Interesting histamine reaction

[Tortoise]

Swit would like to share his observations regarding codeine induced histamine release. Swit's been using codeine recreationally for quite sometime now and he's never had too much of a problem with itchiness on codeine, sure he does notice it from time to time, but it's never been anough to bother him.

When taking high codeine doses (say 350mg for example), Swim usually makes sure that he drinks it with a lot of water. This morning however, Swim ingested 350mg dissolved in only about 100ml of water on a very empty stomach so that the effects would hit him much harder. And that they did; he had the most intense codeine rush he's ever had in his life - he couldn't believe how fast and hard it hit. The problem is, he also had a pretty big histamine reaction, like nothing he's ever had before, so much so that he got the itchies pretty much straight away and his lips actually swelled up! He took a dramamine after that and that seemed to help, but even now,5 hours later his lips are still slightly puffy.

I think the reason for this is that the histamine release seems to be more dependant of the rate that codeine enters one's system rather than the amount of codeine in one's system. Probably why it should never be IV'd. For this reason if Swim ever doses in this way again (and he most probably will - the rush...) he'll be sure to take some anti-histamines beforehand.

peace!