Opioids Can Codeine/Paracetamol cause IBS?

[bobbyjones]

Hello everybody, forgive me if this is in the wrong section...

I had a nasty case of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) the other day, and in fact it's not quite gone. I CWE'd about 600 mg of codeine from a couple boxes OTC products, as I heard 600 was the limit to how much effect you could get. I had a very short and mild high, probably due to my tolerance. So the thing is, the next day I had a wicked stomach ache and I had to run to the toilet repeatedly. Eventually nothing would emerge, but I still felt as though I had to go. Constant pressure down there has also made it very hard for me to hold my urine.

I was pretty scared for a while, but I didn't seek any medical attention because that symptom alone didn't seem to match up with those of paracetamol poisoning. So my question is, did an excess of paracetamol (which I probably squeezed through the filters) cause this? This was 3 days ago. Right now I still have a bit of the runs, as well as mucus. I'm assuming I did a sloppy CWE because I don't know what else it could be. Another unlikely possibility is that I got food poisoning from a sandwich.

Anyway, it's the last time I'm doing that. I appreciate any feedback from someone who might know something on this.

 

[Ksa]

Hello everybody, forgive me if this is in the wrong section...

I had a nasty case of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) the other day, and in fact it's not quite gone. I CWE'd about 600 mg of codeine from a couple boxes OTC products, as I heard 600 was the limit to how much effect you could get. I had a very short and mild high, probably due to my tolerance. So the thing is, the next day I had a wicked stomach ache and I had to run to the toilet repeatedly. Eventually nothing would emerge, but I still felt as though I had to go. Constant pressure down there has also made it very hard for me to hold my urine.

I was pretty scared for a while, but I didn't seek any medical attention because that symptom alone didn't seem to match up with those of paracetamol poisoning. So my question is, did an excess of paracetamol (which I probably squeezed through the filters) cause this? This was 3 days ago. Right now I still have a bit of the runs, as well as mucus. I'm assuming I did a sloppy CWE because I don't know what else it could be. Another unlikely possibility is that I got food poisoning from a sandwich.

Anyway, it's the last time I'm doing that. I appreciate any feedback from someone who might know something on this.

How much water volume did you use to extract how many pills of how many mg paracetamol/pill? The paracetamol has a low surface tension when filtered, it tends to block the filter channels and accumulate there, acting itself as a microfilter, so unless the filter broke open, almost nothing went through unless you used alot of water, in which case poisoning occurs.

 

[bobbyjones]

How much water volume did you use to extract how many pills of how many mg paracetamol/pill? The paracetamol has a low surface tension when filtered, it tends to block the filter channels and accumulate there, acting itself as a microfilter, so unless the filter broke open, almost nothing went through unless you used alot of water, in which case poisoning occurs.

About one highball glass full of water. 32 paracodol capsules with ~8 mg of codeine each (which mix easily since already powdered), and 32 paramol pills which had to be crushed and contained ~12.5 mg. I noticed crushing the paramols resulted in a milkier substance even after filtering. So I mixed them all in the high ball glass with maybe 4/5 full of water.

Nothing broke. I used 3 tissue papers because the last time I used coffee filters they did actually break. I thought maybe that when I squeezed those tissues afterwards more paracetamol passed through. However there was plenty of the white powder left in the tissues when I was done, so even if I did accidentally mix some in, it obviously wasn't a lethal dose. I just thought that I might've ingested enough to cause this bout of stomach illness.

The codeine count came to about 640 mg. Still it was a very short and weak high.

 

[paranoid android]

Codeine does not cause IBS. IBS is a chronic condition where as you just had one day of it. Codeine can cause stomach cramps really bad from constipation though and it can cause nausea and vomiting due to it's effects on the chemo receptor trigger zone via dopamine agonist properties. Are you sure it wasn't something you ate?

I have IBS or atleast that's what my gastroentologist thinks it could be. I also take morphine for chronic pain and i have actually found morphine to help some of the symptoms. I still have to take buscopan for stomach cramps but atleast i don't have to run back and forth to the bathroom.

With a CWE the most water i use is 100ml's which is plenty for 50 300mg APAP or aspirin, 15mg caffeine and 8mg codeine tablets. So you used way too much water which means more paracetamol got through to the final mix.

 

[bobbyjones]

Gastroenteritis then. I suppose I did take too much paracetamol then. So my question is still whether a certain amount of it is likely to cause this Gastroenteritis. Either that or it was induced by constipation or even the sandwich I had eaten. Well at least I'm alive to know better now. Thanks for your input guys.

 

[bunge]

Much more likely to be food poisoning, i had salmonella poisoning last year and thought at first it was my IBS flaring up, until i started shitting blood (alot of it!).
Codeine helps control my IBS, although in some people it can cause bowel irritation, its a rarer side effect.
I found mirtazepine to be benefical in controlling IBS, it doesnt seem to constipate me but stops the stomach cramps.
Weirdly though, if my stomach cramps are really bad then zopiclone is the only thing that stops them (muscle relaxant effect maybe?).

 

[sekio]

Was there caffeine in the pills you used? Usually it's 2 parts caffeine for every 1 of codeine, so 600mg codeine would be about a gram and a quarter of caffeine.. which would make your guts go ballistic.

Another possibility is your body is having rebound diarrhea and cramping from the massive inhibition of intestinal motility that goes with a 2/3 gram codeine dose. Or, however much paracetamol you ingested was enough to bother your stomach.

Either way, if you'd poisoned yourself with paracetamol, you would probably be dead or doomed after 3 days without medical treatment (and likely in severe pain as your liver kills itself slowly, by now). You would likely know if this was happening th9ough, it would be far more severe than having the runs.

(BTW I think gastroenteritis typically entails a bacterial or viral stomach infection - not irritation from paracetamol.)

If you're not getting incredibly nauseous, lethargic, jaundiced etc.. probably food poisoning, IMO. But, see a doctor sooner rather than later if you are really concerned.

 

[Ksa]

Doing near-overdose CWE is bad practive, you won't last more than months if you use daily. You need to do CWE. 1 glass of water is insane unless you extact 300 pills.

 

[tricomb]

IBS is not something that happens acutely, it is a chronic medical condition. I have IBS and take opioids for my GI disorders and other chronic pain.

I use a glass (~250mL of water tops) per #100 count bottle of 10/325mg Percocet in the rare event that I am performing a CWE in the rare event that I'm dealing with compounded opioids.

Once you go without compounded opioids, there's really no going back to that dirty feeling that you didn't even notice was so dirty until you'd had the better shit.

My life is severely impacted by my chronic debilitating GI conditions. They are somewhat alleviated to the point of the ability to function sometimes when I take my roxicodone.

Hydrocodone never really did it for me therapeutically, and there is no pure hydrocodone IR product on the market yet so until there is, oxycodone IR, liquid morphine, and hydromorphone/Dilaudid do it for me.

 

[bunge]

^
ditto to all of that about the GI problems!
Alot of people (even doctors, sometimes) dont realize that with these types of intestinal issues, opiates arent just about pain relief but also controlling the movement of the gut so you can live a part-way normal life.
Obtaining a regular opiate script at such a young age wasnt easy but the benefits to my lifestyle are so massive that the benefits far out weigh the risks.

 

[Lady Codone]

IBS isn't something you just "get" that goes away, as one poster said. It's a chronic condition.

Opiates are highly constipating and can cause nausea as well, so that's probably what happened. Either that or a stomach virus/food poisoning.