All patients with a depressed sensorium should be evaluated for hypoglycemia because many drugs and poisons can reduce or help reduce blood glucose levels. Prolonged and severe hypoglycemia can result in irreversible brain injury.
Naloxone is a specific opioid antagonist with no intrinsic opioid-agonist effects.
Patients with opioid intoxication usually become fully awake within two to three minutes of naloxone administration. Flumazenil, a short-acting, specific benzodiazepine antagonist with no intrinsic agonist effects, can rapidly reverse coma caused by diazepam and other benzodiazepines. Hypotension may result from volume depletion caused by severe drug-induced vomiting or diarrhea. In addition, relative hypovolemia may be caused by the venodilating effects of many drugs. Certain drugs or poisons can have direct negative inotropic or chronotropic effects on the heart, reducing cardiac output.