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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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How Long Will It Take For A Person To Die Due To Excessive Heroin Addiction?

I found my 18 year old daughter face down. She was purple and had over dosed on herion. I felt her breath out, but not sure if she was breathing in. Her lips were purple, her eyes had no life in them. Thank God the EMT's were able to bring her back with a shot that they give. My question is. How long does it take for a person to die? We have no clue how long she was there before I found her.
Wed, 15 Jul 2015
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Addiction Medicine Specialist,  's  Response
The general cause of death in a heroin overdose is stopping breathing. There are two mechanisms that are related in causing this. One is just sedation of the brain and no drive to breath. The other is vomiting and asphyxiation. The breathing rate is generally very low and not zero, this makes the death from not bretaing highly variable. While the brain cannot live without oxygen more than 5 to 10 minutes, it does not need full breathing rate. So, maybe 30-60 minutes at most? The asphyxiation from vomiting is a more sure way of dying and that would be the 5 to 10 minute limit BUT, even if someone is brought back the airways and lungs could still be clogged and the person is not guaranteed to be able to be brought back.
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How Long Will It Take For A Person To Die Due To Excessive Heroin Addiction?

The general cause of death in a heroin overdose is stopping breathing. There are two mechanisms that are related in causing this. One is just sedation of the brain and no drive to breath. The other is vomiting and asphyxiation. The breathing rate is generally very low and not zero, this makes the death from not bretaing highly variable. While the brain cannot live without oxygen more than 5 to 10 minutes, it does not need full breathing rate. So, maybe 30-60 minutes at most? The asphyxiation from vomiting is a more sure way of dying and that would be the 5 to 10 minute limit BUT, even if someone is brought back the airways and lungs could still be clogged and the person is not guaranteed to be able to be brought back.