Codeine / DHC Tolerance Buildup

[TAVOR]

I've searched on BL but I couldn't get any definitive answer in regards to tolerance.
Most of the posts in fact are about decreasing tolerance after having abused codeine or other opiates and this is not my case.

I use recreationally DHC once a month and my question was regarding tolerance buildup. I know that there isn't really a specific answer since it varies from person to person, the dosage taken and the frequency of use.

However I just wanted to know whether dosing ONLY once a month codeine / dhc will maintain minimal tolerance.
Or whether it will eventually increase after a year or so.


Thanks!

 

[belligerent drunk]

Opioids tend to build up some kind of "baseline tolerance" in that after you've used, your tolerance will never go back to what it was before you started. I don't know whether you'll face that problem with once a month dosing schedule, though. I think it's unlikely that you will experience any noticeable or significant tolerance buildup to be honest.

 

[TAVOR]

Yes my general impression was this, but I'll still do 2-3 months without any DHC just in case.

thanks

 

[George27]

Opioids tend to build up some kind of "baseline tolerance" in that after you've used, your tolerance will never go back to what it was before you started.

This is not my experience, I got back.
I took methadone for years, nowdays I can feel 20mg of tramadol or codeine.

 

[DynoSpec]

tolerance, is something that occurs when we are exposed to repeated use. Single doses once a month even if large would be hard pressed to introduce tolerance. What causes it is when you re dose, or take more of a specific drug (or class of drugs acting on one or more of the same receptors) before you have eliminated the initial dose from your bloodstream.

So DHC has a half life of I think 6ish hours (not positive but this sounds right) We'll assume its 6 hours. This means that 6 hours after dosing your body will have eliminated one half of the initial dose from your bloodstream via mainly metabolism and excretion. So 24 hours after a dose of 100 mg(in vivo), about 6mg of dhc will still be present.

With codeine and DHC, its a little more complicated as they are pro drugs, and not themselves active but rather become active through metabolic pathways. IE Codeine is converted to morphine in your liver using the cytochrome p450 enzyme, CYP 2D6. the morphine is what actually provides therapeutic or recreational value. exhaustion of enzyme supply leads to "ceiling" doses making these drugs less suitable for abuse

Most drugs do have similar half lifes, aswell as similar metabolic pathways. There are so many variables which can have an effect on how your body processes drugs, but a general rule of thumb to prevent tolerance is to wait a minimum of one week between single doses. How your individual receptors behave also affects tolerance, as constant abuse of a drug will lead to down regulation of the receptor that it binds to.