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Opioids *Impossible* to get a cold/flu while on opiates?

I got some kind of sick recently. My whole house caught it first and I didn't feel it for a while until my methadone maintenance dose would start to wear off at night, then I would start to feel like crap. I would wake up in the morning with a cough and bad congestion feeling awful.......but as soon as I got my dose I was fine.

Luckily I was able to get free antibiotics and it seems to have gone away. I feel sooo much better now.

I guess it is just that the symptoms get covered up although I think my case was a lot less severe than the rest of the household.
 
I distinctly remember (only 4 years ago) the first time I tried taking 120 mg of codeine in desperation when I had a truely awful flu: 15 minutes later the flu just dissapeared! I felt like telling everybody I knew.

This week I came down with a foul chest infection & sore throat. I thought fuck lemsip, I'm getting some Opium! I woke up feeling like an iguana had been chewing its way down my throat & zero energy & appetite. Since dosing I've eaten a huge ham with salad & potatoes & have been up & about all day even getting some exercise. That sounds much better than toast, water & bed rest in my mind!
 
I actually have never had a cold/flu while using Heroin. That's okay with me though :)
 
It seems that bupe doesn't do this to the degree that other opiates do. I have also noticed that bupe doesn't seem to cover up the symptoms nearly as well as, say, heroin.
 
im not addicted to opiates atm but in my year or two of using i havent caught one sickness. i used to be sick all the time. i think theres something to this. id like to see a study of some sort
 
Warm'nFuzzy said:
im not addicted to opiates atm but in my year or two of using i havent caught one sickness. i used to be sick all the time. i think theres something to this. id like to see a study of some sort
Click to expand...

Sorry to revive an oldish thread but I might actually look into this for an honours project (after doing a lot more research on the matter). It'll be awhile until I have anything to post but I'll keep you all updated when I get there.
 
Could just be a coincidence, but since my affair with opiates/opioids in 2008 began I have not had a cold (and I've only had the flu once in my life -- during childhood). Prior to my addiction I got them once a year usually.
 
I have not had a cold or flu but I did have a sore throat maybe 2 times in the last 3 years. Most likely from smoking too much tobacco.
 
i constantly have a runny nose due to daily DHC for chronic pain and
spending a small fortune on nasal spray.

sucks
 
I have wondered about this topic for years. Since starting daily opiate use since 2002, I have never experienced cold or flu symptoms other than dopesickness. Even when working around a classroom of sick children and having everyone around me sick for weeks, I remained full of energy and motivation while on therapeutic levels of oxycontin and/or heroin and/or suboxone.

Anyway, I have casually surveyed and observed hundreds of opiate addicts throughout the years on the streets of San Francisco, Montreal, and NY, and have noted that a vast majority of opiate addicts did not experience cold/flus symptoms while on opiates even during times of cold/flu epidemics. Considering many addicts shitty lifestyle, I found this to be amazing & puzzling. (and yes, I realize how unscientific I am)

If powerful opiates like oxycontin and opana and fentanyl are frequently given to cancer patients during chemotherapy, at which point their immune systems must be compromised, then would it be possible that certain opiates are not so toxic to the body?

Perhaps opiates mask the symptoms or perhaps my body on opiates does not provide a proper environment for the cold/flu/pneumonia to survive?
I have always thought that the lifestyle of opiate addicts was more detrimental and toxic than the opiates themselves.

Anyway, if further research concludes that a certain amount of opiates can prevent pneumonia, colds, & flus with minimal toxicity, then perhaps it would be of benefit to certain people who can't physically handle the risks of sicknesses like the above.
 
brighton said:
i constantly have a runny nose due to daily DHC for chronic pain and
spending a small fortune on nasal spray.

sucks
Click to expand...

Runny nose is the first manifestation I get when my opiate and/or opioid blood level is at half-life or less and I begin withdrawal. ALWAYS runny nose first.
 
From my experiences with difference opiates and some sickness. If you're feverish and are couching your eyes out opiates always takes care of that. My theory is simply that our beloved opiates are keeping the symptoms at bay and not really doing anything to cure the sickness.
 
Wow after preliminary searches of prominent journals I'm surprised by not being able to find a article on this matter.

However I did confirm my view that cocaine, MPH and any other noradrenergic drug precipitates classic opiate withdrawal.
 
I have never had a cold during my 11years of heroin use. I did read once that scientists were doing research into why this is. But when I am withdrawing it feels like I am having 11 years of colds all at once
 
Now in my 8th year of round-the-clock prescribed opioids (from 240mg per 24hr of dihydrocodeine in 1st year to 200ucg/hr fentanyl patches & 80mg oxycodone per 24 hr in current/8th year) I remember noticing about 2 years ago how I almost never got colds or coughs anymore but couldn't find anyone to mention my findings to because heaven forbid I should actually praise any of my rxed opioid's side effects beyond the basic analgesia to my Doctors.....

Am glad someone else on Bluelight started this thread and I am not at all surprised - but pleased nonetheless - to find so much other "anectdotal" evidence supporting my personal experiences (and theory) that round-the-clock opioids clearly seemed to eliminate one's yearly allowance of colds, coughs and sniffles...

When I think about it, I only ever experience cold-related symptoms when inadvertently withdrawing due to early consumption of my opioid allowance or forgetting to order my refills in a timely fashion.

Viva las narcoticas!
 
I know I'm a lightweight compared to the majority of members but I have been on endocet for 2 years and I have gotten sick a few times and one really bad. Now, I wasn't sure if it was a liver issue but I had felt like my bones were breaking and anything touching my feet was killer (galbladder ?)

Would someone be kind enough to send me a link to a board about cold water extraction for percs? I want to minimize the APAP harm.

I am going to haver shoulder surgery tomorrow and my fear is they are going to give me a stronger dose of percs and that scares me becasue I have a hard enough time getting of 5mg tabs.

Help!
 
lol
my rattie girl was a junkie for at least 8 years and never once during that time (except during w/d which feels like a cold/flu anyway) did she get a cold or have allergies.

i think it is because it is dehydrating and dries up the extra mucous and perhaps makes you immune system work overtime. it would seem like it would repress the immune system - but little doses of (poison) actually stimulate the immune system to building a tolerance to them. could it be something like this? but then it would seem like the immunity would continue to some extent after stopping the opie.

also when she finally detoxed off all opies and then came allergy season she got so sick from allergies that it ended up turning into pnuemonia!!! lol

another interesting side effect from opiates is that when my rattie girl was addicted all of those years she didn't have symptoms of high/low blood sugar. when she detoxed she found out she is diabetic. now she takes insulin and has to be very careful of the blood sugar lowering effects of opiates - but she read that this is because it delays gastric emptying - but this is another potentially useful side effect of opiates - she will actually take them when her blood sugar is high and it seems to help keep it lower... just make sure to eat easily digestible foods when taking them... liquid foods are best like smoothies.

eta: also what of all the people who were opiate addicts for years and then suddenly get clean only to find out they have a devastating illness which had never bothered them before? i've been acquainted with people who were fine while strung out and then died a few months after getting clean. whats up with this?

also (lol) what about the guy on breaking bad who was dying of cancer until he got involved with meth? it seems he got much better... lol
 
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IMO its kinda like mind over matter,u ever see people with VERY important jobs and FOCUS entirely on the job at hand ..kinda to busy to get sick

think about it YOR FOCUSED entirly on getting WELL or next fix ....ive been in the same house as my father ,grandfather with the FLU ... sick as shit ...i would get a body ache ...then realize fuck ima be dope sick if i dont "go out" ...and within the hour before i even got my "shit" the flu symptoms were GONE

man i just quit methadone so i hope i havent jinxed myself

when i brought this up to non opiate users a long time ago they said "oh u were just to high to notice" funny how normal people(non users) think users are CONSTANTLY high

this has crossed my mind SO SO SO many times
 
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