Are you ready to die at the hands of a pill? For people that say no, it can happen to you. It is called accidental drug overdose. And it is not something to be taken lightly. Many young people die from it, leaving their families grieving and their friends missing them dearly. Some people are lucky though, and live to tell the tell. But even those might be scared by their experience and never recover completely. Whatever happens it is a dramatic event, and hard for everyone involved.

In fact, I am a person that has experienced accidental drug overdose. My cousin has passed by accidentally taking the wrong drug, and taking too much of it. My uncle, the father of the young girl, was taken completely by surprise. He was still recovering from his son’s death, who had died a few months earlier. My cousin’s was named Danielle, she was only in her early twenties and it was another great loss to the family. Danielle was a great young girl who had a lot going for her. She was taken from us. Any other family that has gone through this as well knows that it is a terrible thing. The worst thing about it is the fact that it was accidental. These poor children didn’t mean to die. They didn’t want to. They didn’t know what was happening when they began to feel faint and feel like falling asleep. The family knows they didn’t mean to and they know that if their child had been more careful then they could still be alive. The fact that they know they could’ve saved their child could kill them inside. They could become a empty vessel, not knowing what to do with their life. And even if the child survives, the victim could have serious damage to their body and their brain. They could get serious brain damage, and the family might lose them mentally.

Many people die from this. For example, by 2005 the Center for Disease Control reported that over 30,000 people had died due to drug overdosing in just six years. Drug overdosing has caused 94.7% of poisoning deaths in 2004. Drug overdose was usually associated with urban areas. But it has also now migrated into rural areas as well, mostly abuse of pain killers. Rates in the Northeast have actually decreased, but rates in the South have doubled. And rates in the Midwest have also almost doubled. The highest increase in fatal overdosing has been in the white non-Hispanic women. The rates have increased 136.5 percent. This is twice that of males. Overall the rates in fatal overdosing had increased 75.8 percent in Caucasians by 2004, almost 80% of increase.

Not all drugs are as fatal as others though. Pain killers are probably the most common. And it may come as a surprise, but liquor is also a commonly abused drug. People are young and they consume way to much alcohol, and some die from it. Too much alcohol in the blood system can crowed out the life-sustaining fluids necessary for a person to function right. High enough levels can cause overdose, and that can lead to death. Another drug that can lead to accidental death is depressant pills. Depressant pills slow down the body, and this can cause death. It is extremely dangerous to mix these pills with alcohol. If you do overdose you could become unconsciousness, and then this could lead to a coma. And if you are not taken to the hospital to get your stomach pump, you could die. In addition, drugs called Hallucinogens can be dangerous on their own, without overdosing. The drugs can cause hallucinations and the person taking them may seem far away. They talk to unanimated object or talk to thin air. They can also randomly scream or be hysteric, and also be paranoid. If they overdose, they might think they have unnatural abilities and try to fly and walk through fire. This, again, leads to death.

Drug overdose never really applies to a certain age, especially accidental. Because of the word accidental, those suffering didn’t even mean for it to happen. But usually it happens in teen to people in their early twenties. Teens usually don’t take time to read instructions on prescription drugs and even pain killers. They might even take their parents pills without knowing what they are, thinking they are something they usually take. And when they do take these pills, they take the same amount they might take with, let’s say Advil, and with the drug they are taking that might be too much. Children account for over one million accident drug overdosing. But the same thing could happen with older people. They might be in a hurry and accidently take to many of one drug. People have to understand that your body can only take so much and if you think you might be able to handle it, you might be wrong. There is no set age for drug overdosing, anyone can do it, and anyone can die.

In order to know how to survive an accidental drug overdose, you first have to know the symptoms and what a drug overdose is. A drug overdose is when you consume too much of a drug and your body can’t take it. The symptoms differ between each different drug. As said, the Hallucinogens drugs can cause the thoughts of indestructibility. Some drugs also cause you to fall unconscious and then fall into a coma. So if the victim starts to feel tired then they should try to remain awake. You can also experience convulsions and not breathing. But even if there are no symptoms, it is still important to call poison control.

However people usually get their stomach pumped to survive. This means that all the things in your stomach, is pumped out by a tube. This gets the drug out of you system and hopefully takes away any risks of dying. The doctor might check the victim’s airways and breathing to make sure there is no blockage. Their heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and other physical things will all be checked. They will take blood and urine samples from the patient hoping to figure out what drug was abused. They might make the patient vomit to get rid of the drug that has not yet been absorbed by the body. IV will be given to the patient to help with the recuperation. Sometimes even a simple antidote may work with the overdose, if it is a small or simple drug overdose. But you can eliminate all of this if you don’t overdose.

Steps that can be taken to prevent this are simple, be careful. Make sure to read the back of the bottle and ask your doctor if it is safe. Don’t take your chances because it might be the last thing you do. To prevent your children from taking the wrong drugs, lock you medicine cabinet. Or you could even hide the dangerous pills or liquids from your children. And make sure they ask you before they take anything. Don’t lose a child because of an accident, because it will affect everyone.

In short accidental drug overdose is a big deal. Always watch out for bad drugs and look out for your children and loved ones. And even if you are thinking about overdosing, don’t do it. It’s not worth hurting the people around you. Many lives have been lost, and we don’t need to lose any more to a pill.