Health - Side effect tips & tricks

[olduncle]

Swim's been a member less than a week, and has already stepped on Little Uncle twice. Unintentional, to be sure, but firm heel-to-head stepping events nonetheless.

First, swim'd like to apologize. No offense, trolling, or heat seeking was intended, and none of the subjects broached will be discussed again. Swim was attempting to create an interesting discussion about a subject to which serious and reasoned debate appeared inevitable, and swim thought he could help others avoid receiving or causing harm via his experiences in the wonderful world of opium and all its children. Swim will attempt again:

All opiates and opioids share a set of side effects. Individual users will experience none or some or all of them to varying degrees based on a large number of factors. Those who choose to, or are forced as the result of medical situation to consume these substances regularly require methods to counteract the side effects.

The 'major' side effects (respiratory depression, shock, cardiac arrest, etc.) aren't the type of thing one can swim with. Further, some substances have very specific side effects not shared by the others (presumably mainly the result of polysorbate 80, various dyes, etc.). It's the 'minor' and general ones swim'd like to see addressed. Perhaps the result would be a single handy-dandy thread that contains a spate of experience-based methods to counteract the things about these substances that swiwe don't like. Please chime in with swiyour tips and tricks for dealing with any of the minor nuisances or maddeningly aggravating things that result from the consumption of these substances. Swiuncle will start, and will revisit whenever a tip is recalled. Habitual use for many years makes some of these things just as habitual and bereft of conscious thought. To commence:

The thing that bothers swime most is constipation. Anything from codeine to vitamin H will cause it in swimy case, and days of discomfort that end in particularly painful movement are inevitable. Swiuncle's tried 'em all - prune juice, Fleet enemas in both the water and oil configurations, OTC and powerful prescription laxatives, etc. The laxatives work but are not for consistent use. The enemas are inconvenient and frankly disgusting, but they also work. If 4 days go by and swiuncle has not had a bowel movement, swihe may resort to these things.

However, a procedure has been developed over the years that almost always works, no matter how much dope has been consumed and no matter what's been eaten. Pretty simple, safe, effective, reasonably convenient, non-foul, and inexpensive. A two-part solution: Swiuncle makes sure to drink at least half a gallon of water and 4-6 tablespoons of pure psyllium husks every day. The husks can be purchased at any health food store, swiyou should get a big giant container. It will probably cost twenty USD or less and last a few months. The water is critically important - the husks will not work without it.

Swiuncle saves half gallon milk jugs, washes them out, and fills one with pure water first thing in the AM. Swihe carries it with swihim throughout the day and makes sure it's all gone before bed. The husks are admittedly difficult to get down, swim simply stirs them all into one glass early in the day and swallows the whole mess. It would be better to use half the amount twice a day, a quarter four times a day, etc, but swim has places to be and things to do and needs to check this item off the daily list bright and early.

Anyone considering following this should read all the contraindications and dosing data on a trusted medical web site, of course. Swiy's with ulcers, for example, cannot do such things. Swiuncle uses about 10 times the amount of psyllium recommended, and arrived at the dose via self-experimentation. Swiothers should probably also ramp up slowly from the lowest recommended amount until the desired effect is achieved. It's amazing how a satisfying bowel movement brightens up one's day.

Further installment possibilities: difficult urination. The first time this happened, swim was sure swihe had prostate cancer and was freaked out big time. No, swim is not fixated on the rest room...

[fiveleggedrat]

Swim personally can deal with almost all the side effects of opioid consumption. The only problematic one is nausea. Sometimes prevents Swim from eating and sometimes causes him to vomit quite a bit. Dramamine and similar work good, as do assorted antihistimines, gingers works for other but not him, and not a good idea for most, but benzos are antiemetics that world well. MJ does good sometimes too, but too much overwhelms opioid feelings.

Swim loves the itchies.

[olduncle]

Originally Posted by fiveleggedrat

The only problematic one is nausea. Sometimes prevents Swim from eating and sometimes causes him to vomit quite a bit.

That's a perfect example of the individual nature of the side effects. If swiUncle is off for a very long time (months, at least), swihe'll get near-vomit nausea if he remains seated and projectile style if swihe gets up and moves around, the first few times back on the spike. If oral, smoked, or snorted, no nausea at all. After the 3rd IV, nausea is gone for good. Dilaudid (of course, swim's favorite) is worst from a nausea perspective, heroin and morphine markedly less, and the rest never induce nausea. Does swiyours degrade over time and with continued use?

The below should also illustrate how the general side effects of the narcotics class are very situation specific.

Urination problems:

A semi vague acquaintance of Uncle's half step second cousin is pushing 50 and has been using narcotics for about half his life. For the sake of anonymity and propriety, we'll call him Richard Milhous Nixon. When Oxcontin first came out, Dickie got his hands on a bottle. The Dickster had long been up to speed on Percocet and Percodan, and had permanently classified oxycodone as useless for anything but keeping the dope sickness away while ISO 'real' drugs. The Oxycontins sat in their bottle in the back of Tricky Dick's stashing place for quite some time. Then, the newspaper articles about 'hillbilly heroin' came out, and Nixon reevaluated his position on the matter.

Long story made shorter, he commenced to IV them all. They were pretty good, he reported (I got this story 4th hand), and he did at least a couple of them every day for a month or so, in addition to the drugs that were then normally in the rotation (heroin, meperidine).

A week or so in, Dick was standing in front of the commode with a significant urge to urinate, yet nothing was happening. The sensation was akin to the youthful 'stage fright' most males will remember from public restrooms with strangers watching - he needed to evacuate, but no matter how much he relaxed, pushed, imagined Niagara Falls in full effect, etc., no fluid was forthcoming. This continued for days and weeks. Nixon figured out that if he waited until he was about to burst and forcibly contracted the related muscles, he could eventually commence.

Mr. Nixon was understandably concerned. He was certain that he had prostate cancer. Dickie'd long had the habit of scheduling medical attention well in advance, then dialing down his habit, and finally switching to smoking entirely a few weeks prior to the appointment in order to be 100% evidence free. In this case, RMN was so concerned he almost made the trip with full tracks. The he read the package insert (yes, Nixon can be a dumb ass sometimes).

So, difficult urination is a potential side effect of all opiates and opioids. Yet, having tried them all many times, Nixon had never experienced this effect. Oral oxycodone never produced it. Only IV, after a week or so of continued use.

The long story short part is almost here. Mr. Nixon has since developed a mitigation strategy. The obvious "Don't shoot Oxycontin" is certainly in play, but only because Dick does not prefer them and has access to that which he does enjoy more. There are times, however, when this is not true and RMN oils them up with abandon. He solves his urination problems thusly:

Basically, it's the standard 'alternative' medical treatment for BPH, modified by 10+ years of trial and error and experimentation to find out what works for Dick. Saw palmetto, the gold standard for BPH, doesn't do dick for Dick's urination issues.

Stinging nettle and ryegrass pollen, two of the second-tier herbs for the condition, work wonders. Also, attention to drinking enough water, which is counterintuitive. Nonetheless, that half gallon + of pure water per day has multiple positive benefits for the doper.

Swiy can buy stinging nettle in any natural foods store, or pick it swiyourself if you care to buy a book and learn to identify it. It grows almost everywhere. If you do this, be careful about getting stung, about eating pesticides that might have been sprayed on it, etc. Wash all herbs that you harvest yourself. The caps from the healthfood store are standardized crushed leaf, about 200 mg per cap. Eat the same amount of fresh. Nixon reports that half a gram per day keeps the prostate exam away. The ryegrass pollen has to be purchased at the health food store. Don't take it if you are allergic to pollen. Nixon states that he takes two capsules per day in addition to the water and stinging nettle whenever he uses Oxycontin IV, does it every day, and continues doing it for a few days after he stops the Oxy. He further states that he has not had another 'difficult urination' problem since he commenced this preventative regimen, and that anyone who would care to follow his lead should read the bottles, study the contraindications, talk to the hippies at the health food store, and perhaps consult an MD. Herbs can be quite effective, but in order for that to be true they also have to be somewhat powerful and therefore could cause problems.

[fiveleggedrat]

Well, check this out. Swim used to abuse tramadol oral at about 300mg about twice a week for a few months. Took a few weeks off here and there to prevent addiction/tolerance. Sometimes messed with other opioids during that time, usually pharms.

After Swim got off them (ran out of money/moved/lost connects), Swim started to get CONSTANT nausea, sometimes vomiting from almost nothing. Now swim gets nausea on a daily basis, from things simple as driving, certain smells, not eating, and sometimes being sick in the morning. Swim also gets the same whenever swallowing ANY pills, especially if there is a taste/smell to it.

It sucks. Swim used to never get nauseous, and now he lives with it on a daily basis. Fucking blows, trying to get a doctor to prescribe antiemetics, since OTC shit does not work for him. Smoke a TON of pot to help that too.

Never had any urination/defecation problems, AT ALL, EVER. Even from snorting bags of H, or BIG amounts of codeine/hydrocodone.

Swim really got few side effects from opioids. Then again, Swim never IV's.

[olduncle]

Itching:

A common side effect that most users get from most substances in the class, this one is a minor annoyance only in many cases but can cause significant problems. Here's how:

Think about it from a cop's point of view. How do you spot a 'junkie'? Nervous and twitchy, leaky eyes and nose, and the rest are only observable at certain times of the usage cycle. It is easy for those with a practiced eye to detect a person in opiate withdrawal. Hands the size of baseball gloves and giant running abscesses report on the late-stage doper whose life is completely out of control and has been for some time. Pallor and 'heroin chic' thinness are later-stage results for those users who may still have a roof over their heads, but may also be the result of other things.

In fact, everything but tracks, abcesses, and swollen hands can be explained by things other than dope. It's the sum total of behavior and symptoms that combine to alert others that one is using. Most of swius would rather keep our predilections private, concealing them from the police, our family members and friends, and quite often even from those with whom swiwe enjoy social drug use. The fruit of the poppy is 'bad' as are people who enjoy it, even in the minds of those that consume other drugs with abandon. The prejudice spectrum has deeper divisions - vicoden is fine, heroin is full proof of inexcusable moral shortcomings, etc.

So, side effects that aid in detection are potentially quite problematic. Itching is a side effect of use as opposed to withdrawal, and occurs when swiwe are 'well'. Anyone with foreknowledge who sees a swimmer scratching on a regular basis needs only one more bit of evidence to make the correct conclusion. Itching, therefore, is a quite potentially problematic side effect, even if the user doesn't mind it (or even enjoys it). Nondetection is the primary objective of the adult, employed, respectable opiate/oid/um user.

There are only two broad categories of stratagem that can be applied to itching - medications to ameliorate the itching itself, and misdirection that explains the itching by pointing elsewhere. The first is easy and well known: please forgive the elementary, there may be some novices who are not hip to these things. Best is dipheynhydramine HCL / Benadryl. 50 -100 mg in adults will minimize the urge to scratch for a few hours at least, starts working reasonably quickly, and its presence in the home backs up some misdirection ploys. All medications, even those available OTC, can cause their own problems so please do as much reading and MD consultation as is necessary to ensure that this is safe for you.

Most users' itching is nonspecific - it happens everywhere and/or anywhere. Swiuncle get it deep inside swihis ears, for example, which drives swhim crazy. Anti-itch creams, therefore, aren't applicable to this situation. Benadryl won't work completely - swiyou'll still itch, but perhaps it will be controllable. It is also true that the itching is controllable all by itself. Swimone can simply choose not to scratch. This takes concentration, however, which may interfere with enjoyment of the effects of the substances. Nonetheless, it is possible to just ignore it when others are around. In swimuncle's experience, if swiyou start scratching it's damn near impossible to stop until swiyou are satisfied. Ignoring for a few seconds is easier, and the urge will eventually abate.

Misdirection means having a ready excuse that everyone around already knows about and will assume is the cause of any behavior that swiyou need to explain away. Having Benadryl around and complaining of allergies go together like water and cotton. Swiuncle isn't allergic to anything, but most of swihis acquaintances think he has hay fever and mold allergies and the like - a nice wide spectrum of things that can be triggered both indoors and out, in all seasons. Swiuncle also keeps some Claratin around just to reinforce the legend, and has developed the habit in others of assuming that runny nose, watery eyes, itching, and the like are the result of allergies and not worth a second thought. A thorough swimmer might actually make MD appointments for allergy tests and make sure everyone knew about the visit (though possibly not the results)

Antidetection and misdirection are large and important subjects, each worth multiple essays of their own. With respect to itching, it's a near-trivial side effect of poppy fruit that can result in major problems if others connect the correct dots. Minimizing it via medication and misdirecting to another condition are critical for the user who wishes to live swihis life both medicated and in relative peace.