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Fentanyl overdose, if it doesn’t kill you, can still leave lasting brain damage (ICU, SPH)

Jason Luan is associate minister for mental health and addictions and MLA for Calgary-Foothills.
Jason Luan is associate minister for mental health and addictions and MLA for Calgary-Foothills.

Reports are emerging of naloxone saving the lives of someone experiencing a drug overdose, but that doesn’t mean life-changing consequences won’t result.

Dr. Brian Goldman, on the CBC radio program White Coat Black Art, recently devoted two programs to those who have survived a drug overdose of fentanyl but ended up with various levels of brain damage. For some it was as though they had experienced a stroke that was difficult if not impossible to fully recover from.

A physician at St. Paul’s Hospital (SPH) in Vancouver told Goldman that about five years ago he began seeing patients who were spending extended periods in the ICU after a drug overdose.

Read the full story on Medicine Hat News.

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