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Harm Reduction Micron Filtering Mega Thread and FAQ

Thanks, I appreciate. Also, I use subs to detox from heroin, and I usually do like 8,8,4,4,2,0 for each successive day from last shot of H. If I tried subs iv, it shouldn't mess up total step down; as long as, I did same mg per day stepped into smaller 1mg shots. That makes sense right.

There is a difference in bioavailability when contrasting the sublingual and IV routes.

If I were you, I would do 1mg, maybe 2 or 3 times in a day, instead of 8mg. 0.5mg in 2-3 shots in a day could replace 4mg, for instance.

For the most part something like this wouldn't interrupt your taper, no. :)

One more quick question, if I filtered with a coffee filter, what would the process be? What I plan so far is, to crush it up and soak it in water; then, draw it up through a cotton. Then, I'm going to spray it out of the needle into a spoon through a coffee filter; then, redraw through a cotton. I only want to try it once and don't plan on continuing. If it's good though, I will definitely look into aquiring the filters and other products.

I typically take a spare syringe (without a needle) and pack cotton into its base using the plunger to compress it.

Then I backload the solution into it (you can squirt the solution in using a syringe with a needle) and then put the plunger in, and the solution will go through the cotton.

You want to push it into a spoon to draw back into the first syringe with needle.
 
Thanks, I appreciate. Also, I use subs to detox from heroin, and I usually do like 8,8,4,4,2,0 for each successive day from last shot of H. If I tried subs iv, it shouldn't mess up total step down; as long as, I did same mg per day stepped into smaller 1mg shots. That makes sense right.

actually the sublingual bioavailability is much smaller than the IV bioavailability. So if you are use to taking 8mg's or the "8,8,4,4,2,0" thing.....it would be different.
The sublingual BA for suboxone is about 33% give or take. And the BA for IV is 100%......so when you SL'ed the 8mg pill, that would be equivelant to IV'ing about 3mg's. So instead of "8,8,4,4,2,0" it would be approx....3,3,1.3,1.3,.7,0.

But like the captain said...you really shouldnt be IV'ing that much. I reccomend just IV'ing only 1mg's and then wait until you start feeling sick again and then IV 1mg again.....and so on. I think you would probably be ablt to get by with only like 2mg's/day or so.

Is my coffee filter procedure, a good one, or do you have another reccomendation

yes, your coffee filter technique should help some. Its not as good as a micron filter but it helps nonetheless.
Instead, I would take a needle, and fill it up with coffee filter up until about the 30 unit mark and then filter the solution through that onto the spoon instead of having to just squirt it onto a filter....jsut mix the subs with water, pull it through cotton, squirt the solution into the back of the "coffee filter needle" i mentioned, and then put the plunger back in and push it all the way down until its all out. I have done this and it makes the solution much more clear and "see through" than if you didnt do it. It can sometimes clog up though so just be careful.
 
Yes indeed JB, sometimes it can clog up....mine has!! As for cnote's idea of spraying it drawing and redrawing, well....that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen to me. I am not co-ordinated enough plus you are gonna be "handling" the cotton and other stuff a lot. Sounds difficult to keep a semi-sterile environment. I know I use to shoot dope and had no concern for keeping my stuff sterile back in the day. I've cleaned up my act since and try to stay as healthy as possible now. Plus I'd end up loosing a bunch of it or something disastrous! It goes so much smoother & neater with a filter. It sux that you cant get them easier. I love using micron filters. Just sayin' -Jaz
 
Yesterday I tired to pre-filter with cotton or a coffee filter. The largest syringe I own is 3cc so this was not working out at all for me. I decided to pre-filter with an old used micron filter. Then ran that solution through a fresh new micron filter. Worked beautifully = ) I know, I know, you are not suppose to reuse filters ..yikes..but I USE to do that all the time. 8) After finding this thread I did stop reusing them unless it my only option.
My question is do you all think there is any harm pre-filtering with an old micron? I must have 30 of them stashed away. I am very frugal and old bad habits are hard to kick. I ran a little sterile water thru them to see which was the easiest to "push" or the least stopped up. Could I save $ by running tap water thru instead? Would that make the old filters even more contaminated? For those how filter sub, How much milage do you get from your filters? (how many 8 mg subs can you use per filter?) I was only able to filter 2 maybe 3 before. This pre-filtering is with an old micron is gonna help and save me a bunch of time and trouble and $$. Thanks for your comments and suggestions in advance-jaz
 
Yesterday I tired to pre-filter with cotton or a coffee filter. The largest syringe I own is 3cc so this was not working out at all for me. I decided to pre-filter with an old used micron filter. Then ran that solution through a fresh new micron filter. Worked beautifully = ) I know, I know, you are not suppose to reuse filters ..yikes..but I USE to do that all the time. 8) After finding this thread I did stop reusing them unless it my only option.
My question is do you all think there is any harm pre-filtering with an old micron? I must have 30 of them stashed away. I am very frugal and old bad habits are hard to kick. I ran a little sterile water thru them to see which was the easiest to "push" or the least stopped up. Could I save $ by running tap water thru instead? Would that make the old filters even more contaminated? For those how filter sub, How much milage do you get from your filters? (how many 8 mg subs can you use per filter?) I was only able to filter 2 maybe 3 before. This pre-filtering is with an old micron is gonna help and save me a bunch of time and trouble and $$. Thanks for your comments and suggestions in advance-jaz

I think the only harm that would possibly occur in your situation is if something that is smaller than the pore sizes accumulates in the old micron filters.

I think what you did was fine though.
 
Yesterday I tired to pre-filter with cotton or a coffee filter. The largest syringe I own is 3cc so this was not working out at all for me. I decided to pre-filter with an old used micron filter. Then ran that solution through a fresh new micron filter. Worked beautifully = ) I know, I know, you are not suppose to reuse filters ..yikes..but I USE to do that all the time. 8) After finding this thread I did stop reusing them unless it my only option.
My question is do you all think there is any harm pre-filtering with an old micron? I must have 30 of them stashed away. I am very frugal and old bad habits are hard to kick. I ran a little sterile water thru them to see which was the easiest to "push" or the least stopped up. Could I save $ by running tap water thru instead? Would that make the old filters even more contaminated? For those how filter sub, How much milage do you get from your filters? (how many 8 mg subs can you use per filter?) I was only able to filter 2 maybe 3 before. This pre-filtering is with an old micron is gonna help and save me a bunch of time and trouble and $$. Thanks for your comments and suggestions in advance-jaz

Just be sure to filter your solution through a compacted cotton before trying to pass it through any micron filter.
 
Yesterday I tired to pre-filter with cotton or a coffee filter. The largest syringe I own is 3cc so this was not working out at all for me. I decided to pre-filter with an old used micron filter. Then ran that solution through a fresh new micron filter. Worked beautifully = ) I know, I know, you are not suppose to reuse filters ..yikes..but I USE to do that all the time. 8) After finding this thread I did stop reusing them unless it my only option.
My question is do you all think there is any harm pre-filtering with an old micron? I must have 30 of them stashed away. I am very frugal and old bad habits are hard to kick. I ran a little sterile water thru them to see which was the easiest to "push" or the least stopped up. Could I save $ by running tap water thru instead? Would that make the old filters even more contaminated? For those how filter sub, How much milage do you get from your filters? (how many 8 mg subs can you use per filter?) I was only able to filter 2 maybe 3 before. This pre-filtering is with an old micron is gonna help and save me a bunch of time and trouble and $$. Thanks for your comments and suggestions in advance-jaz

Just be sure to filter your solution through a compacted cotton before trying to pass it through any micron filter. If not, you will definitely have clogging issues.
 
Just be sure to filter your solution through a compacted cotton before trying to pass it through any micron filter. If not, you will definitely have clogging issues.

Actually I never had this problem. Whenever I filtered Atarax or Suboxone/Subutex it worked just fine without pre-filtering.

I only put four Suboxone pills through a filter at a time. I found even with cotton filtering, it was difficult to pass seven pills through a filter.
 
CH are you referring to the 2mg pills or the 8's? Gibby I tired compacting cotton in a 3cc syringe and it's very difficult as there is hardly any space left for the BS water and subs.
I am just suppose to compact regular cotton balls in the syringe, right? I suppose it would work if I had a larger syringe. Now trying to get pieces of a coffee filter in there was a total nightmare. It's smaller but it would not stay at the end of the syringe. Some solution kept getting underneath it. Guess I would have to practice a lot to master this but I only get a very few (less than 10) subs a month so I cant be wasting any experimenting... ya know? Maybe someone could explain how to pre-filter with a coffee filter to me. Do you put it in the syringe like the cotton? Or what? This pre-filtering with an old filter is working out very nicely for me so far. Thanks -Jax
 
CH are you referring to the 2mg pills or the 8's? Gibby I tired compacting cotton in a 3cc syringe and it's very difficult as there is hardly any space left for the BS water and subs.
I am just suppose to compact regular cotton balls in the syringe, right? I suppose it would work if I had a larger syringe. Now trying to get pieces of a coffee filter in there was a total nightmare. It's smaller but it would not stay at the end of the syringe. Some solution kept getting underneath it. Guess I would have to practice a lot to master this but I only get a very few (less than 10) subs a month so I cant be wasting any experimenting... ya know? Maybe someone could explain how to pre-filter with a coffee filter to me. Do you put it in the syringe like the cotton? Or what? This pre-filtering with an old filter is working out very nicely for me so far. Thanks -Jax

I think it would work with a larger syringe.

I'm referring to the 8mg pills. I have only had a few 2mg pills, and was moved up to 8mg pills the next day after intake.
 
For anyone interested, GPZ services has stocked about 300 of the whatman filters. They are less expensive because they are the non-sterile ones. -Jaz
 
non sterile? how are they non sterile, and why would they sel non sterile medical products?
 
non sterile? how are they non sterile, and why would they sel non sterile medical products?

In this case, "sterile" refers to them being individually wrapped, and "non-sterile" would refer to the fact that they are not. When they are individually wrapped, it guarantees that they are sterile.
 
In this case, "sterile" refers to them being individually wrapped, and "non-sterile" would refer to the fact that they are not. When they are individually wrapped, it guarantees that they are sterile.

ah, I see, thanks for the clarification.

i wish I had Micron FIlters for when I was IV'ing my bupe daily. I didnt even have enough needles, i was re-uing them many many times before getting a new one. Lack of funds.
Unfortunately i had just bought a 100 pack of 29 gauge, 1/2 inch needles right before I stopped using my subs. Maybe I will work on getting some micron filters over the next several weeks(maybe months) so if/when I start using suboxone again, I will have all the proper supplies.
 
Gibby I tired compacting cotton in a 3cc syringe and it's very difficult as there is hardly any space left for the BS water and subs.
I am just suppose to compact regular cotton balls in the syringe, right?

I use 5 or 6 large dental cottons (the pea sized ones they give out at the needle exchange) in a 3cc fit with no problems.
 
I use 5 or 6 large dental cottons (the pea sized ones they give out at the needle exchange) in a 3cc fit with no problems.

Does anyone have an opinion as to whether a piece of cotton torn off of a ear swab, works better/worse than a piece of ciggarette filter(clean and unused obviously). It seems to me that the cigg filter is much more compact and would filter out smaller sized particles than jsut a regular piece of torn off cotton.

Any ideas?
 
Awesome guide

Firstly, props for making such a nice and easy-to-understand way of filtering pills. Some really interesting and innovative ways of keeping things sterile too!

Just wanted to check here first if I should pm you if I wanted to order some of the supplies mentioned in your guide. I was thinking of ordering these things from where I work, but I didn't want to end up with a ton of un-used filters, vials, and syringes since I can only order in batches. Nor do I want to purchase single pieces directly, since it would be hard to explain why I need them.... hmm. I have a few capsules lying around from a hospital visit a while back, and thought I'd experiment a bit via the SC route.

I'm in Canada, so not sure if that's a problem. Should I pm you directly for more info?

Thanks :)

ps: apologies in advance for not reading through the last 8 pages... its kinda late. Not sure if anyone has mentioned these already. Thought these are some other tips that may come in handy.
1. If the solution contains a lot of particulate matter and tends to clog up the filters, a larger diameter filter may be more suitable. Also instead of transfering between two syringes for multiple filtrations, if the filter has female->male luer locks, you can potentially stack them with the more porous ones closest to the syringe outlet.
2. Before filtering, leave the pill/water mixure to set aside with the needle pointing upwards for ~10 mintues (or until most of the soilds settle). The solids will mostly fall to the bottom and the supernatant will be closest to the filter. Keeping the setup upright, inject via the filter into the recipient vial. This will lessen the strain on the filter(s) and can speed up the process. At the end when the solid approaches the end of the syringe, you can either squeeze out the remainder liquid within the natant layer; OR, without compressing it, do a series of filtrations to lessen the amount solute in the residue.
3. It tends to be easier to filter using the smallest diameter syringe possible. For a 5mL filtration, I would personally use a 10mL syringe vs a 25 or 30mL. Depressing the plunger is much easier and more smooth due to principles of hydraulics. Then again, for cost issues, its usually cheaper to stick with one size.
 
Last edited:
Firstly, props for making such a nice and easy-to-understand way of filtering pills. Some really interesting and innovative ways of keeping things sterile too!

Just wanted to check here first if I should pm you if I wanted to order some of the supplies mentioned in your guide. I was thinking of ordering these things from where I work, but I didn't want to end up with a ton of un-used filters, vials, and syringes since I can only order in batches. Nor do I want to purchase single pieces directly, since it would be hard to explain why I need them.... hmm. I have a few capsules lying around from a hospital visit a while back, and thought I'd experiment a bit via the SC route.

I'm in Canada, so not sure if that's a problem. Should I pm you directly for more info?

Thanks :)

ps: apologies in advance for not reading through the last 8 pages... its kinda late. Not sure if anyone has mentioned these already. Thought these are some other tips that may come in handy.
1. If the solution contains a lot of particulate matter and tends to clog up the filters, a larger diameter filter may be more suitable. Also instead of transfering between two syringes for multiple filtrations, if the filter has female->male luer locks, you can potentially stack them with the more porous ones closest to the syringe outlet.
2. Before filtering, leave the pill/water mixure to set aside with the needle pointing upwards for ~10 mintues (or until most of the soilds settle). The solids will mostly fall to the bottom and the supernatant will be closest to the filter. Keeping the setup upright, inject via the filter into the recipient vial. This will lessen the strain on the filter(s) and can speed up the process. At the end when the solid approaches the end of the syringe, you can either squeeze out the remainder liquid within the natant layer; OR, without compressing it, do a series of filtrations to lessen the amount solute in the residue.
3. It tends to be easier to filter using the smallest diameter syringe possible. For a 5mL filtration, I would personally use a 10mL syringe vs a 25 or 30mL. Depressing the plunger is much easier and more smooth due to principles of hydraulics. Then again, for cost issues, its usually cheaper to stick with one size.

I think ^^ that was VERY good post with alot of very good information. Thanks for all your tips ED50of0.
 
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