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Heroin Cotton fever multiple nights in a row

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marienbad

marienbad

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Nov 7, 2010
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My friend (no, seriously, I'm not talking about myself -- if it was me I would just ask it in 1st person, fuck that SWIM shit) has had cotton fever for the past three nights. Or at least we think it's cotton fever. The symptoms are shaking, extreme chills, muscle aches, soreness of the entire body (specifically the back), headache, cold/hot flashes, and a couple other symptoms that seem to indicate cotton fever.

The first night he did a cotton shot without cooking it; the symptoms lasted about two and a half hours. The second night he used a brand new cotton and rig, and the symptoms weren't as bad. Tonight, he used a new cotton, but the same rig from the night before; the effect were worse than the first night, but didn't last as long. However, he can't push the plunger down on this rig easily or all the way. Also, he has a couple of minor abscesses in the limbs he is trying to use.

He's going through it for the third time right now, so help ASAP would be greatly appreciated. Thank you kindly for any advice you can offer.
 
You're probably gonna get the same response from everyone.... USE A MICRON FILTER!! I'll admit that I dont use them but I haven't gotten cotton fever or know anyone who has....(*knock on wood*).

But you should tell your buddy to be more careful even if he is feeling like dick in w/d's. Iv'ing drugs should not be taken lightly because of serious problems that can arise from it. He should get rid of that rig and just take it easy for a couple days. This shit worries me and gets me thinking about investing in some micron filters... Good luck
 
marienbad said:
My friend (no, seriously, I'm not talking about myself -- if it was me I would just ask it in 1st person, fuck that SWIM shit) has had cotton fever for the past three nights. Or at least we think it's cotton fever. The symptoms are shaking, extreme chills, muscle aches, soreness of the entire body (specifically the back), headache, cold/hot flashes, and a couple other symptoms that seem to indicate cotton fever.

The first night he did a cotton shot without cooking it; the symptoms lasted about two and a half hours. The second night he used a brand new cotton and rig, and the symptoms weren't as bad. Tonight, he used a new cotton, but the same rig from the night before; the effect were worse than the first night, but didn't last as long. However, he can't push the plunger down on this rig easily or all the way. Also, he has a couple of minor abscesses in the limbs he is trying to use.

He's going through it for the third time right now, so help ASAP would be greatly appreciated. Thank you kindly for any advice you can offer.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the whole bag of cotton you got has lots of the Enterobacter agglomerans endotoxin (the stuff that causes cotton fever). It also sounds like cleanliness in general is lacking here. Why can't he bottom out the plunger? He got it on the 3rd night because he re-used the rig from the night before when he had gotten it. I'm not suprised at all he has abscesses, your friend needs to stop being so dirty in his injecting, or even better, stop period. He's doing everything wrong and it's going to kill him.
 
yeah,get new rigs and cotton,maybe tell him to try and snort his dope for a little while if he has abscesses.I know he probably won't listen (I probably wouldn't either,Im an IV drug addict) but its worth a shot..(no pun intended)
 
Get the micron filters asap. Also tell your friend stop re using needles. Needles and filters are cheap as hell and its so worth it to use a new needle everytime and use the micron filters and safeguard yourself against abscecces,cotton fever, etc. If you're gonna shoot dope you might as well do it right and protect yourself.
 
I would suspect the dope itself might be the culprit.

He has used new cotton and still is getting cotton fever so perhaps there is some foreign matter or bacteria in the dope that is causing the reaction.

Cotton fever is a sort of umbrella term that describes a set of symptoms that occur after injection. There are several things that can cause these symptoms, and the specific bacteria the other poster mentioned is ONE of the possibilites, but not the only 1.

If there is something in the dope itself, then no matter how clean his cotton or rig is, he is going to continue getting this reaction.
 
daddysgone said:
I would suspect the dope itself might be the culprit.

He has used new cotton and still is getting cotton fever so perhaps there is some foreign matter or bacteria in the dope that is causing the reaction.

Cotton fever is a sort of umbrella term that describes a set of symptoms that occur after injection. There are several things that can cause these symptoms, and the specific bacteria the other poster mentioned is ONE of the possibilites, but not the only 1.

If there is something in the dope itself, then no matter how clean his cotton or rig is, he is going to continue getting this reaction.
Click to expand...

^that
 
daddysgone said:
I would suspect the dope itself might be the culprit.

He has used new cotton and still is getting cotton fever so perhaps there is some foreign matter or bacteria in the dope that is causing the reaction.

Cotton fever is a sort of umbrella term that describes a set of symptoms that occur after injection. There are several things that can cause these symptoms, and the specific bacteria the other poster mentioned is ONE of the possibilites, but not the only 1.

If there is something in the dope itself, then no matter how clean his cotton or rig is, he is going to continue getting this reaction.
Click to expand...

!! yeah Ok, thank you, that's kind of what we were thinking. That's the part of the problem we really wanted addressed, that is, why it is happening 3 nights in a row. The other possibility we were considering (kind of because we don't know anything about this) is whether or not there might be some kind of foreign contaminant inside his body at this point.

Since our first post, my friend got completely new gear, everything new. The only thing that was the same from before was the dope and his body. And it happened again with very mild symptoms but yeah it happened again. Not to be redundant but that's exactly what we were thinking, that either it's in the dope or something's wrong with him.


Thanks everyone for feedback, please let us know if it being in his body is a possibility.
 
Go to the ER, it sounds like he may have an infection and may not be recovering from it naturally.

Otherwise, shooting heroin still isn't helping his case as the heroin might be the source of the problem.

The symptoms could also be a result of a recent ecoli out break which has been devastating a lot of people up and down the east coast of the United States; although I cannot say for certain what's going on for your friend.

Best of luck. My advice would be to go to the hospital. Before you arrive please bring along a face mask - to prevent the spread of disease from him or to him. :)
 
and tell him to get fresh rigs, filters and make sure he's sterilising his cooker before each shot. a new needle for every injection is imperative to avoid such IV complications.

awesome to see you posting again, daddysgone:)
 
yeah, he definitely needs to learn sterile techniques

*wash your hands before you do anything*
micron filter the dope
new rig every time (or at most twice and needs to be sterilized)
clean the injection area with an alcohol pad, before and after, place a band-aid

also if he has abscesses then he needs antibiotics, infection is what can kill an IV drug user. He'll get them at the ER. His body is already weakened from the drug use and might not be able to fight off all the problems.

Bacterial overgrowth is what causes people's limbs to have to be amputated.

Plus if he is so sloppy with injecting it's probably any time that he'll have an arterial shot and likely lose a limb.

Tell this guy to get his shit together if he wants to inject because he will either die or lose a limb.
 
i always here about micron filters, but there expensive and hard to get. i would reccomend just going to the ER also ive brought plenty of my fair share there unfortunately and nothing ever happen illegally. what kinda cotton did he use? i always used cotton swabs and never had any problems.
 
cotton fever

some dope just has a lot of trash in it, switch to rox or ocs until u get a new dope connect.. best recommendation i have for the fever is just to pop some ibuprophen and sweat the shit out.... rlly hot shower should do the trick in no time, even tho i know u probably dont wanna move.
 
go to the hosptial ASAP. maybe your friend should try another ROA. honestly, he should stop abusing opiates all-together. once in a while it is enjoyable, but over-use is counter productive to life.
 
If you want to be on the safe side, go to the ER. I would recommend it, but you can always make sure this clears up in the usual 4-6 hours and then switch all your stuff, then see if it helps. If this has been a continuous case of cotton fever over 3 days, you should def go to the ER.
 
He doesn't need the ER I think, but go just to be safe. I had cotton fever for 4 days straight. You know why? It's from using a rig you shot an old cotton with. The rig becomes contaminated inside with bacteria. You end up infecting yourself with some of this bacteria every time you shoot up.
 
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