Free «Heroin and Insulin» Essay Paper

Heroin is an opiate drug extracted from morphine, a natural material in the seedpod of the poppy plant found in Asian. Heroin mainly appears as brown or white powder or a black substance referred as black tar heroin. It can be smoked, injected and snorted. Insulin is a protein. Proteins are mainly a bunch of amino acids joined together. It is a hormone that is produced by the body. Insulin is mainly used to treat diabetes by lowering the level of glucose in the human body.

Heroin overdose can be deadly to the user. The danger of heroin overdose is high and can not be predicted. This is because victim can not exactly know the amount or strength of the drug they are taking. A person who has taken overdose of heroin may have one or more of the following symptoms; Low blood pressure, cold, clammy skin, pinpoint pupils and bluish skin (cyanosis). Furthermore, he may fall to a deep sleep that may result into a comma(Brownlee, 1981).

The main problems caused by the heroin overdose include heart infections, miscarriages and death. Individuals who injects heroin risk contracting an infectious disease such as hepatitis. Daily usage of heroin leads to tolerance. Tolerance means that users need the drug daily service to experience the same effect. This means that regular or overdose of heroin leads to addiction. Furthermore, higher doses for a long period contribute the body to become dependent of heroin. If dependent user of heroin, stops taking the drug they have withdrawal symptoms. These symptoms include diarrhea, bone and muscle pain, restlessness, vomiting and cold flashes. The immediate side effects of overdose of heroin are drowsiness, pain relief and dry mouth.

 

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Heroin overdose affects the breathing system of the brain. It can result to person’s brain stop functioning informing his lungs to breathe. Heroin has substantial, rapid onset. Overdose of heroin can lead to a person fall unconscious remarkably fast after taking the drug. An overdose is probably if the drug is together with depressants such as benzodiazepine, alcohol and other opioids such as methadone.

There is an antidote termed as naloxone that can be used to reverse the effects of heroin. If a person has taken an overdose. The substance used to dilute the heroin can lead to problem. For example, chalk and strychnine are substance used. Chalk does not dissolve while strychnine is deadly. If chalk is taken, it can block small blood vessels. Overdose of heroin cause long term effects which include constipation, missed period in women, loss of interest sex and unstable moods.

An overdose of insulin is also deadly as the same case with heroin. For example, an overdose of glulisine can lead to life threatening hypoglycemia. Symptoms of stern hypoglycemia include sweating, tremors, blurred vision, stomach pain, confusion and extreme weakness. Other side effects of insulin include itching skin, trouble breathing and rash over the whole body(Brownlee, 1981).

There is the variety of insulin used to treat diabetes. They are categorized of how quickly they start to work and how much time they take to react in the body. These forms of insulin include short reacting, rapid reacting, intermediate and long reacting.