Harm Reduction Am I truly allergic to codeine/morphine?

[Dexed]

When I was a little boy long ago, an illness drove me to the hospital. They gave me a single dosage unit of codeine, and soon (as the story goes) my throat swelled up and some flat hives erupted. That's all anybody can remember from that day. No juicy details, sorry folks. Of course, nothing ill became of the experience besides having to list codeine as one of my 'drug allergies'.


Plenty of dentists have opted out of writing Vicodin or Percocet in favor of things like Talwin NX or tramadol in the past. 7 out of 10 of them usually just prescribe hydrocodone/APAP and call it a day. My adolescent years were spent learning how to brush my teeth, ah good times indeed.


When dosing -codone and -morphone derivatives, none of those adverse effects showed. Opioids from other classes pretty much perform as indicated, too. I have never tried morphine, codeine, or heroin due to that negative experience in my youth. None of my family members as far as four generations up have spoken about a codeine allergy. I have been using opiates recreationally since I was thirteen or so, and have been physically addicted off and on for more than three years now.


Is it worth it to pick up a 30mg MS-IR tab and chip off a few milligrams for an allergy test? Does a codeine allergy necessarily translate into a morphine allergy? Could my younger self just have had a nasty, but 'normal', histamine reaction?


I really want to mainline some H and not have my throat swell up, as other injectable pharms like Dilaudid are becoming too much of a financial burden these days. Perhaps 50mg hydroxyzine HCl PO beforehand would be a useful preventative. And yes, I use 0.2 micron filters for my shots.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

I am allergic to codeine but I am not allergic to any other opioids (especially not heroin, lol). A codeine allergy does not necessarily translate into an allergy to other opioids. In addition, people almost always don't get an allergic reaction the very first time they take codeine, it normally happens on the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th time (and often gets worse every time they take it). So it does make me wonder if the story about your childhood allergic reaction is true, if they really only gave you one dose of it. Or your theory might be right, that it could have been a histamine reaction. Also, sometimes kids are allergic to things and when they get older they aren't allergic anymore. I would say if you are going to try a new opioid to try a very small amount the first few times and make sure to have someone close by in case you do have a serious allergic reaction. Taking an anti-histamine might help too. I would say trying heroin for the first time you should use another ROA besides injection.

 

[Dexed]

Thanks. I'm considering popping ~2-4mg of oral morphine as an allergy test, and then banging the rest of the 30mg MS-IR (or other morph product) for kicks.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

Ok. Let us know how it goes. Do you have someone with you in case you do get an allergic reaction? And epi-pen (epinephrine) would be great to have on hand too.

 

[ErgicMergic]

My mom is fatally allergic to codeine, any amount will have her in an anaphylactic reaction, having to be rushed to the hospital while being stuck with an EpiPen for any chance of survival.

She was not allergic to hydrocodone at all, even at doses 2-3 times higher than codeine (10mg Norco). She thought she was at first, because she got the opiate itch, nothing out of the ordinary, but I assured her that it was a normal reaction to opiates.

 

[Dexed]

Do I have an epi-pen? Unfortunately no. I'll see if a friend will loan me one. Tomorrow I will have some morphine to test the waters, be back soon.

 

[Swimmingdancer]

It sounds like a lot of people who are allergic to codeine are not allergic to other opioids so hopefully you'll be fine
I'd still suggest having a friend with you, just to be safe.

 

[blakmike]

It's worth a shot, allergies come and go with age you know....