Oral use - Sore throat from poppy pod tea

[sbt8080]

Horselover Fat has used poppy pod tea many times in the past, and never experienced this until his most recent batch of pods he is currently working with.

A few hours after Fat drinks his tea, his voice gets a little scratchy (others have comments that Fat "sounds sick"), and he starts to get a sore throat. By morning, his sore throat is very intense, and he needs to suck on cough drops to make it feel better. The sore throat improves throughout the day, but Horselover Fat has been using nightly for the past 3 nights so it has not completely gone away.

Fat also looked in the mirror with a flashlight and noticed small white patches on the back of his throat.

Do you guys know of anyone else like Fat who has experiences anything similar? Fat is hoping that this is just temporary, or that he has a sore throat from something else coincidentally (maybe some kind of infection not caused by drinking poppy tea).

[Routemaster Flash]

Is Fat definitely using pods that haven't been given a coating or any kind of chemical treatment?

[sbt8080]

Originally Posted by Routemaster Flash

Is Fat definitely using pods that haven't been given a coating or any kind of chemical treatment?

Fat thinks so. He is buying from the same source he always has, and never had this problem before. He says they do not look coated/painted/treated.

He can try washing off his next batch with alcohol wipes prior to grinding them up.

[allisterfan12]

swim also gets the soreness but especoally with poppy seed tea

[Herbal Healer 019]

donno how the pod tea itself could have caused the sore throat unless the pods werent properly ground & little sharp peices were in the tea. The white patches in the back of the throat kinda sound like blisters in the throat caused by strep throat, if the symptoms continue Fat should see a doctor.

Is Fat a smoker? These white patches & the sore throat could b attributed to a burned esophogus caused by inhaling smoke.

[Waste]

as SWIherbal healer said, it sounds like very small, sharp bits of pod are getting through the filter and cutting SWIYour throat.

Maybe try to filter better? other than that SWIM isn't sure

[Lippmannk1]

Hmmm. Sounds like you a) Burned your throat and didn't notice because you were on the poppy pod tea, b) Caught a freak virus the same time you imbibed the tea, c) Are smoking something that has messed your throat up, d) Ate a poppy pod batch coated with something.

There are many reasons, but SWIM has gotten a "scratchy" throat from drinking poppy pod tea too. SWIM never got a sore throat as bad as you describe though. Ouch.

[TommyRowe]

Originally Posted by sbt8080

Horselover Fat has used poppy pod tea many times in the past, and never experienced this until his most recent batch of pods he is currently working with.

A few hours after Fat drinks his tea, his voice gets a little scratchy (others have comments that Fat "sounds sick"), and he starts to get a sore throat. By morning, his sore throat is very intense, and he needs to suck on cough drops to make it feel better. The sore throat improves throughout the day, but Horselover Fat has been using nightly for the past 3 nights so it has not completely gone away.

Fat also looked in the mirror with a flashlight and noticed small white patches on the back of his throat.

Do you guys know of anyone else like Fat who has experiences anything similar? Fat is hoping that this is just temporary, or that he has a sore throat from something else coincidentally (maybe some kind of infection not caused by drinking poppy tea).

Im not a doctor, however I play one in real life.

But seriously, you have strep throat. White patches on back of the throat, hoarse voice, sounding sick and very sore throat, its just strep. Go get a culture taken to confirm. Nothing to worry about. Just dont come near me ; ) Throw in trouble swallowing and the white spots being on your tonsils and your 5 for 5 (or however many that is)

PS - Try and trust my medical oppinion. Im not a doctor but I am medically trained (and licenses paramedic) and Ive seen strep throat more times than I can count to boot.

[Richard_smoker]

Originally Posted by TommyRowe

Im not a doctor, however I play one in real life.

But seriously, you have strep throat. White patches on back of the throat, hoarse voice, sounding sick and very sore throat, its just strep. Go get a culture taken to confirm. Nothing to worry about. Just dont come near me ; ) Throw in trouble swallowing and the white spots being on your tonsils and your 5 for 5 (or however many that is)

PS - Try and trust my medical oppinion. Im not a doctor but I am medically trained (and licenses paramedic) and Ive seen strep throat more times than I can count to boot.

trust me. strep throat is a reason to be concerned. it must be treated with the proper antibiotic because strep throat can very often lead to rheumatic heart disease and resulting valvular incompetence.

i don't think you want to put the future of your cardiovascular health in the hands of advice from an internet forum. there's a reason you feel bad. it only takes a quick swab to see if it actually is strep or not. chances of actually being strep are less than 50% since any bacteria will cause these same symptoms, but it's really not something worth taking a risk over. the effects of long-term valvular damage often require open heart surgery to correct the affected valves. this is a life-threatening surgery. best to avoid. -DICK

if you're better by now, you need to remember to tell your doctor about the strep-throat-worry from earlier in the month. if it did get better, how long were you sick? if it was just a 2-3 days then you're probably ok.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Showing the members risks of infections from lack of treatment of otherwise mundane infections. Very nice!
	Didn't realise it could be that serious, informative to say the least.

[fnord]

Depending on how the poppy pods were dried/stored they could easily of devolved mold,mold is a host for many allergens and could easily of caused your problems. in other words try a different vendor/source and see if your problem continues.

Either that or it could just be cancer from that wonderfully enlightening pink beam of light....

By the way why did god let that poor cat die?

[TommyRowe]

Originally Posted by Richard_smoker

trust me. strep throat is a reason to be concerned. it must be treated with the proper antibiotic because strep throat can very often lead to rheumatic heart disease and resulting valvular incompetence.

i don't think you want to put the future of your cardiovascular health in the hands of advice from an internet forum. there's a reason you feel bad. it only takes a quick swab to see if it actually is strep or not. chances of actually being strep are less than 50% since any bacteria will cause these same symptoms, but it's really not something worth taking a risk over. the effects of long-term valvular damage often require open heart surgery to correct the affected valves. this is a life-threatening surgery. best to avoid. -DICK

if you're better by now, you need to remember to tell your doctor about the strep-throat-worry from earlier in the month. if it did get better, how long were you sick? if it was just a 2-3 days then you're probably ok.

Although technically true (hence me telling you previously to go get a culture taken which means going into the doctor, getting a swab and confirming, as Richard said) I wouldnt let that get to much to your head.

The chances are about 50% that its strep. But thats a one in two chance. Get tested definately but dont think you are going to have any cardiovascular issues for letting a infection go. If you stub your toe and get a infection, its the same risk. Any infection entering into the blood stream will cause issues. 50% for strep. Less than 5% that it has entered into your blood stream, although it most definately could... Get tested, take the antibiotics prescribed and feel better. Trust me, you would know if the infection reached your blood stream.

Not trying to be a dick (no pun intended) Richard by contradicting you or anything. Just providing a little bit more medical background on your statement. Good points though : )

[samuraigecko]

One wonders if anyone has considered a mild allergic reaction to the Tea itself?

It is a common thing, opium and natural opiates are not for everyone.

This is one of the main reasons for things like the "Codones" etc, because a smaller % of the populace has an allergic reaction to them and they retain the extreme analgesic properties of their parent Opiates, most of the time even surpassing them in performance.

Just a thought . .

[TommyRowe]

Allergic reaction is a possibility. The white marks on the throat arent really a symptom of it but it could be definately....

OP, have you had this tea made with this batch before? Any of your friends have the same reaction. A good question, any of your friends or co-workers have strep recently or anyone near them that you know of?

[samuraigecko]

Since an allergic reaction would produce a hystemnic reaction . . especially on the affected site . . one cannot see why one would not get white spots on the affected area.

Allergic reactions on interior tissues (such as the mouth) often produce white spots. On exterior tissues they often produce a rash having both white and red patches (either small or large).

Just an observation, definitely not a diagnosis as One is not a physician.

[Richard_smoker]

TommyRoe...dude, what the FUCK is your problem???

I cannot believe that you just actually posted that getting rheumatic fever is the 'same' risk from bacteria entering your bloodstream from a toe infection as it is from strep throat! I hope you were joking in that post, because i noticed over in another thread where you wanted us to accept you as a medical 'expert.'

next time when someone mentions something you've never heard of, do yourself a favor and go LOOK IT UP! seriously, you might have learned all about the cause of rheumatic heart disease...instead you just pulled 3 statements completely OUT OF YOUR ASS. In my neighborhood that is equivalent to lying. and when it comes from someone claiming to be an 'expert' is when those lies cross over into the realm of being downright criminal.

List of what all you pulled from your ass on that post:

1. that rheumatic heart valve disease is caused by bacteria entering your bloodstream from anywhere. The cause is actually associated ONLY with untreated group a strep throat infection. Skin infections do NOT cause this.
2. after you stated the first lie, you proceeded to make something up that it was ok to reassure someone against having a rapid strep test... WHY DO YOU THINK DOCTORS EVEN TEST US FOR STREP THROAT?? it's not because our bodies cannot fight off the magical streptococcus bug. it's because of one thing only: RHEUMATIC FEVER which leads to RHEUMATIC HEART DISEASE.
3. you seem to be confused with a TOTALLY different heart valve problem that is also NOT CAUSED by local infections in skin. We can get vegetations on our right heart valves (what you were 'thinking of') from bacteria that has seeded from iv drug use, but those are NOT caused by stumped toes. It is almost exclusively caused by infection from dirty iv drug use.

So that's 3 lies since the post where i already warned you about spreading misleading and improperly-grounded blanket statements about medical topics...please refrain from this careless disregard for truth. You never know is reading these posts. You never know when someone will accept something you say just because you SAY you're an expert.

From now on, you should just be giving out your opinion based on things that you have been specifically trained to do. If you're an EMT then comment when there's something relative to that...OR, you can offer your assistance to people, but before you do that on THIS site, you should probably include quote and references to peer-review journals like the New England Journal of Medicine or JAMA.

-DICK

Reputation Comments on this post:

you're probably right, but this is still flaming

[TommyRowe]

Ok...

From my VERY FIRST POST ON THE SUBJECT I TOLD THEM TO GO TO GET TESTED FOR! Thats what a culture is. I have NEVER stated against getting tested. I was the first one to say to get tested. I never advised against getting tested. Sorry that you dont realize culture and test are the same thing... Ill go ahead and dumb down the language for you next time... Incase you cant find it, here is the quote FROM MY FIRST POST ADVISING THEM TO GET A TEST FOR STREP:

"Go get a culture taken to confirm."

That sounds to me like I was advising them to get tested. So where did I advise against that? Want more details? My second post.

"Get tested definately but dont think you are going to have any cardiovascular issues for letting a infection go."

Again, telling them to get tested. Infact, that sounded like pressing the issue. And maybe I was a little unclear. I didnt want the person to worry about any cardiovascular issues so I let them know that they shouldnt be worrying about having that sort of infection FOR HOW LONG THEY HAVE LET IT GO TO THIS POINT... They dont have it. They might get it but they probably dont have it from letting it go. When they go get tested, which I advised them to do, even though you said I didnt, from day one than the MD will diagnose that sort of issue along with it, assuming they are a competent MD.

Streptoccaucus leads to 3% or less of cases resulting in any sort of disease that you are describing. Yes it happens but its rare. Hence me pointing out the chances in my posts. In my post after yours, I did say there was a possibility. Hence telling them to get tested again.

And also I NEVER SAID that a stubbed toe infection would lead to this disease. I said and I quote:

"Any infection leading into the blood stream will cause issues."

Is that not true? Find anything that retorts that from a credible source and I will agree with you 100%. I was simply stating the risks with other infections that may seem minor also. Is it bad to give medical advice like that? Warning people of possible infections?

Your highly confused, cant read or something along those lines because I never made any association between the two infections besides the risk. I think you should go back and actually read my posts.

While we are on the topic, Richard, what are you medical qualifications besides Google? Im a licensed Paramedic. One of the things we have to do is a tour in the ER and various other departments in a hospital where we work with MD's on these sort of issues. And Emergency Medicine is completely relevant to infection. Most issues involving Emergency Medicine can lead to infections hence us having to know Immunology and related issues.

And Im going to have to ask your qualifications, nay, your rights to 'warn' me about positing medical knowledge. I think you should drop that Holier Than Thou attitude because its not a good look for you. Especially when you dont give clear and discript retorts to what I say.

Im going to give you the benefit of the doubt. You seem like a nice enough person with good enough intentions, hence me giving you reputation for your posts, however I think you should change up your thought process before criticizing other people.

[Richard_smoker]

NO. That is NOT true!!

Damn, i plainly requested that you do a google search and you would learn something. Here. I've done the search for you. here's the first link that popped up.

Research suggests that rheumatic fever is caused by the body’s immunesystem acting inappropriately as a complication of strep throat. The body’s immune cells are unable to distinguish between Group A streptococcus bacteria’s antigens and antigens present on the body’s own cells, resulting in the immune cells attacking the body. However, some people develop rheumatic fever that never had an obvious throat infection and test negative after a throat culture.

Rheumatic fever is an immune response to an infection with group A streptococcus. The same bacteria causes strep throat and scarlet fever. While streptococcal skin infections are fairly common, they have not been linked to rheumatic fever.

Rheumatic fever is most prevalent in school-age children who are 5 to 15 years old. It is seen most often in the cold winter months when strep throat is also most common. Rheumatic fever may also occur in adults. It is seen with equal frequency in men and women. However, women with rheumatic fever are more likely to develop Sydenham chorea and mitral valve prolapse

link:http://heart-disease.health-cares.ne...ver-causes.php

to answer your question, i have no medical credentials. But apparently, even if i had one it wouldn't guarantee that i'd stick with the things i was actually trained in.

that's why others have advised you to chill out on the excessive commentary as well. I was trying to help stop the spread of misinformation which is something that you apparently are going to keep right on doing anyways.

-DICK

Richard_smoker added 40 Minutes and 16 Seconds later...

listen man, i apologize if my words were harsh.

i didn't intend to start a flame war. it's just that we have a very high standard here and that's why we appreciate when people use sources until their credibility has been established...and even then, sources are often necessary & always helpful.

but you're right about the 3% risk. the fact is that even if the sore throat resolves spontaneously, they still have that 3% risk. which is actually QUITE high...especially when you consider that the chances of a man catching HIV from having unprotected sex one time with an AIDS patient is less than 1/3 of the same risk!

try talking someone down from worrying about getting an HIV test when they find out someone they just had unprotected sex with has AIDS!

If you're an EMT then you really have no business claiming to be an expert in medicine. I'm sorry if that is a blow to your ego, but EMTs are not experts in medicine. If your claims are credible, and we have no reason to doubt you, then you are an expert in field cardiopulmonary resuscitation and i imagine you can probably start one hell of an iv... and i'm sure you teach classes on CPR and ACLS, but that doesn't constitute a suitable replacement for the medical training that one finds in medical school, for example.

For one thing, your experience is limited to patients who seek emergency care after having called 911... as you can imagine, this is hardly representative of the adult population. In fact, it limits you to only 2 patient groups:

1. those who are so sick that they require an ambulance for immediate management or
2. they are so limited in options that they call 911 because of poor circumstances
   • no car, no friend or family member with a car, psychiatric disorders, extreme anxiety, and drug overdoses that are severe enough to require your services.

Perhaps your job duties have colored your view of 'drug-users'... Perhaps you should consider the possibility that this community might be aware of your biases toward other members of the forum.

There are plenty of areas where your input would be extremely appropriate, but please limit your advice to answering questions to which you actually are specifically trained to respond. You might find a more favorable reaction to your attempts to help those who you might be legitimately worried about by including a small statement of your credentials (i.e. "I am an EMT in the U.S.") or just give a specific example of your experience with a given disease.

One thing that you may have noticed about this site which should be old hat for anyone in the medical field is that this community responds quite favorably to literary journal references. We actually have one of the largest online collections of relevant journal entries in the world right here on this site! So, until your credibility has been solidified, I suggest citing sources like the ones we have on this site in regard to drug-information and you can cite the New England Journal of Medicine or another peer-reviewed journal, i.e. JAMA to back up any opinions or advice that pertains to a general medical issue.

-DICK

sorry for getting off topic. let's return to the topic.

[Lippmannk1]

Er... flamewar anyone? I could chime in on that miniwar above but I would rather stay out of it. Anyway, SWIM experiences the same thing sometimes (the hoarse throat). SWIM never has a real problem with it though, SWIM just gets comments, like the poster of this thread has, that people seem to notice your voice being hoarse. SWIM is now considering several possibilitys:

a) Mild allergic reaction.
b) Mold in the pods.
c) Possible tiny sharp fragments in the tea.
d) An alkaloid in the tea causing problems with skin contact.

Also, if it makes any difference, I am in pre-medicine and enrolled in some advanced biology/medical classes if that counts for anything. I personally think that the person above had one of two things after mulling it over for a while. #1= Strep or some other form of bug infecting the throat. #2= Allergic reaction. I know that it can take more than one sting from a bee before your body has any allergic reaction to it, and the same could very well be possible with the tea.

[TommyRowe]

I wont respond but to say the following as I want to end this war...

EMT's and Paramedics are quite different and Paramedics take offense in most cases to being referred to as a EMT. I assure you my qualifications go WELL beyond CPR. Infact, EMTs require something like 100 hours of training while Paramedics require around 1300 hours. They are very different. Paramedics have a extreme range of knowledge and they are very highly trained, albeit underpaid and as seen in this post, under respected.

You have no need to apologize. You felt what I said was wrong. I tried to the best of my ability to show you my side and to be honest, I didnt even read your whole post because of the plain fact that it would just cause me to respond in a way that I dont want to. Im trying to get along well around here and there is no reason to make enemies as we are all here for a common cause. And to adhere to your request, below are my qualifications which I think you will find are much further than a basic EMT...

-Licensed Paramedic
-Took a certification course in Immunology from our local hospital taught by MDs and received certification
-Completed course in Critical Care Response, which is basically a Life Flight Paramedic/Nurse course
-Completed several seminars on the long term care of patients including the physical, emotion and psychological aspects of recovery
-Certified by State authority in a course on substance abuse and recover
-Served a rotation in local county mental health system that exposed me to mental health issues. This was a 300 hour rotation
-Licensed in critical care of high risk patients such as the elderly and children
-Paramedic Degree was obtained with a minor in psychology
-Attended seminar and received certification in a general course on HIV/AIDS which included transmission methods, specific medical related facts and the aspect of HIV/AIDS from a health care provider stand point

I assure you that being published and referencing sources from medical journals are not as highly respected in the medical field as the actual knowledge and experience. Anyone can site a article, to have actually dealth with and treated the issues discussed in the article is a whole other ball game and is a lot more respected in the medical community.

So Ill close with this, once again. I am not a EMT. Im a advance trained Paramedic. Ive taken classes from medical schools. Im a few units shy of receiving my RN. With the knowledge I have gained in Emergency Medicine, it rivals that of Emergency Room physicians. While Ill never say my knowledge exceeds that of a ER MD, I can definately keep up in the ER. And my colleagues seem to agree with the fact that I am very good at what I do, hence my job. I dont work as a EMT. I dont ride a ambulance rig. Im a tactical Paramedic which requires a lot of advance knowledge, respect and credentials.

And Richard, I have not choice but to point out the hypocrisy of your post... you asked me to refrain from speaking on anything I am not trained on. Yet you, admitting yourself you have no formal medical training, are speaking on the same subjects yourself. I have the medically relevant training. Just had to point that out.

Reputation Comments on this post:

way off-topic

[Richard_smoker]

yes but you said that if i proved rheumatic fever wasn't caused by strep entering the bloodstream from anywhere that you would admit you were wrong. and you didn't.

[TommyRowe]

My actual last post on this issue in this forum. If you wish to retort, please PM me as we dont need these events to unfold in public.

My exact statement was:

"And also I NEVER SAID that a stubbed toe infection would lead to this disease. I said and I quote:

"Any infection leading into the blood stream will cause issues."

Is that not true? Find anything that retorts that from a credible source and I will agree with you 100%."

My statement and my admitting I was wrong had nothing to do with any specific disease.

And my last statement: I appreciate you challenging me like this. It gives me a chance to refresh some of my medical knowledge and the chance to refresh on dealing with difficult people that are good at proving points and even better at researching. Thanks.

FINISHED

[thrillhouse]

Originally Posted by sbt8080

Horselover Fat has used poppy pod tea many times in the past, and never experienced this until his most recent batch of pods he is currently working with.

A few hours after Fat drinks his tea, his voice gets a little scratchy (others have comments that Fat "sounds sick"), and he starts to get a sore throat. By morning, his sore throat is very intense, and he needs to suck on cough drops to make it feel better. The sore throat improves throughout the day, but Horselover Fat has been using nightly for the past 3 nights so it has not completely gone away.

Fat also looked in the mirror with a flashlight and noticed small white patches on the back of his throat.

Do you guys know of anyone else like Fat who has experiences anything similar? Fat is hoping that this is just temporary, or that he has a sore throat from something else coincidentally (maybe some kind of infection not caused by drinking poppy tea).

SWIM had a similar experience with his first batch of poppy tea.. Went to a doctor and it was indeed strep throat along with two ear infections! SWIM wasn't sure the tea caused the infection until reading this post.. he's worried about using the rest of his pods and getting sick again.....

SWIM's wondering how you can tell if the pods have been treated/coated/bleached. His looked 'natural' (not shiny or anything) but they were purchased at a craft store and definitely weren't intended for consumption, maybe stored improperly. How can you tell if they're moldy?
SWIM's a smoker and probably couldv'e ground the pods better and filtered the slurry.. do you think it's worth a second try or did I buy a bad batch of pods? THANKS

[Richard_smoker]

i don't think you got the strep from the pods. you just got strep throat. -DICK

[thrillhouse]

Don't think its a coincidence.. SWIM finds it hard to beleive the tea had nothing to do with the strep

SWIM's just wondering if it's the pods themselves or if he made a mistake preparing the tea.

[Goshawk]

After swim's first few times drinking poppy pod tea swim developed a severe sore throat. It was painful and very hard to talk and has lasted at least three weeks. White spots were visible on the sides, bottom and surface of the tongue. It is getting better but for a week swim stopped talking because of the pain.