The 51-year-old man suffers from amputation of all five fingers on his right hand –

A Brazilian drug addict had to amputate five fingers after injecting himself with crushed morphine tablets.

The 51-year-old patient experienced “severe” pain just an hour after administering the three pills to his right forearm.

Doctors in Brasilia, the Brazilian capital, gave him anesthetic, but found that the fingers above the injection site had already cooled and turned blue.

Meanwhile, the patient’s arm began to swell, and the doctors had no choice but to amputate the arm to drain the fluid.

The man was later taken to intensive care after it was discovered that damaged muscles were releasing protein fragments into his blood.

When this happens, it can be fatal in a condition known as rhabdomyolysis because the pieces can damage the heart and kidneys. Doctors said the man also needed kidney support.

Ten days after he was taken to the hospital, all five fingers of his right hand were amputated. The patient, also described as an alcoholic, was discharged four days later, but later returned for reconstructive stump surgery.

ATTENTION: FOLLOWING FIGURES:

He was taken to the hospital in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, where doctors gave him anesthesia. But after being hit they noticed that his hand had already turned blue and cold (pictured left and right before the fingers were cut)

The man returned for reconstructive forearm surgery a few months later.

Brazilian history uncovered by doctors writing in the American Journal of Case Reports †

Morphine is a powerful pain reliever that is given by tablet or injection and is often used after major surgery or in cancer patients.

However, the drug is highly addictive and is classified as Schedule II in the United States, comparing it to fentanyl and cocaine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not release data on the number of deaths from morphine each year, but the agency reported a record 80,000 opioid deaths from November 2020 to 2021.

While opioid abuse is a big problem in the United States, many Latin American countries, such as Brazil, have little to do with drug use, Simon Fraser University researchers found in a study published last year.

Cardiologist Mauro Passos of the University of Brasilia said he used thermal imaging cameras to determine if the fingers should be amputated.

They wrote that during a “withdrawal crisis” the patient injected three powdered pills.

Doctors also suggested that the pills contain impurities that damage the lining of blood vessels and cut off blood flow to his fingers.

They said the hand artery was “cleared” after the injection.