Coming Back From the Dead; Warning: Changes Ahead
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN HOST: Ahead this half hour on</s>SGMD: What's about to change in your insurance. And even if you're not signing up for a new Obamacare policy, what it could mean for you. Plus, what we'd like to call smart science. Three tricks to help you run better. But, first --</s>GUPTA: We've been investigating the impact of prescription drug overdoses in America for some time on this program. As you may know, someone dies every 19 minutes in this country because of such an overdose. And today, I want to talk about a medicine that some people say could help stop this epidemic, but only if we get it in the hands of more people, not just doctors, but average people as well. Now, look, it's controversial. But you're about to see this incredible video showing how it might work.</s>GUPTA (voice-over): What you're looking at is pretty shocking. A heroin addict overdosing. Her name is Liz. She's been using drugs since she was 11. Today, she's 29. Adam Wigglesworth and Louise Vincent were both with her that night in August. They both volunteer with a program in Greensboro, North Carolina, that provides clean needles and other assistance to addicts.</s>ADAM WIGGLESWORTH, SAVED FRIEND WITH NALOXONE: She seemed to be pretty unresponsive and we noticed a blueing of the lips and lack of oxygen and her breathing became quite shallow.</s>LOUISE VINCENT, SAVED FRIEND WITH NALOXONE: Well, once someone's not breathing and responding to any sort of stimulus, you give them breath, and at that time I usually administer the Naloxone.</s>GUPTA: Now, watch what happens next.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We gave her about 60 units of Narcan.</s>GUPTA: Narcan, also known as Naloxone, can reverse an overdose from heroin and other drugs like Oxycodone.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Liz?</s>GUPTA: Another sternal rub, another shot of Narcan.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Giving her the rest of this whole</s>CC. GUPTA: And, finally, Liz begins to come to.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Liz? You OK? You went out. We're giving you mouth to mouth resuscitation. We're giving you some Narcan. You overdosed. Can you sit up?</s>LIZ, HEROIN ADDICT REVIVED BY NALOXONE: Yes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, come on.</s>GUPTA: When someone takes heroin, the drug locks on to receptors in the brain. It slows the body down. Lock up too many, and you stop breathing. Naloxone can free up those receptors, essentially bringing you back to life. You might wonder, that video of Liz, is that real? We showed it to four emergency room doctors who all said, yes, this is what a recovery with Narcan looks like.</s>LIZ: I can't believe that somebody cared about me enough or, you know, loved me enough to bring me back.</s>GUPTA: Back to right a life that somehow went wrong. We met Liz on the day she checked into rehab, packing up her things, taking another look at the album of her 19-month-old daughter.</s>LIZ: You know, I had felt so separated and just, like, disassociated from my daughter because I felt like, you know, basically like I wasn't good enough to take care of her. I can't finish school. I can't hold down a job. I can't, you know, do any of this, like, normal stuff that everyday people have absolutely no problem, like, it's not a challenge for them.</s>GUPTA: Naloxone gave Liz a second chance. It also gave Linda Wohlen a second chance. She remembers the day she found her son Steve faced down in the front yard.</s>LINDA WOHLEN, SAVED SON WITH NALOXONE: My husband ran out and started rescue breathing. And I ran in and got the Narcan. It was right here. He was laying on his back. Totally blue. So, the Narcan as soon as it got into his nostrils, he started to stir and wake up, and came to. Thank God for Narcan.</s>GUPTA: Narcan or Naloxone is distributed as part of Massachusetts opioid overdose pilot prevention program and Dr. Alexander Walley is the medical director.</s>DR. ALEX WALLEY, MASSACHUSETTS OPIOID OVERDOSE PREVENTION PILOT PROGRAM: Initially, this program was targeted towards high-risk injection drug users. We soon started to hear about parents going to needle exchanges.</s>GUPTA: Today, the program distributes Naloxone to addicts, first responders, and Learn to Cope. That's a support group for parents of addicts. Linda has been going to Learn to Cope meetings for the past nine years.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nasal Naloxone or Narcan, the overdose reversal antidote is available weekly at all LTC meetings. If you're in this room, you should have Narcan.</s>GUPTA: Learn to Cope has distributed hundreds of Naloxone kits to its members who have managed to reverse at least nine overdoses.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tingeing of the lips, fingernails bluish. Anything like that also.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you can't arouse them.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's ready to administer.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, right.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it will go up one nostril, a half.</s>WOHLEN: It's one of those things that, you know, you can't believe that you're signing up for this. But the reality is if you have an addict, you should have Narcan.</s>GUPTA: In the United States, overdoses kill more people than car accidents, and since 1990, prescription drug overdoses have more than tripled.</s>WALLEY: I think it makes a lot of sense to, for example, co-prescribe Naloxone with chronic pain medication so people will have it in their home, in their medicine cabinet and instruct their family members how to use it. So if somebody is overdosing then they can administer it to them while they wait for help to arrive -- just as you would for an EpiPen.</s>GUPTA: But Dr. Ed Boyer also warns it won't always work.</s>DR. ED BOYER, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SCHOOL: It requires people understand that the medications, you know, last longer. The medications may be more potent than individuals anticipate. The absolute need to call 911 has to be -- has to be made clear.</s>GUPTA: As a parent, Linda knows what it's like to want to save your child.</s>WOHLEN: You must, must, must have Narcan if you have an addict. You must, absolutely. Because the whole trick of it is to keep them alive until they finally get it.</s>GUPTA: Now, you might have noticed that none of the people called 911. I tell you, I think that's a terrible oversight. If you do see that someone's unconscious, you need to immediately call for help before you jump in. Keep that in mind. In many cases, some doctors think Naloxone might give addicts and their friends and their family a false sense of security as well. It could be a lifesaver. But these are clearly some pretty tough issues. Now, coming up, it's open enrollment time. How to protect your wallet and what you need to know to avoid being zapped with any big surprises. Stay with us.