IAmNotACat
Greenlighter
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2017
- Messages
- 4
First I'll say that I'm not allergic to codeine. But I do have a chronic urticaria reaction called cholinergic urticaria - it's basically a transient allergic-type reaction that means I get very painful/itchy tiny hives when my body temperature goes up - this can be through emotion but also exercise, warm rooms, hot showers, blankets in bed, etc. It's usually worst during winter because of the temperature changes between outside and inside. Sweat seems to be involved somehow, I tend to have delayed sweating, but if I force myself to deal with the reaction, eventually I will sweat and then feel better. I assume that's why it's not very prominent for me in summer, when I'm sweating regularly.
I really like codeine though, and hope it's not a tradeoff between this reaction and the codeine. I try to remain as opiate naive as possible, usually a dose of 90-100mg of codeine is nice enough for me, I'll take it first thing in the morning before eating and once my tolerance gets to about 150mg I stop for awhile because I know I could easily wind up with an opiate problem if I'm not careful. I've had problems with benzos and alcohol in the past.
I'm not sure if the codeine is making the urticaria worse. It's particularly bad right now, almost as worse as it's ever been, but it is winter. It doesn't seem to lessen when I stop the codeine but maybe I don't stop for long enough. I don't really get itchy from the codeine itself. I use CWE to get out either acetaminophen or aspirin. I don't try to get the caffeine out but it doesn't usually bother me too much.
I guess this long rambly first post is just to see if anyone else deals with weird allergies and whether codeine/acetominophen/aspirin affects it. Will a CWE even let through enough acetaminophen or aspirin to make a difference? I usually filter it through a shirt, which gets it pretty clear, and then filter it again through a coffee filter.
Edited to add: I know this is no substitute for medical advice. I'm just curious - my doc says there's not really anything that can be done for cholinergic urticaria anyway.
I really like codeine though, and hope it's not a tradeoff between this reaction and the codeine. I try to remain as opiate naive as possible, usually a dose of 90-100mg of codeine is nice enough for me, I'll take it first thing in the morning before eating and once my tolerance gets to about 150mg I stop for awhile because I know I could easily wind up with an opiate problem if I'm not careful. I've had problems with benzos and alcohol in the past.
I'm not sure if the codeine is making the urticaria worse. It's particularly bad right now, almost as worse as it's ever been, but it is winter. It doesn't seem to lessen when I stop the codeine but maybe I don't stop for long enough. I don't really get itchy from the codeine itself. I use CWE to get out either acetaminophen or aspirin. I don't try to get the caffeine out but it doesn't usually bother me too much.
I guess this long rambly first post is just to see if anyone else deals with weird allergies and whether codeine/acetominophen/aspirin affects it. Will a CWE even let through enough acetaminophen or aspirin to make a difference? I usually filter it through a shirt, which gets it pretty clear, and then filter it again through a coffee filter.
Edited to add: I know this is no substitute for medical advice. I'm just curious - my doc says there's not really anything that can be done for cholinergic urticaria anyway.
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