What Does Fentanyl Do to Your Body? Effects, Risks, and Treatment

In the 2000s and 2010s, if someone mentioned “opioids,” your thoughts transitioned to images of the nefarious brand “OxyContin,” manufactured by drug giant, Purdue Pharma. While “oxys” fueled the start of the opioid crisis in America, fentanyl threw rocket fuel on the problem.

In 2010, in response to growing public crisis of OxyContin causing an addiction crisis, Purdue decided to change it manufacturing process to alter the structure of the pills it produced. Previously, users could crush and snort the pills. The new formulation made the pills impossible to grind up.

Someone obviously saw a gap in the market, and it was around 2011 to 2012 when we started to see fentanyl, imported from China and Mexico, arriving on streets across the United States. By 2016, Fentanyl was the number one cause of drug-related overdose deaths, and the situation continued to spiral out of control.

By the time the pandemic hit in 2020, more than 50,000 Americans were dying from opioid-related overdoses, with the primary drug responsible for the ongoing crisis being fentanyl. This new synthetic arrived and took up the mantle where oxys and Vicodin left off, and the era of fentanyl was clearly here.

While fentanyl is arguably the most devastating drug to ever hit American streets, it didn’t start out as an illicit drug. Long before it was available on street corners across America, it was a common painkiller used in hospitals. The reality is fentanyl—like oxycodone and hydrocodone—has a medical purpose, but it escaped this setting and found its way into the bloodstreams of millions of people who didn’t need it for any medical purpose.

In this post we’ll take a closer look at what fentanyl is, how the drug works, how it became Americas number-one street drug, and—most importantly—what it does you your body and mind.

Understanding Fentanyl – The Most Potent Painkiller in Medicine

Fentanyl’s story begins in 1959 when Dr. Paul Jannsen—the founder of Janssen Pharmaceuticals—first synthesized the compound in his lab. The drug found its way into the medical system in the 1960s, but because it was 100x stronger than morphine, it was reserved strictly for use as a surgical anesthetic delivered intravenously.

In the 1970s, Fentanyl experienced more widespread global adoption in medical settings, with other products—like the now infamous fentanyl patch—being introduced into the market. According to the first records of Fentanyl abuse in the US, addicts started chewing on the transdermal patches to get high.

These patches were low-strength and designed for use by patients in need of pain relief while recovering from surgical procedures. It’s an incredibly effective drug when used properly and administered in controlled medical settings. Despite Fentanyl medications becoming more available on the street in the 1990s, the compound took a back seat in the beginning of the opioid crisis as Americans across the country turned their focus on OxyContin. But by 2010, Purdue changed the OxyContin formula, turning it from a pill addicts could crush, to one they couldn’t and the market lost interest in “Oxy’s” as illicit fentanyl started showing up on the streets.

But this “fenty” wasn’t made by Janssen Pharma—or any other medical manufacturer. The Fentanyl arriving on the streets of America was synthesized in China and shipped into the country illegally. The drug was readily available for purchase on the Dark web from dealers located in China, and in some cases, suppliers would openly advertise it on the surface web.

At the time, fentanyl wasn’t really on the FDA or DEA radar as a substance of abuse. But that would all change over the next five years as the supply into America increased dramatically. Donald Trump, in a meeting with Xi Jinping, requested the Chinese leader shut down companies manufacturing fentanyl and shipping it to the US. Xi relented to gain Trumps favor in the ongoing trade war between the countries, but the supply chain just adopted another strategy.

Chinese manufacturers started shipping the precursor chemicals for the drug to the Mexican cartels who set up super labs south of the border to produce the drug in massive quantities. Since 2016/2017, we’ve seen an increase in supply coming from Mexico to the point where the cartel now dominates fentanyl trade in the US.

The problem with the cartel-produced fentanyl was that, compared to the processing by Janssen—the cartels had no regulatory body watching over the production process. So, batch strengths could vary, and the risk of overdose started increasing, unbeknownst to the average street user in the United States.

Today, fentanyl sits on the throne as the king of synthetic opioids, and a harbinger of doom for the American people. Over 81,000 people died from opioid overdoses in 2023, and fentanyl continues to break relationships, homes, body’s, and minds—all across the country.

What Does Fentanyl Do to You? – How Synthetic Opioids Affect Our Physiology

Now that we know the backstory of fentanyl, let’s examine what it does to your body and how it works. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid—meaning that it’s not derived from the poppy flower like opiates and semi-synthetic opioids. It’s entirely chemical in nature, and therefore much easier and less costly to produce than opiates derived from poppies or partially derived from the flower.

That’s a big deal in medicine because it means drug manufacturers can produce efficacious drugs that are cheap and easy to get into hospitals. But it also means that anyone with a chemical engineering degree can formulate the compound without the need to get their hands on poppies—all they need are the “pre-cursor” chemicals that form the foundations of the drug formulation.

Opioids like fentanyl bind to opioid receptors in the spinal cord and brain where they block pain signals to the central nervous system and unleash a wave of euphoria and relaxation. The user feels extreme pain relief for at least four to six hours after receiving a dose in a medical setting.

It’s a short-lived high, and that’s what makes it such a horrendous street drug. Like heroin, street users must use multiple times a day to maintain their high and keep themselves from experiencing the effects of withdrawal from the drug.

Users will feel sedated after the initial euphoria of the high wears off, and the levels of fentanyl in the blood slowly decline until the addict feels the compulsion to use the drug, brought on by the impending withdrawal symptoms.

What Does Fentanyl Do to You? – Risks and Dangers

The issue with opioids is that using too much of the drug basically “switches off” the central nervous system. Overdoses occur as the opioids saturate receptors and overcome the parasympathetic autonomic processes, like breathing.

During an overdose, the addict starts to breathe shallow. They may get dizzy and pass out and stop breathing while they’re unconscious, resulting in their demise. This effect is called “respiratory depression,” and it’s the cause of death associated with fentanyl overdose.

In some parts of the US, addicts combine fentanyl with another drug—xylazine. If you’ve ever seen the YouTube videos of the Kensington “zombies” in Philadelphia, you’re looking at the effect of this devastating combination in action.

Fentanyl users will likely keep using the drug until they reach a stage in their addiction where they overdose, either accidentally or on purpose. The problem with fentanyl entering the mainstream drug supply is that it’s finding its way into counterfeit medications. People think they’re buying a Xanax bar, but they’re actually getting fentanyl.

Being that it takes such a little amount of fentanyl to initiate an overdose—a dose the size of just a few grains of salt is enough—these pills caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans in the last year alone.

With no testing, regulation, or quality control involved in the manufacturing of these drugs, it’s not surprising that overdoses happen so frequently.

How to Handle a Fentanyl Overdose

If someone overdoses on fentanyl they have a short window left to bring them back before they enter complete respiratory depression and stop breathing entirely. You’ll notice that their lips start turning blue, that’s a sign of hypoxemia, or a lack of oxygen in the blood.

At this stage, things aren’t looking good and the user needs a dose of Narcan (the brand name for Naloxone) to reverse the overdose. Narcan is an opioid receptor agonist, and it blocks the opioids from binding to the receptors, immediately reversing the overdose, bringing the user around to consciousness in seconds.

While it might seem like the danger has passed, that’s not the case. The user will need monitoring for the next 12 hours to ensure they don’t relapse back into a state of respiratory depression. If they took a large dose, the Naloxone could wear off and they’ll start overdosing again. In some cases involving overdoses in heavy fentanyl users, it can take as much as three or four doses to bring them back.

The Devastating Long-Term Effects of Fentanyl Use

Fentanyl users can’t stop their use of the drug themselves. When they become dependent and then addicted to the substance, they can’t live without it. Like heroin, the withdrawal symptoms associated with weaning the body off fentanyl include flu-like symptoms, pain, and plenty of discomfort.

Withdrawal from the drug can take up to three days to get over the worst of the symptoms, and up to a week to be fully clean of the drugs impact on your physiology. If you’re trying to beat a fentanyl addiction at home—you won’t make it. The withdrawal symptoms are too strong to overcome, and it’s very, very likely you’ll relapse within a few hours of trying to stop.

The long term use of fentanyl has a devastating effect on the body. The user is essentially poisoning themselves and along with the risk of infection they have the possibility of developing infections from sharing needles or injuries associated with intravenous use of the drug. The addicts appearance deteriorates and they age rapidly.

Since the addict is chasing their next high—and not their next meal—most of them are emaciated and malnourished in the later stages of their addiction, further complicating their health. Fentanyl use can also alter the addicts mental health, making them predisposed to developing co-occurring mental health disorders alongside their addiction.

Where Do You Find Help for Fentanyl Addiction?

Inpatient recovery programs are the only lasting solution for fentanyl addiction. These facilities let you stay on the property for up to 12 weeks while you complete your recovery program. Your treatment starts with a medical detox where you get diagnosed by a physician and psychologist.

The doctor assesses your physical health to plan your medically assisted withdrawal and the therapist examines your mental health for any signs of co-occurring disorders.

This dual-diagnosis strategy is the gold standard of addiction assessment and the foundation of planning your treatment. From there you’ll enter a detox process where the doctor prescribes medications to lessen the withdrawal symptoms and help you make it through the detox process and into the next part of your treatment—therapy.

You’ll meet with your counselor for individual sessions once or twice a week, and convene with your therapy group almost daily to discuss your addiction and unpack your mindset and how you can successfully approach a life of sobriety.

Trained psychologists use evidence-based treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectic behavioral therapy, and somatic trauma therapy to help you process the reasons for your addictive and compulsive behavior.

You’ll also learn coping strategies like mindfulness to help you overcome the temptation of relapsing when you encounter an environmental, physical, or emotional trigger.

When you’ve completed the inpatient program you’ll transition to an outpatient strategy where you’ll still attend support groups and therapy sessions for up to a year. With the right support, you can stay clean from fentanyl and enjoy a happy, sober lifestyle.

But making the first move is up to you. If you’re struggling with fentanyl addiction, reach out to our team. We’ll talk you through how to get yourself into our inpatient program and how we can overcome the scourge of fentanyl addiction in your life.