We often hear the phrase “lethal dose”. Most people understand what it is. This word means how much of something you need to eat, drink, or inject in order to die.
1. You can die from drinking 3 bottles of vodka at once. This is 5-6 ppm or 450 ml of pure alcohol. The toxic equivalent (this is what the lethal dose is called) was calculated through animal experiments and observations. It is 7.8 g per kilogram of weight.
2. Vitamins are also lethal in large quantities. 5000 pieces - and you're dead. An overdose of different vitamins manifests itself in different symptoms, for example, Vitamin B 1 causes disturbances in the functioning of the kidneys and liver, an overdose of vitamin B 12 increases blood clotting, and an excess of vitamin E can lead to gastric necrosis and stroke. A simultaneous overdose of vitamins A and D will lead to kidney failure.
But if you take this amount of vitamins per day, then, most likely, the kidneys and liver will cope, and the excess will be excreted in the urine.
3. The lethal dose of table salt is 3 grams per kilogram of weight. This is approximately 250 g in one sitting. This dose will cause increased blood pressure and swelling of the brain. But if you drink salt with water, then death can be avoided.
4. Coffee. To drink coffee to death, you need to drink almost 5 liters of it, without breaks. 10 grams of caffeine (this is exactly what is contained in 4.5 liters of good espresso) is considered lethal. But it must be taken into account that all caffeine must be absorbed. The good thing about caffeine is that often in case of an overdose the excess is eliminated. A large amount of caffeine causes euphoria, a surge of vigor. Loss of strength occurs after 6-10 hours.
5. It turns out that even drinking plenty of water can cause death. A dose of 7 liters is considered lethal. Unfortunately, there is medical evidence for this. With excess water, the water-salt balance is disrupted, the functioning of many organs is disrupted, which leads to death.
6. To die from the sweet death, you need to eat a kilogram of milk chocolate. This is approximately 700 grams of sugar.
How does this happen
If you eat a lot of sugar, insulin is produced to lower blood sugar. But with such an amount, insulin does not cope with its task, then sugar is excreted in the urine. In this case, fluid is pulled out from all organs, dehydration occurs, which leads to death.
7. It turns out that in order to take a lethal dose of salt, you need to eat 3 sticks of sausage. When there is an excess of salt, the body becomes dehydrated, which is the cause of death.
8. There is even a lethal dose of carrots. This is possible from an excess of vitamin A. But it is unlikely that anyone is able to eat half a centner of carrots at a time.
9. Rhubarb contains oxalic acid, which is a neurotoxin. The lethal dose is 25 g. This is how much oxalic acid is contained in 5 kg of rhubarb.
10. Among the foods that can kill you are nutmeg (hallucinogen), potatoes (glycoalkaloids), almonds (hydrogen cyanide), raw honey (andromedotoxin), tuna (due to the accumulation of mercury in it).
After reading the article, you can conclude that you can die from anything. In fact, this is true. But who in their right mind would think of eating a quarter pack of salt, even if you sprinkle it on 50 kg of carrots?
When they talk about cardiac arrest, they mean clinical death. Within 5–6 minutes a person can still be resuscitated and saved, but at the 7th minute brain cells begin to die. There are many causes of death, which include drugs that cause cardiac arrest. We are talking about glycosides, antibiotics, vitamins, etc.
General information about drugs that cause cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest is called clinical death. If the heart fails to restart within 5-10 minutes, the neurons of the brain will begin to die, which will mean the final and irrevocable death of the person.
In medicine, drugs are often used that lead to cardiac arrest in case of an overdose or with a cumulative effect if the liver or kidneys cannot cope with their elimination due to constant use. Doctors should be aware of the potential dangers of such drugs. Therefore, these medications are prescribed according to clear indications, and for each patient an accurate calculation is made of the dosage permissible for him, which could only have a therapeutic effect, without side effects.
Sometimes drugs that stop the heart only exhibit these properties when they interact with other drugs the person is using or with alcohol and drugs. The same narcotic drugs that are used in large doses for purely medical purposes for unbearable pain cause depression, which can result in complete cardiac arrest. Strong psychotropic, hypnotic and anticonvulsant drugs act similarly.
All drugs that can cause cardiac arrest must either be used in medical hospitals or dispensed only on the basis of prescriptions for which strict accounting forms are used.
The following heart drugs that cause cardiac arrest may be dangerous:
- potassium preparations;
- drugs that relieve heartburn;
- cardiac glycosides;
- vitamins;
- antibiotics;
- muscle relaxants;
- psychotropic drugs.
What should you do if the patient has no heartbeat?
Cardiac arrest can be suspected if a person suddenly loses consciousness and does not respond to external stimuli (beat him on the cheeks, clap his hands loudly, sprinkle water on his face). So, if someone has lost consciousness in front of you, you need to immediately check the pulse in the main vessels. To do this, use your fingertips to feel the middle of the neck (Adam's apple in men) and move it to the side until it touches the sternocleidomastoid muscle. It is along its course that the carotid arteries are located (photo 1).
It is also necessary to check whether the person is breathing or not. How to do this is shown in photo 2.
By placing your ear to the victim's nose and looking at his chest, you can hear breathing and notice the rise and fall of the chest.
If there is no heartbeat or spontaneous breathing, you should immediately call an ambulance and immediately begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The actions consist of indirect cardiac massage, which is performed by chest compressions, and artificial ventilation of the lungs using mouth-to-mouth or mouth-to-nose breathing. If there is only one resuscitator, compressions are preferred. It is important not to stop providing assistance until the team arrives or cardiac activity is restored, because within 6-10 minutes irreversible hypoxic changes occur in the brain, which leads to the death of its cells and severe neurological disorders in the future (if the measures are successful).
In many countries, defibrillators are installed in public places so that immediate assistance can be provided to a dying person. This significantly increases the chances of resuscitating a person effectively and in a timely manner.
Cardiac glycosides
Cardiac glycosides are a group of drugs that activate contractions of the heart muscle. They act similarly to natural substances such as caffeine, adrenaline, camphor, etc. These are complex organic substances of plant origin that have a selective cardiotonic effect, therefore they are usually used for heart diseases, for example, chronic or acute heart failure. The glycosides contain adenosine triphosphatase, which is responsible for the transfer of potassium, sodium and calcium ions, which is necessary for electrolyte and energy metabolic processes in the myocardium. In addition, ATP is necessary in the process of absorption of creatine phosphate.
Such drugs are used in the form of solutions intended for intravenous administration, which should be carried out in a hospital with simultaneous ECG monitoring. With their help, the necessary therapeutic effect is achieved, and if maintenance therapy is then required, the patient continues to take them, but in tablets, not forgetting to regularly visit the attending physician, take a biochemical blood test and undergo an ECG test.
Not only an overdose of drugs, but even their normal content in the blood can lead to cardiac arrest, although it should be recognized that more often it is overdoses that lead to cardiac arrest. For example, people suffering from oxygen starvation - hypoxia, hypercalcemia, hyperkalemia, renal failure, post-infarction cardiosclerosis, hypoproteinemia, hypomagnesemia, hypothyroidism are at risk. Also, the combined use of cardiac glycosides and certain other medications can lead to cardiac arrest.
The danger of an overdose of cardiac glycosides is that most often it causes death. Therefore, if after taking such drugs you begin to experience headaches, heart rhythm disturbances, hallucinations and dizziness, you should immediately consult a doctor, since it is not possible to quickly remove the drug at home.
An overdose of cardiac glycosides can be detected no later than 2-3 days after the death of a person, after which they cease to be detected.
How to trigger a heart attack
Blood vessels supply blood to the heart muscle, but if blood clots, plaques or spasms form in them, the blood supply to this vital organ is disrupted.
A serious condition develops, which is accompanied by the death of part of the heart - necrosis. Doctors call this condition myocardial infarction.
In this state, minutes count, and the probability of death, which is medically called coronary or cardiac, is very high.
The most common cause of a heart attack is atherosclerosis: plaques form in the walls of blood vessels from certain fats (mainly cholesterol), which gradually clog the arteries and prevent blood from circulating normally throughout the body. The likelihood of myocardial infarction is highest in men, in people over fifty years of age, with high levels of cholesterol in the blood and high blood pressure, in smokers and overweight people.
Heart Attack Symptoms
The main symptom of a heart attack is pain on the left side of the body: it can be localized in the chest, in the left shoulder, under the left shoulder blade, in the left side of the neck. Sometimes painful sensations appear in the jaw or ear. They are accompanied by numbness and a feeling of pressure. The pain can be different in nature: aching, sharp, burning.
Very often, during myocardial infarction, shortness of breath is observed, regardless of physical activity: it becomes difficult for the patient to breathe even in a calm state. This is often accompanied by weakness and rapid heartbeat, and some people experience increased sweating.
A heart attack often causes nausea and upper abdominal pain, but other symptoms of poor digestion are not associated with a heart attack. Dizziness is a fairly common symptom.
A person who has survived a myocardial infarction suffers from anxiety and fear, which causes insomnia. Some patients have a feeling that they are “out of place.”
Their anxiety increases even with mild symptoms.
Doctors say that a heart attack is not characterized by quickly disappearing pain - if after five minutes the pain goes away, then it is not a myocardial infarction. It is characterized by constant pain, which does not increase with coughing, sudden turning of the body, deep breathing - these are signs of neuralgic conditions.
In rare cases, it is impossible to determine a heart attack: the patients themselves do not notice it, since it is not accompanied by pain or other symptoms. Such a heart attack is called “silent”, but it is more dangerous than a regular one: disturbances in the functioning of the heart continue to develop due to lack of treatment.
Any medications have side effects. The most dangerous drugs are those that cause cardiac arrest.
Cardiac arrest is called clinical death. And, if you don’t start the heart within 5 minutes, brain cells begin to break down. In this case, it is no longer possible to save the person.
Medicines that can cause cardiac arrest:
- Potassium.
- Cardiac glycosides.
- Medicines for the treatment of heartburn.
- Muscle relaxants.
- Antibiotics.
- Vitamins.
- Psychotropic drugs.
Glycosides are herbal medications that increase heart rate. Their effect is similar to that of caffeine and adrenaline on the body. These drugs are prescribed to patients with acute or chronic heart failure.
The active substance of glycosides is adenosine triphosphatase. This is an element necessary for electrolyte and energy metabolic processes. In addition, the absorption of creatine depends on it.
As a rule, cardiac arrest is caused by an overdose of glycosides.
But in the presence of certain factors, even the minimum dose of the drug poses a threat to the patient’s life. So, special caution should be shown to people with disorders such as:
- 1. Hypercalcemia.
- 2. Hypomagnesemia.
- 3. Hypokalemia.
- 4. Kidney failure.
- 5. Hypothyroidism.
- 6. Hypoxia.
- 7. Post-infarction cardiosclerosis.
- heart rhythm disturbance;
- dizziness;
- headache;
- hallucinations.
If a person taking glycosides develops at least 1 of these symptoms, they should immediately consult their doctor or call an ambulance. Death can only be prevented if the drug is quickly removed from the body. It is impossible to do this at home.
Potassium in large doses depresses cardiac activity, up to cardiac arrest. Thus, in the USA, 14 g of pure potassium is administered intravenously to criminals sentenced to death.
People with kidney, cardiovascular or gastrointestinal diseases are allowed to take potassium-containing drugs only as prescribed by a doctor and with extreme caution.
Symptoms of potassium overdose:
- tingling in the limbs;
- disorientation;
- decrease in blood pressure;
- heart rhythm disturbance;
- weakness;
- coma.
As in the case of an overdose of glycosides, assistance to the patient can only be provided in a hospital setting.
Do not forget that a lack of potassium is just as dangerous as its excess. The lack of potassium does not allow glucose to be converted into energy, starvation of all body tissues occurs, which prevents their contraction. When the heart muscle stops contracting, the person dies.
Heartburn medications can cause sudden cardiac arrest if taken in large quantities. Signs of overdose:
- heart rate disturbance;
- convulsions;
- neurological changes;
- heart failure.
Important! Taking medications for heartburn while breastfeeding is strictly prohibited! This can cause the baby's heart to stop working as these substances pass into breast milk.
Medicines used for general anesthesia are called muscle relaxants. An overdose leads to disruption of the supply of nerve impulses, and the heart stops. According to statistics, only 10% of patients can be saved.
In addition, even minimal doses of muscle relaxants should not be used if there is a high likelihood of an allergic reaction. Otherwise, there will be anaphylactic shock, which often ends in death.
Careful selection of anesthesia is necessary for people with diseases of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
In patients suffering from allergies, heart failure, diabetes and angina, taking antibiotics can cause cardiac arrest. Elderly people are also at risk. Antibiotics such as:
- azithromycin;
- clarithromycin;
- erythromycin;
- other macrolide antibiotics.
According to studies conducted by Scottish scientists, clarithromycin, if used for diseases of the lower respiratory tract, increases the risk of complications from the cardiovascular system. The paradox is that it is the most popular general antibiotic.
In addition, you need to remember that even after completing the course of treatment, the risk of complications remains for a long time.
It would seem, what harm can vitamins cause? After all, these are medications aimed at protecting the body. However, everything is good in moderation; excess vitamins often cause systemic disorders. So, too much calcium disrupts the functioning of the heart and blood vessels. And Vikasol, used to prevent bleeding (during operations), in overdose leads to the formation of blood clots.
This group includes drugs for the treatment of brain disorders such as:
- 1. Tranquilizers.
- 2. Antidepressants.
- 3. Sedatives.
These drugs are indicated for people suffering from diseases such as epilepsy and schizophrenia. If the recommended doses of drugs are exceeded, death may result from cardiac arrest.
Thus, tranquilizers not only depress emotions and thought processes, but also cause a sudden contraction of the facial and heart muscles. In addition, pills for schizophrenia provoke akatasia (psychosis), which results in increased blood pressure and arrhythmia. In people with heart pathologies, this can lead to cardiac arrest.
Sleeping pills (sedative drugs) are dangerous only in large quantities.
An overdose of antidepressants is characterized by such symptoms as:
Some of these medications may cause suicidal thoughts. Therefore, using any medications without first consulting a specialist is life-threatening.
A major analysis of data on potential heart attack triggers has found that most substances and activities, such as coffee, alcohol, sex and inhalation of certain substances, that we encounter every day are responsible.
Because air pollution affects most people, it ranked first on the list of potential heart attack triggers, accounting for 7.4 percent of all heart attacks.
Coffee is linked to 5 percent of attacks, alcohol to another 5 percent, and cocaine use to just 1 percent, European researchers say.
Among daily activities, overdoing physical activity was associated with 6.2 percent of heart attacks, while indulging in heavy food caused about 2.7 percent and sex about 2.2 percent of heart attacks.
The researchers emphasized that the risk of a heart attack from any of these factors in a given person at any given time is extremely small. But when considered in the context of a population, they can have weight.
For example, air pollution is a small risk factor for heart attack, but because so many people are exposed to smog, it causes more heart attacks than other potential risk factors such as alcohol and cocaine.
Small risk factors can be very relevant because they are widespread in the population, explained Tim S. Neurot
Tim S. Nawrot, assistant professor of epidemiology at
the Center for Environmental Sciences
at
Hasselt University
in Belgium.
Based on the study's findings, it can be concluded that improving air quality and reducing traffic will not only be good for the environment and improve quality of life, but also reduce the incidence of heart attacks.
Common risk factors for heart attack
The team analyzed 36 studies examining environmental factors that may cause a heart attack. In their review, known as a meta-analysis, the researchers looked at common hazards that could reveal how high the risk of these factors is.
In terms of risk, scientists found that air pollution can increase the risk of a heart attack by 5 percent, while coffee increases the risk by 1.5 times, alcohol by 3 times, and cocaine use by 23 times.
However, because only a small number of people use cocaine, while hundreds of millions of people are affected by air pollution every day, air pollution causes more heart attacks in the population than cocaine.
An emotional state can also lead to a heart attack. For example, negative emotions were associated with 4 percent of heart attacks, while anger in particular was associated with more than 3 percent of heart attacks. And even positive emotions are associated with 2.4 percent of heart attacks, the researchers noted.
Although second-hand smoke was not included in the analysis, the effect is expected to be of the same magnitude as that caused by air pollution. When smoking was banned in public places, heart attacks fell by 17 percent.
At the same time, the researchers emphasize that major risk factors such as cocaine are extremely harmful for the relatively small number of people who are exposed to them.
Simply because they are not common, they do not cause as many heart attacks.
Conversely, although the risk per individual from air pollution is moderate or small, the number of heart attacks caused by air pollution in a city can be significant.
How not to miss the signs of an upcoming heart attack? First aid for heart attack
Sources: https://xn--h1aeegmc7b.xn--p1ai/holesterin/ateroskleroz/lechenie-ateroskleroza-sosudov-nizhnih-konechnostey-v-domashnih-usloviyah
Source: https://cardiologiya.com/bolezni/drugiye/kak-sprovoczirovat-serdechnyj-pristu.html
Potassium-containing drugs
Potassium is a very important element involved in intracellular metabolism, regulation of heart contractions, water and electrolyte balance, it normalizes osmotic pressure. With the help of potassium, nerve impulses are transmitted between neurons.
Patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases, and stomach ulcers should definitely visit a doctor before taking potassium-containing medications. Drugs that cause cardiac arrest should alert you to the following symptoms:
- tingling in the limbs;
- disorientation;
- a sharp drop in blood pressure;
- weakness;
- arrhythmia (change from tachycardia to bradycardia);
- coma.
Both excess and lack of potassium in the body can lead to cardiac arrest. In the latter case, the metabolism of glucose with the release of energy becomes difficult, as a result of which all the muscles of the body, including the myocardium, begin to experience energy starvation and stop contracting, which leads to cardiac arrest.
In a number of US states, instead of the electric chair for the death penalty, an injection of a “horse dose” of potassium is used, so it can be considered a recognized, albeit not very humane, drug for stopping a person’s heart. A potassium drug is injected into the vein of the condemned person in an amount far exceeding the lethal dose, as a result of which cardiac activity is gradually suppressed until cardiac arrest occurs.
Is it possible to poison a person and not leave any traces?
The world's leading toxicologists, unfortunately, point out the opposite: it is to poison a person so that it is impossible to suspect the fatal effects of poisons on his body. Everything will look as if the person died of natural causes. It is enough just to disrupt the normal ratio of enzymes - and you’re done. Adequate functioning of processes in the body becomes impossible, which is why the victim dies.
One enzyme is produced, performs its function, and is transformed into another enzyme, which destroys the first. Similar processes occur in the body continuously. If, for example, you introduce a huge dose of some destructive enzyme that interacts in tandem with another enzyme, the consequences will be very disastrous. It literally “burns” its partner, which the body cannot do without. This is exactly how insulin and sugar work - faithful partners. If you give insulin in large quantities, the sugar that facilitates vital reactions in the body will be destroyed, and the person will die. During the autopsy, the expert will not find anything foreign. Everything will look as if the death occurred due to natural causes.
Muscle relaxants
Muscle relaxants are drugs that reduce muscle tone. They are used in medicine under general anesthesia. H-cholinergic receptors are blocked at the synapses, which is why the transmission of nerve impulses to the skeletal muscles, as well as to the myocardium, is blocked, which leads to cardiac arrest. In 90% of cases, an overdose of muscle relaxants ends in death due to cardiac arrest. Some people are allergic to such drugs, and when they are administered, they develop anaphylactic shock, resulting in cardiac arrest. In people suffering from cardiovascular diseases and respiratory pathologies, an overdose of muscle relaxants causes tachycardia, arterial hypertension, or, conversely, bradycardia, which can result in cardiac arrest.
Signs of heart failure before death
Cardiac arrest is often a complication after suffering a cardiovascular disease. Due to acute heart failure, the heart can suddenly stop functioning. After the first signs appear, death can occur within 1.5 hours.
Previous dangerous symptoms:
- shortness of breath (up to 40 movements per minute);
- pressing pain in the heart area;
- the skin becomes gray or bluish and becomes colder;
- convulsions due to hypoxia of brain tissue;
- separation of foam from the oral cavity;
- feeling of fear.
Many people experience symptoms of exacerbation of the disease within 5-15 days. Heart pain, lethargy, shortness of breath, weakness, malaise, arrhythmia. Shortly before death, most people experience fear. You should immediately contact a cardiologist.
Signs during an attack:
- weakness, fainting due to the high rate of ventricular contraction;
- involuntary muscle contraction;
- facial redness;
- pale skin (it becomes cold, bluish or gray);
- inability to determine pulse, heartbeat;
- lack of reflexes of the pupils, which have become wide;
- irregularity, convulsive breathing, sweating;
- loss of consciousness is possible, and after a few minutes breathing cessation.
In case of death, against the background of seemingly good health, symptoms could be present, just not clearly manifested.
Gastroenterological drugs
Some gastrointestinal medications used to treat heartburn can unexpectedly cause sudden cardiac arrest. If you overdo it with taking such medications, their side effects may appear: impaired heart contractions, neurological pathologies, convulsions, cardiac arrest. Some mothers use these drugs during lactation, which absolutely cannot be done - without knowing which drugs cause cardiac arrest, the mother can provoke it not only in herself, but also in the child.
Statistics of mortality from heart failure and age characteristics
One in five people will experience symptoms of heart failure during their lifetime. Instant death occurs in a quarter of victims. The mortality rate from this diagnosis exceeds the mortality rate from myocardial infarction by approximately 10 times. Up to 600 thousand deaths are reported annually due to this reason. According to statistics, after treatment for heart failure, 30% of patients die within a year.
More often, coronary death occurs in persons 40-70 years old with diagnosed vascular and cardiac disorders. Men are susceptible to it more often: at a young age 4 times, in the elderly – 7 times, by the age of 70 – 2 times. A quarter of patients do not reach the age of 60 years. The risk group includes not only elderly people, but also very young people. The cause of sudden cardiac death at a young age can be vascular spasms, myocardial hypertrophy caused by drug use, as well as excessive stress and hypothermia.
Antibiotics
Taking antibiotics by people suffering from heart failure, angina pectoris, allergies and diabetes can lead to cardiac arrest. Elderly people are also at risk.
The most dangerous drugs for cardiac arrest are erythromycin, clarithromycin, azithromycin and other drugs from the macrolide group.
As a result of studies, Scottish scientists have found that clarithromycin used for diseases of the lower respiratory tract increases the likelihood of complications on the cardiovascular system, although this antibiotic has a general effect. Moreover, the risk of such complications remains for a long time after finishing the course of antibiotics.
Mechanism of disease development
As a result of a study of people who died due to acute heart failure, it was found that most of them had atherosclerotic changes that affected the coronary arteries. As a result, myocardial circulation was disrupted and it was damaged.
Patients experience enlargement of the liver and neck veins, and sometimes pulmonary edema. Coronary circulatory arrest is diagnosed; after half an hour, abnormalities in the myocardial cells are observed. The whole process lasts up to 2 hours. After cardiac activity stops, irreversible changes occur in brain cells within 3-5 minutes.
Often cases of sudden cardiac death occur during sleep after breathing has stopped. In a dream, the chances of salvation are practically absent.
Psychotropic drugs
When listing which drugs stop the heart, one cannot remain silent about psychotropic medications. The psychotropic group includes substances that treat brain problems; they are divided into antidepressants, tranquilizers and sedatives. They are used to treat, in particular, schizophrenia and epilepsy. An overdose of such drugs may well result in death from cardiac arrest. For example, tranquilizers, in addition to suppressing thought processes and emotions, sometimes provoke a sudden contraction of the facial muscles and myocardium. Tablets for schizophrenia can cause psychosis (akatasia), accompanied by arrhythmia and increased blood pressure. If such a patient has a cardiac pathology, then cardiac arrest is possible.
How to Stop Your Heart: Three Common Methods
Usually people want their heart to work like a Swiss watch - absolutely rhythmically and at the right pace, corresponding to physical and mental stress. But the realities of life and the peculiarities of the human psyche are such that in some situations suicidal thoughts come to mind.
Not everyone is strong enough to decide to hang themselves, and not everyone has the courage to pull the trigger of a firearm, even if they have one. Today it has become “fashionable” to think not about opening veins or overdosing on sleeping pills, but about how to stop your own heart.
Clinical death after cardiac arrest occurs only after 130–150 seconds
The information, photos and videos in this article are in no way intended to be a suicide guide. The article was written to provide psychological assistance.
Experts in the field of psychiatry say that some, especially older people, can continue to live and cope with suicidal thoughts by knowing exactly how they can interrupt all the vital processes of their body at any time and at will. We will tell you how to stop hearts at home, without the use of electric current, but with the help of medications that can be bought at the pharmacy.
How to Make Your Heart Stop With a Painkiller
An overdose of any medicine is poisoning of the body, but an excessive dose of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs will result in asystole of the heart muscle.
Lethal dose of ibuprofen: 150 tablets of 200 mg (with body weight - 70 kg)
People over 65 years of age should take any non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs as rarely as possible, in minimal dosages and with a short course of treatment. The British Medical Journal published the results of a long-term study of 10 million older people (average age 77 years) taking NSAIDs.
Important. Think 1000 times before NSAIDs cause cardiac arrest. Their action begins 60 minutes after administration. However, before ventricular fibrillation, severe pain and intestinal bleeding are very likely.
As a result of the study, data were obtained that indicate that among those old people who regularly abuse NSAID pain relief, mortality from cardiac muscle failure is 19% higher than in the group who did not use such drugs at all or rarely took such drugs.
Fatal myocardial repolarization by antinausea and vomiting agent
At the pharmacy you can freely buy drugs containing the active substance - domperidone. It is prescribed to suppress nausea and vomiting in biliary dyskinesia, cholecystitis, and reflux esophagitis.
Domperidone helps to endure examinations where it is necessary to swallow a probe without gagging. It saves from postoperative hypotension, atony of the stomach and intestines. But, since 2012, this has been included in the “alarming” list of what can stop the heart.
Lethal dose of domperidone: 0.5 g
According to the results of a number of studies conducted by the Australian Medicines Products Regulatory Agency, drugs containing domperidone were, in some cases, found to be responsible for the sudden death of people from ventricular extrasystoles. The TGA's findings only confirmed suspicions raised several years earlier by the Canadian Pharmacovigilance Committee.
In conclusion, a warning is expressed that people under the age of 60 should be prescribed this medicine in a daily dosage that does not exceed 30 mg, and after 60 or those who have heart problems, abandon domperidone therapy in principle.
Combinations of domperidone with other drugs that simplify the process and answer to the question of how to cause cardiac arrest are also indicated: ketoconazole, nefazodone, diltiazem, verapamil, amprenavir, aprepitant, macrolide antibiotics and azole antifungals.
Other drugs
In addition to all of the above, cardiac drugs that cause cardiac arrest include anticholinergic, sympathomimetic, antihypertensive and antiarrhythmic drugs, as well as anesthesia drugs used in severe overdose can also lead to cardiac arrest. If the patient already has cardiac pathology, then the risk of such a development of events increases sharply.
Have you heard about drugs that can lead to cardiac arrest? Do you only buy medications prescribed by your doctor or do you self-medicate? Tell us about your experience in the comments.
Causes of death from medications
Death occurs in 2% of cases due to medication use. To prevent such an outcome, you must adhere to the instructions and prescriptions of a specialist. It is worth understanding that an overdose or a combination of different drugs can lead to dangerous consequences.
Overdose
Overdose symptoms vary. As a rule, they manifest themselves in the form of attacks of nausea, dizziness, and convulsions. More serious conditions are accompanied by depression and cessation of respiratory function, hallucinations, visual disturbances, and cessation of heart function.
To neutralize the effect of a drug that causes cardiac arrest, you should try to induce vomiting, but only if the drug was taken in tablet form. After this, you need to call an ambulance or take the patient to the toxicology department yourself. It is advisable to have the packaging of the medication you took with you.
Use by children
A particularly dangerous situation in terms of overdose in children. The following symptoms will help you suspect that cardiac arrest is approaching and promptly respond to it:
- loss of consciousness;
- bluish or pale skin;
- rare breathing;
- lack of pulse;
- dilated pupils that do not respond to light.
The lack of resuscitation measures leads to hypoxic changes in tissues and organs, followed by the so-called biological death.
To help your child at home, you need to act quickly (about 5 minutes to spare). First of all, he needs to be laid on the table, undressed, and foreign objects removed from his mouth. After this, the pads of the fingers apply pressure to the lower part of the sternum with a frequency of 120 shocks per minute. These manipulations are recommended to be carried out carefully, but intensively. After 15 compressions have been done, artificial respiration begins, 2 breaths into the mouth, and then into the nose. In parallel with resuscitation, an ambulance team is called.
Worsening of existing pathologies
It is highly undesirable to take any medications without your doctor's approval, especially if you have serious health problems. Pills that cause cardiac arrest act very quickly. It is easiest to harm yourself, but not everyone succeeds in restoring the functioning of the body. Therefore, you need to take your health as responsibly as possible. Optimal drug therapy should be selected only after a series of studies.
