Generic name: naloxone (injection) [ nah-LOX-one ]
Dosage form: injectable solution (0.4 mg/mL; 1 mg/mL; 2 mg/0.4 mL)
Drug class:Antidotes
What is naloxone?
Naloxone blocks or reverses the effects of opioid medication, including extreme drowsiness, slowed breathing, or loss of consciousness. An opioid is sometimes called a narcotic.
Naloxone is used in an emergency situation to treat a possible opioid overdose in an adult or child.
Naloxone should not be used in place of emergency medical care for an overdose.
Naloxone is also used to help diagnose whether a person has used an overdose of an opioid.
Warnings
Naloxone is used to treat a possible opioid overdose. An opioid overdose can be fatal, and symptoms may include severe drowsiness, pinpoint pupils, slow breathing, or no breathing.
In an emergency situation it may not be possible before you are treated to tell your caregivers about your health conditions or if you are pregnant or breast feeding. Make sure any doctor caring for you afterward knows that you have received naloxone.
A person caring for you can give the naloxone if you stop breathing or don't wake up. Make sure any person caring for you knows where you keep naloxone and how to use it.
Your caregiver must get emergency help after giving a naloxone injection. You may need another injection every 2 to 3 minutes until emergency help arrives.
Drinking alcohol can increase certain side effects of naloxone.
Naloxone may impair your thinking or reactions. Be careful if you drive or do anything that requires you to be alert.
If you are using any narcotic pain medication, the pain-relieving effects of the narcotic will be reversed while you are also receiving this medicine.
