Dihydro-codeine Absorption Question

[infectedmushroom]

Is DHC best absorbed in one dose like codeine is?

I have some DHC syrup which also contains sorbitol which causes stomach upset at higher doses. I've found I can alleviate the discomfort by staggering my doses. I just wonder whether or not I'm losing DHC in the process like one would with a Codeine syrup.

 

[SS373dOH]

It's probably best to dose it all at once, but you're not "losing" and of the dhc by staggering your doses.. Instead of it hitting you suddenly with an intense feeling of warmth, it will gradually occur.
So you have to decide whether that little rush you get during the initial onset, is worth the upset stomach, or not.

- Hopeless 7nos

 

[infectedmushroom]

Ok so it's not like Codeine in the sense that re-dosing is less effective than single dosing. I find the whole codeine-sipping culture pretty ridiculous as they're not really getting high off the codeine but more-so the promethazine. That's a different story though.

 

[SS373dOH]

I've never really heard that as fact before, I've heard some people claim it doesn't work as well. Is that your opinion, or did you read this somewhere?

Anyways, dhc is chemically structured just like codeine is, so their actions are quite similar. It's twice as strong though, so imo you'd feel every staggered dose, providing it was sufficient enough.


- Hopeless 7nos

 

[infectedmushroom]

I read it in a medical journal somewhere, have read it on BL a lot, and have a lot of anecdotal experience as well.

It seems like they're both metabolized by the same enzyme however their metabolites are different, which is what has me thinking there's some difference there....

Damn my lackluster and laughable pharmacological understanding.

 

[Ganjcat]

just curious as I suffer pain and get codeine etc but is the one your on the next step up from codeine I need to ask my doc but dont know if I should specifically ask for dihy codeine or just see what he comes up with

 

[mysafehome01]

I find DHC to be very strange indeed. I need sometimes twice as much DHC to feel anywhere similar to the effects of Codeine.

I normally just dose it all at once. ~360mg to start as I have quite a tolerance to the stuff.

 

[kleinerkiffer]

Od -> bdd

 

[belligerent drunk]

No, the staggering doses = ineffective thing, is a myth. The reason people (and you) may feel that slowly sipping codeine or DHC (or any other drug for that matter) is not as effective, is because by slowly ingesting the drug, a lower peak concentration is reached, so it feels as if the effect is attenuated, albeit lasting longer. There is no solid reason why it should be "weaker" apart from that.

 

[infectedmushroom]

I thought it was weaker as the liver can only do the codeine --> morphine conversion in one go?

 

[belligerent drunk]

No, that's a myth. There is no reason the enzyme should get deactivated following codeine metabolism.

 

[Pilll_head]

I read it in a medical journal somewhere, have read it on BL a lot, and have a lot of anecdotal experience as well.

It seems like they're both metabolized by the same enzyme however their metabolites are different, which is what has me thinking there's some difference there....

Damn my lackluster and laughable pharmacological understanding.

They do but the difference between them has more to do with having different potency against the opioid receptor. Codeine is just a prodrug of morphine which is about the same strength as hydrocodone. But codeine has much less effectiveness than hydro because only a small amount (~10%) actually gets converted to morphine and codeine itself has almost no opioid activity. Hydrocodone gets metabolized the same way codeine does too but it's potent enough that no metabolism is necessary for an effect.

DHC is in this inbetween land where it's more potent than codeine but weaker than hydro. My guess is that some of it gets metabolized like codeine to the more active compound and DHC itself also adds to the effect.