Freaking cotton fever

Let me just say this. I've read many many things about cotton fever and how aweful it is, yet I never considered even for a moment, that I would develop such a thing. For anyone who has never experienced it, you will wish you were dead. After reading about it in the past, I thought ohhh, flu like symptoms blah blah blah. I'm an RN, I know how severe the flu can actually get, as I care for many patients admitted for observation usually due to dehydration (sorry, I digress) they are ill but it is tolerable and definately manageable. Whomever wrote the article I read stating you will develop a "fever and flu like symptoms," is either a liar or completely stoned out of their skulls while composing their experience. For me, it was the most painful and actually scary event I have had in many many years. I began unexpectedly writhing in excruciating pain in my lower posterior flank area, sweating through many many layers of clothes and shivering so extensively that I honestly thought I would chip one of my teeth. I felt as though my knees were going to fracture from them hitting each other so hard. I couldn't speak during one of my waves of torture, and I grunted and sqealed with no ability to lull my agony. It was as though I was giving birth to a six year old with a halo of thorns, and that small adult inside me was ripping every muscle and bit of tissue from my spine to my belly button.
It was if someone was removing my kidneys with a hot machete, the pain came in waves that were almost unbearable. At this point, my
Mother wanted to call 911 as she had no idea why I had transformed into a twisted sobbing sweating shell of myself. After about an hour of shear misery, it seemed to pass as quickly and easily as it approached. Although I continued sweating for quite some time, I was relatively pain free although I felt as though I had been hit by a very fast moving cement truck. Anyone who has muttled through this entirely too long of a post, and has never experienced cotton fever, please throw away your cotton. If you can't afford to get new cotton, let me know, I would be more then happy to send you the cosco size, could-probably-knit-you-a-sweater sized bag enough for you all of New York City.
:D

Jesus Christ. Fuck that shit

I'm glad I have and always will stick to plugging, eating and snorting my drugs. Then again I haven't gotten to the point of daily dope use, although I have tried it 2 or 3 times

Ill stick to my oxy. That story sounds like a nightmare

maybe you should see a doctor even if you feel better now...

If it ever happens again to you then the best thing to do is to keep drinking as much water as you can.
This really does help to flush out your kidneys which gets rid of the pain in that area a lot quicker and it helps with the thumping headache as well.

I think the whole reason they suffered through this at home was was because getting help for cotton fever would have blown their cover as an IV drug user .

So seeing a doctor is probably out of the question.

Yeah, it's very rare that that happens, but when it does, holy shit!....Just lying there all teeth chattering! I've had it last 3-4 hours, so you kind of lucked out with that! It doesn't usually happen instantly, and when it first starts, I always wonder why I feel so shaky, and then I'm floppin like a fish...it supposedly isn't supposed to that dangerous, but it really feels like you're about to have a seizure!

ive never had cotton fever in my life....ive tried literally almost everything, nothing to be proud about, just something that some people do throughout their life. but as for blueshues comment, how do u know what a seizure feels like, i had 3 in the course of a year and had no clue when they were going to come....ended up being benzo withdrawls....how do u know when a seizure is going to happen. the 2nd time it happened to me i just felt a little bit jittery, the 1st time i didnt feel anything, i woke up in the ER, happened so fast. 3rd time i was sitting on a bar stool. i dont even remember what was going on when i had the seizures.

^I've never had a true seizure, unless it happened when I was blacked out on benzos and opiates while using multiple stimulants! Absolutely stupid, but I was actually using all those things at once in the course of a day at one point....

the cotton fever, well.....In my 16 years of IV drug use and 1000s of times shooting H and other things, I've had it happen only 5-6 times...I shot up everyday multiple times a day for 4 years this last run, and it happened 3 times during that period, before that I guess it happened an average of once every 3 years or something like that, but there were long periods where I didn't use IV drugs in the 16 since I first started...It doesn't happen that often, and I've done plenty of shots with visible particles floating around! Again stupid, but hey....

It's an absolutely unmistakble feeling, you pour sweat, shake violently and I mean fucking violently! Also have a headache....It's very frightening and feels like you're definitely gonna die....the shaking gets so bad and intense, you feel like somethings gonna give...I don't really know the difference between siezures and convulsions, but it sure damn feels like that's what's gonna happen....It's fucking scary!

the first time it happens, you have know idea what fucking hit you!

You have to do something wrong to get cotton fever. Ive done thousands and thousands of shots and never had it. It's called using a clean needle, cotton, cooker, and good gear. And not having feces smudged on your skin where you are injecting.

sounds like a classic bout of cotton fever. i've dealt with it a couple of times myself from nearing 10years of IV use. quite frankly i'd rather go through the disappointment of a missed shot than the terror of cotton fever

I've had it in varying degrees (in terms of duration and pain) around six or so times as well, though I actually consider myself to be lucky that I havn't experienced it more as there was a good period of time when I was completely wreckless and repulsive in my IV hygiene...You guys need to watch out though, if these symptoms last longer than a couple hours it could be a serious blood infection which will definitely kill you if untreated. Come to think of it, when I caught MRSA, it started off much like cotton fever does, only it got continuously worse.

During particularly bad bouts of CF taking an antibiotic such as penicillin has considerably shortened the length of its duration. Other than that, bundle up: as most people will tell you, there's not much you can do but ride it out once you've got it. It's an immuno-reaction. Best advice I can give is don't reuse cottons or needles and always use clean water.

Doing another shot once you've got it will obviously make you feel slightly better but I don't recommend it due to all that shaking going on.

wanna know how to not get cotton fever use a micron filter

I have experienced cotton fever about 3-4 times and yeah you described it perfectly. The violent shivering and pain is unbearable. And the worst thing is not even another shot helps you just have to ride it out.

mrflowers00 said:

wanna know how to not get cotton fever use a micron filter

Click to expand...

there's still a minute chance of getting the particulate matter cotton fever. it's almost impossible using a micron but the point i'm making is there are two distinct types of "cotton fever".

U know what the shit is? MICRON FILTER 3x !!!


Yes im serious; its the most PURE EVER

you can still get cotton fever using good injection practices, never used a micron filter, never known anyone who has, maybe I'm in the minority here, IDK....

A few times, I got it at the same time as the other people I was getting high with, we weren't sharing equipment or anything, but we were doing the same dope...everybody thinks that it happens when you shoot up a little piece of cotton but IDK....I read other stuff that says it's from a disease that attacks cotton plants....

everybody thinks that it happens when you shoot up a little piece of cotton but IDK

Click to expand...

that's cotton fever from particulate matter entering your bloodstream. it can be extremely dangerous and have dire consequences.

....I read other stuff that says it's from a disease that attacks cotton plants....

Click to expand...

this is bacterial cotton fever which can almost always be eliminated using the appropriate micron filter, though still possible to experience even so. hot and cold flushes, stiffness in joint and limbs, fever like symptoms are commonly reported symptoms.

a search within OD will yield results and threads on both types. google them as well for more in-depth information and descriptions.

I don't that just any particulate matter will give you cotton fever though, maybe it's just cotton, I will look it up, I have before I just don't remember the exact details...

One things I do, using regular little balls of cotton like I always have, is squirt a little bit of the shot out after I draw it up to clear out any little bit of cotton they may be stuck in the point....I also hold the needle up to the light, sometimes you find a little strand of cotton hanging off