Drug overdoses can be characterized in two ways, either as an accidental overuse or intentional misuse. Children and toddlers can get into medications while they are unattended and accidentally overdose or a caregiver can give an incorrect dose to a child. Adults can also give themselves a wrong dose of their own medications which can be just as dangerous. Adults and Teenagers give themselves too much medication to harm themselves, or use prescription and over the counter drugs recreationally.
Accidental overdose happens more often than people think. According to an article on NBC, a recent study has shown that parents give the wrong dose of medication to their children very often, especially when the directions are written in tablespoons or teaspoons. It is easy to misread this, and if you give a child medication in tablespoons instead of teaspoons, you are giving them three times the recommended dose! Parents also use kitchen spoons instead of actual Tablespoons and Teaspoons which also does not give the correct dose. It is important to read the instructions carefully and give the correct dosage to avoid an accidental overdose.
Babies and toddlers swallow medications by accident because they are curious about things they find lying around. They also tend to put everything in their mouths, so when they find a pill or other medication on the floor, most likely it will end up in their mouths. This happens even more around the holidays when families have visitors who may not be as careful with their medications. It is important for family members and guests to keep medication out of reach of small children.
Adults and Seniors also make mistakes with their medications, especially if they are taking several medications. It is important to have an organized place for your medications and also to be diligent about following medication directions. Sadly, Adults and teenagers intentionally overdose on medications in order to harm themselves. These individuals usually have underlying emotional and mental health problems and it is important to get them the mental help that they need to recover.
Prescription and over the counter drug abuse also is the cause of many overdoses. If you suspect someone you care for is abusing drugs of any kind, seek help so that they can stop the abuse. Drug overdose is something that we can all work towards preventing. We can keep our medications out of reach of children, be diligent about dosing medications to both ourselves and our children, and seek assistance for those that have either mental health issues or are struggling with drug abuse.