Did I seriously mess up my lungs from snorting pills?

[Louis CK]

I've had a pretty nasty cough for about a week with no other symptoms of a cold and I'm thinking it might be related to the pills I've been snorting. For 6 months, I've been regularly blowing everything from suboxone to adderall XR to Focalin XR to xannies. I never thought much about it because my nose has generally been fine...no nosebleeds or headaches or even burning when snorting, but I never thought about the effects on the lungs. Apparently "ritalin lung" is a somewhat common thing? The talc from pills builds up and causes some nasty lung problems.

I don't know if 6 months is long enough to develop such problems but I've been doing around 40mg daily of stim pills not including suboxone and whatnot.

Needless to say, I have stopped snorting everything and am waiting to see if the cough resolves itself. Does anyone have experience with this? Am I freaking out for nothing?


Thanks for reading

 

[nAON]

I don't think you should worry about it, it's much more likely to be some sort of seasonal infection. Might be worth a trip to the doctor if you're living in a place where you can get free checkups, see if you can get an Xray or something to clarify things. I'd definitely abstain for now at least, try and stick to oral routes, see if it helps.

 

[iSTONED]

Unless you are inhaling the substances into your lungs I'm sure you will be fine. It is probably just a cold or a sinus infection. If it does not pass go to your doc and get an exam done, but if you do that, do not use anything up the nose. He will see the gunk and powder left over in there and may have a bigger issue if he is the one rx you the meds. I snorted oxycodone everyday x6 daily or more for 5 years and never had a problem health wise. Goodluck.

 

[MikeRWK]

dont sniff benzos, they are meant for oral use and snorting doesnt have any advantage with them.

 

[iSTONED]

MikeRWK, I find when I blow benzos the effects are almost immediate, and twice as strong. This is coming from 4 years of Benzo addiction. BUT everyone is different to how they react to medication.

 

[Venrak]

Have you noticed an increase in severity of cough when you're almost exclusively taking stimulants? I used to sniff/eat lots of amphetamine and for a couple of reasons ended up with upper respiratory tract infection. I even wrote a song about it called "Septic pneumonic crunch''. It was not pretty.