• BASIC DRUG
    DISCUSSION
    Welcome to Bluelight!
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Benzo Chart Opioids Chart
    Drug Terms Need Help??
    Drugs 101 Brain & Addiction
    Tired of your habit? Struggling to cope?
    Want to regain control or get sober?
    Visit our Recovery Support Forums
  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Can intranasal drugs get “stuck” and not work until later?

travb23

Greenlighter
Joined
Mar 9, 2025
Messages
2
I’ve recently started dabbling with meth after a long hiatus. I’ve noticed that often when I snort it doesn’t seem to do much of anything. So I’ll redose. And there still isn’t much of an effect- at least not the effect I expected.

More often than not I’ll become congested, which is understandable. And then hours later I’ll have a postnasal drip and my sinuses burn. And then start feeling the effects.

Is there a way it could be getting “stuck” in or around my sinus cavity and not start working until later? I know that some of what’s snorted will be absorbed by the stomach due to post nasal drip, but this feels like it’s absorbing through my sinuses.
 
I'm sure it's possible, but this is pretty much out of the ordinary for a person with normal sinuses (no holes etc).

There are people who insufflate things like Bupropion (Wellbutrin) for instance. The pills are gigantic and they tend to immediately clog the sinuses up badly. I know certain types of Fentanyl/Tranq cause really bad congestion.

The thing with Methamphetamine is that it is a powerful decongestant in its own right. It is a derivative of Ephedrine, itself a well-known decongestant. Also, the amount of Methamphetamine that a person is going to insufflate is relatively small. It would be very surprising to me to find that it was just sitting up in your sinuses for a long period of time, only to start producing effects later.

When there is something up in your sinuses like drugs in powder form, the nasal mucosa are going to constantly producing mucous in an attempt to clear the passages. This is how the route of administration works.

If this is happening to you, it's likely that there would be a very minuscule amount of active substance left in your sinuses. It is possible and probably common for sensations like "the burn" and feelings of irritation to persist long after the last dose was insufflated, but not common for a spontaneous dose of drugs to hit you.
 
I’ve recently started dabbling with meth after a long hiatus. I’ve noticed that often when I snort it doesn’t seem to do much of anything. So I’ll redose. And there still isn’t much of an effect- at least not the effect I expected.

More often than not I’ll become congested, which is understandable. And then hours later I’ll have a postnasal drip and my sinuses burn. And then start feeling the effects.

Is there a way it could be getting “stuck” in or around my sinus cavity and not start working until later? I know that some of what’s snorted will be absorbed by the stomach due to post nasal drip, but this feels like it’s absorbing through my sinuses.
Yes, but it’s not common. I suspect that you might have meth heavily cut with MSM or something like that. And maybe it takes a while for the MSM to absorb/drip down before you can really get full effects from the meth.
 
One night after a coke binge , I was sleeping but some fucking coke had stuck into my sinuses so while I was sleeping I accidentally swallowed it , and I immediately woke up with wide open eyes rapid heart rate etc
 
I'm sure it's possible, but this is pretty much out of the ordinary for a person with normal sinuses (no holes etc).

There are people who insufflate things like Bupropion (Wellbutrin) for instance. The pills are gigantic and they tend to immediately clog the sinuses up badly. I know certain types of Fentanyl/Tranq cause really bad congestion.

The thing with Methamphetamine is that it is a powerful decongestant in its own right. It is a derivative of Ephedrine, itself a well-known decongestant. Also, the amount of Methamphetamine that a person is going to insufflate is relatively small. It would be very surprising to me to find that it was just sitting up in your sinuses for a long period of time, only to start producing effects later.

When there is something up in your sinuses like drugs in powder form, the nasal mucosa are going to constantly producing mucous in an attempt to clear the passages. This is how the route of administration works.

If this is happening to you, it's likely that there would be a very minuscule amount of active substance left in your sinuses. It is possible and probably common for sensations like "the burn" and feelings of irritation to persist long after the last dose was insufflated, but not common for a spontaneous dose of drugs to hit you.
The problem with snorting wellbutrin isn't just that it "clogs up the nose badly", it is also caustic as hell, absolutely destroying your sinuses. And you need to snort a lot of that crap. Speaking of holes, that is how you get them.
 
Yes, but I don't think it's normal. I used to sniff a lot of coke and ketamine back in the good ol' days, and I noticed the same thing, BUT, a few years ago my nose was constantly dripping and clogged up so I went to a sinus doctor. Unrelated to the drugs (but they didn't help, I'm sure) my sinuses had, for lack of better words, giant growths in them. The doctor said it's a somewhat common thing (like 1/20 people, IIRC), and he fixed it with surgery in about an hour.

When I used to hoover up white powders like a vacuum, they would get "stuck" in clumps way up in my sinuses, and I could feel whatever was up there coming on in waves over an hour or so, rather than a normal come up. If you feel like you can't breathe easily with both nostrils, it may be worth getting it checked out. After my operation, it was a crazy feeling being able to breathe through both nostrils easily, I had never experienced that before.

TL:DR
If you feel like that, it MIGHT be a medical condition in your sinuses.
 
Top