A Patient Who Has a Long-Term Addiction to Opioids Is

A patient who has a long-term addiction to opioids is believed to have taken an overdose of barbiturates. The provider will anticipate which likely outcome?

A) Severe abstinence syndrome when the effects of the barbiturates are reversed
B) Minimal respiratory depression, because the patient has developed a tolerance to opioids
C) Pinpoint pupils, respiratory depression, and possibly coma
D) Paradoxical excitation resulting from a drug-drug interaction