If you overdose on something what do they do in the ER to get it out of your system?

Question

If you overdose on something what do they do in the ER to get it out of your system?

Answer 1

It depends on what the substance is. For some things that remain in the gut, they will pump your stomach. For other drugs, they will administer charcoal/activated carbon. This acts like a sponge to suck up the drug. For others, they will administer another drug that counteracts the drug overdosed on. Sometimes, dialysis is rarely used to clear a drug from the blood quicker.

Generally they will keep your heart beating and lungs working long enough for  your body to clear it out on its own.

Answer 2

depends, if they think you've taken the dose quite early, then they'll apply a gastric lavage and make you vomit till you '**** from your mouth' (a doctor's quote)...

if its a fast acting drug or you've taken it some time ago then they give you its 'antidote' or try and minimize the harmful effects with other drugs...

if all else fails, they use dialysis...but i've never heard all this failing

Answer 3

pump your stomach and/or give you charcoal, liquid form, to absorb the extra toxins of whatever you took.

Answer 4

On narcotic overdoses which are usually what one thinks of first when they hear the word overdose, they inject meds known as narcotic antagonist (most commonly used is Narcan) which block the receptors in your CNS and rapidly sieze the effects on the bodies Central Nervous System.

Answer 5

Generally, not much. Activated charcoal limits absorption of some things, though it probably doesn't do much good. But since it isn't likely to hurt anything it's used commonly.

"Pumping the stomach," or gastric lavage, is no longer indicated except in a few unusual toxins and shouldn't be routine by any means, though there are a lot of doctors who still haven't gotten the word.

For the vast majority of overdoses, general supportive care is all that's needed, and the toxin eventually is metabolized and excreted.