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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

Food poisoning due to opioids?

Altered Perception

Altered Perception

Bluelighter
Joined
Dec 13, 2010
Messages
414
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On a big Island surrounded by sharks.
I had fish for dinner last night and about 2 hours later I took a high dose of Oxycodone, it was very sedating and slowed my metobolism down significantly for about 5 hours. About 8 hours after later after having ingested the fish I began to feel nauseauted and sick, I began to throw up chunks of fish that tasted really fishy and foul vomiting it up. I was suprised to see so much undigested fish coming out. My family who had the same dinner as me were uneffected by the fish.

After seeng undigested food that tasted very foul and fishy it occured to me that perhaps I developed food poisoning because the fish was undigested sitting dormently in the warm environment of my stomach for 8 hours. If I had not taken a high dose of opiates I believe I may have most likely digested the food a lot quicker instead of leading the food to go off in my stomach because narcotics are known to slow digestion significantly thus resulting in constipation.

How likely are my concerns?
 
if your family didnt get sick, my guess would be that it was the high dose of oxy that did it.

i really dont think your fish could have gone bad in your acid filled stomach.
 
I would think that your stomach acid would have broken it down in that time, and I don't think that would be affected by opiates. I get what you are saying in terms of digestion being slowed down, but I think that bad fish is bad fish, no matter the rate of digestion.

It seems like the oxy may have been what made you sick, or the apap if it was Percocet that you took.
 
It was definetly not the Oxycodon, because look...

6:00 pm - ate fish for dinner

8:00 pm - took instant release liquid Oyycodone Hydrochloride (Oyynorm)

9:00 pm - feeling the full peak effect of the Oxycodone

12:00 am - feeling nauseated, sick and and vomiting

As you can see the peak effect of the Oxycodone was well over when I began to feel sick.
I checked online for some information and I found that Opiates can cause something known as Gastroperasis and if you look at the causes below I already have "autonomic dysfunction" so I think I found my answer.

HTML: 
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/gastroparesis/

What is gastroparesis?
Gastroparesis, also called delayed gastric emptying, is a disorder in which the stomach takes too long to empty its contents.

What are the complications of gastroparesis?
If food lingers too long in the stomach, it can cause bacterial overgrowth from the fermentation of food. Also, the food can harden into solid masses called bezoars that may cause nausea, vomiting,

What causes gastroparesis?
medications—anticholinergics and narcotics—that slow contractions in the intestine
nervous system diseases, autonomic dysfunction
Click to expand...
 
@ AP: Nice work, that could definitely be it.

I just wanted to mention that whenever I have vomited from taking opiates, it has always been more than 4 hours after I have taken them, so it doesn't have to happen at the peak of the effects.
 
At first I thought to myself 'opioids cause nausea, we all know that' too, but after reading that quote from AP about that gastric thing, I actually think that's what happened.
 
Altered Perception said:
I've been on Oxycodone for 4 years taking it twice a day everyday for pain and I've NEVER thrown up off it or felt nausea, the only thing I did differenetly yesterday was to eat fish and usually I hate fish i dont eat it at all.
Click to expand...

When was the last time that you had dosed before? I have noticed when starting up again I always get nausea's, regardless of my tolerance. Fish has always had very questionable digesting properties. (Short, web like muscle structures). In addition, fish oil has been known to cause nausea, so keep that in mind (fairly irrelevant though). Regardless fish is known to make a lot of people nausea's. Hense the haters. I feel like there is a combination of two common chemicals that cause nausea in the two screaming in my face but I can't think of it right now.

I think it is simply a nausea issue, not any type of food poisoning.
 
Okay guys please listen....

I admit I learnt something new here that opiates can cause you nausea 4 hours after the peak effect has dissapeared, however this was not the case with me in this specific instance and I will explain why...

I have a medical condition I was diagnosed with known as "Autonomic Dysfunction" which causes abnormalities in my digestion, I've had a test known as "Gastric emptying scintigraphy" which found that I have abnormal gastric emptying. Now add opiates to that equation and you have food that is just sitting in my stomach undigested for many hours.

I spoke to my Gastroentologist yesterday after having made this topic and he confirmed exactly what I had written here. He advised me not to take opiates after foods that have a higher rate of spoiling and fermenting. It turns out food can go ranchid in your stomach if your metobolism has slowed down significantly enough causing the stomach to delay in emptying the food, this is known as Gastroparesis, please look it up. Gastroparesis is caused by medical conditions such as my Autonomic Dysfunction but its also caused by certain medications and narcotics. If a person develops Gastroparesis the food in their stomach fails to digest at the rate it should and instead it "lingers too long in the stomach, it can cause bacterial overgrowth from the fermentation of food" and the symptoms are "nausea and vomiting of undigested food—sometimes several hours after a meal" this is EXACTLY what I had happen to me. Please read on Gastroparesis for yourself.
 
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Opiates can slow down digestion i think so if you got sick later you might chuck up more food then you normally would due to the opiates. Metoclopramide is a anti-emetic that helps with opioid nausea and speeds gastric emptying so if this is a problem for you that might be worth a shot. However it can have serious side effects in some people including tardive dyskinesia and akathisia. I am prescribed it for nausea due to pain but i find that it helps when i eat a wack of food and end up feeling bloated and with heart burn. It helps empty out your stomach alot faster so if you do puke atleast it will only be mostly liquids :\

Not eating so much at a time is helpful or taking some OTC anti-nausea med such as dimenhydrinate. I know sometimes when i am on a high dose of say morphine (i don't get the munchies so much with oxy) i end up eating alot of food sometimes and end up feeling abit nauseated sometimes afterward. Usually some dimenhydrinate along with cannabis is enough for this. I got turned off hamburgers for months due to puking up the 4 hamburgers i had eaten about 4 hours before 8(
 
Altered Perception said:
I spoke to my Gastroentologist yesterday after having made this topic and he confirmed exactly what I had written here. He advised me not to take opiates after foods that have a higher rate of spoiling and fermenting. It turns out food can go ranchid in your stomach if your metobolism has slowed down significantly enough causing the stomach to delay in emptying the food, this is known as Gastroparesis, please look it up. Gastroparesis is caused by medical conditions such as my Autonomic Dysfunction but its also caused by certain medications and narcotics. If a person develops Gastroparesis the food in their stomach fails to digest at the rate it should and instead it "lingers too long in the stomach, it can cause bacterial overgrowth from the fermentation of food" and the symptoms are "nausea and vomiting of undigested food—sometimes several hours after a meal" this is EXACTLY what I had happen to me. Please read on Gastroparesis for yourself.
Click to expand...

makes sense to me. Glad you figured out what was wrong.
 
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