom of severe drowsiness resembling a person falling into a deep sleep, but really falling into a semiconscious state after taking drugs (commonly opioids like heroin or fentanyl). Nodding off is a dangerous, often involuntary, condition characterized by the head nodding forward while the person drifts between consciousness and sleep. Nodding may indicate a severe lack of oxygen and an excess of carbon dioxide preceding an overdose."
"Drug overdose deaths have dropped significantly, but remain unacceptably high. Interruptions in the drug supply chain and increased availability of naloxone for reversing overdoses have been major factors in progress. But for every fatal drug overdose, there are many more often ignored, non-fatal overdoses, and their immediate as well as cumulative effects are very dangerous. Opioid misuse and addiction, with and without overdoses, damage important memory centers in the brain."
Nodding represents severe opioid-induced drowsiness and a semiconscious state that can indicate significant oxygen deprivation and carbon dioxide retention prior to overdose. Opioid-overdose-related brain injuries resemble global hypoxic-ischemic injuries seen after near-drowning, choking, or cardiac arrest, affecting oxygen-sensitive brain regions and important memory centers. Repeated episodes of subclinical overdose or "on the nod" events can contribute to cognitive impairment, arrhythmias, and anoxic brain injury, particularly with fentanyl. Overdose deaths have declined but remain high; naloxone availability has increased and many more non-fatal overdoses occur for each fatal overdose.
Read at Psychology Today
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