how to get everything out of old cottons

[GbizzleMcGrizzle]

I'm not trying to say to anyone "it's ok to shoot your own piss" but keep on the track long enough and you're likely to come across a situation requiring piss like you're on a greyound for hours and you forgot to bring a bottle of water, but not your dope.
But i mean compared to shooting piss i think doing cotton rinses pales in comparison.

also spit is hard as shit to get up into your rig, i've used spit too.

 

[mynstral]

Anyway 3DayRun - There's a thought that your spit has more bacteria in it than urine so it's safer to shoot piss.

Truth. Your mouth/saliva has a shitload of nasty bacteria. Your urine is actually sterile. That doesn't mean it's preferable to sterile saline solution, but it's not the worst bodily fluid that could be chosen.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

I'd rather just spit into the cooker than piss in it..

No trust me; you would rather piss in it. You would have major complications as a result of IVing saliva, and lacking medical treatment you would most likely die.

Anyway, back in the day when I used to IV drugs I reused a few cottons.

What happened? Didn't get high, but I got an awesome dose of cotton fever. Never did it again. Fucking sucked.

I hope people heed your warning.

So before you start putting that needle in your arm everyday, just know one day you'll come across a situation where you have to use piss to get well, and you might just do it. Since none of you are willing yet, you can hop off this train much easier than I.

Wow, no, I'm sorry, but no. You're just plain wrong.

It's easy as hell to IV on a daily basis and not have to use piss.

I have been clean from heroin for over 9 months, so I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about.

Also, your "Location" says upstate NY. You might want to change it to NOLA.

I also would have never willingly contracted Hep C just to get well...that's rather self destructive behavior. I know people who became highly self destructive from their drug habits, I could never be one of them.

 

[johanneschimpo]

what ever happened to good old H20?

 

[Shambles]

I also would have never willingly contracted Hep C just to get well...that's rather self destructive behavior. I know people who became highly self destructive from their drug habits, I could never be one of them.

Not saying it's a good idea to be shooting piss (cos it isn't) but if it's your own piss there's no risk of Hep C. In theory fresh urine is sterile but I really wouldn't go injecting it. I don't know about the US but as far as I know every public building (shops, pubs/bars, etc) are legally obliged to provide water if asked in the UK. That may be one of those ol' archaic laws that aren't enforced anymore but most places will fill a water bottle for you or let you use the bathroom if you ask. You're never far from a Mucky D's (for example) and they have rather luxurious disabled toilet facilities which come in very handy. I really can't think of a situation where piss or spit would have ever been my only choice of IV liquid and I got pretty desperate shooting toilet water (from the tank, not the bowl) and stuff

 

[Eight0Eight]

I've seen somebody use the water from a dirty toilet (had a huge unflushable dump in it).

"The cooking will kill the bugs!!"

I went out and used the sink to get water, then went into another cubicle to cook up. I couldn't even bare to watch it :/ .

 

[chrisinabox]

I guess the point i'm trying to make, is probably very few users of this forum have fallen as far into the depths of a heroin addiction that many addicts have. I know countless street kids and junkies that have shot up their own piss I know some that have shot my piss. I've spent nights dope sick because I couldn't find a rig, I consciously contracted Hep C so I could shoot up and get well. So the idea of rinsing some old cottons out to me doesn't seem that bad when I look back at my life and the shit I've done to get well.
Also I would never snort shit, because it just doesn't work, i'd have to sniff like 5 or 6 bags of dope to feel SOMETHING and I could shoot 3 and be OK. I guess if you have the money for that to be an option great but when you're living in abandoned Katrina buildings and flying signs all day long to try and get $20 to get a shitty piece of diesel so you and your girl can split to be well enough to walk to a better fly spot, that makes more money but is hotter and you end up in jail over and over because what your doing is illegal but you're fucking strung out and can't not get well... When you've gotten to that point in your life, as an addict, when you look at the guys passed out in Tompkins Square Park and know them all by name, and don't mind sleeping near them even though they smell like piss and shit.... well then you're a full blown junkie, who would rather keep getting high than go back to your old 9-5 job in front of a computer designing web pages and editing video.

Anyway 3DayRun - There's a thought that your spit has more bacteria in it than urine so it's safer to shoot piss.
Fuzati- In a city that was so recently under so much water, it was very hard to find water, when you don't even have a dollar to your name, you gotta walk miles to the quarter and public bathrooms, most people don't care if a street kid junkie dies from thirst or shooting up piss.

Also the dope in NOLA is weak as hell, and for a couple junkies from NYC and SoCali with a $200-$300 a day habit ( I know it takes all day to beg people out of that much change) you're not going to waste that little bit of crappy dope on trying to sniff that rocked up shit, your'e going to shoot it.
I'm not trying to sound cool or anything i just think you should all know the lengths a junky will go to get well. you can talk to all kinds of people, you can read all sorts of books ad memoirs on the subject but it gets a lot lower than I've been. That's what's getting me kinda straight now, but while pissing in my shot to get well quicker, is not above me anymore it used to be.
So before you start putting that needle in your arm everyday, just know one day you'll come across a situation where you have to use piss to get well, and you might just do it. Since none of you are willing yet, you can hop off this train much easier than I.

No trust me; you would rather piss in it. You would have major complications as a result of IVing saliva, and lacking medical treatment you would most likely die.


I hope people heed your warning.



Wow, no, I'm sorry, but no. You're just plain wrong.

It's easy as hell to IV on a daily basis and not have to use piss.

I have been clean from heroin for over 9 months, so I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about.

Also, your "Location" says upstate NY. You might want to change it to NOLA.

I also would have never willingly contracted Hep C just to get well...that's rather self destructive behavior. I know people who became highly self destructive from their drug habits, I could never be one of them.

totally agree Cap H.

mcgrizzle, you seem to act like none of us have had an addiction in the past or that our addictions were not as bad as yours. i used to be a heroin addict, captain heroin did, and alot of people on BL have. trying to justify your self-destructive behavior by saying you were worse off doesn't make sense. you can't say for a fact that you were worse off than other people here on BL. sounds like you had it bad, but don't try to act like your situation was sooo much worse than other ppl's experiences with heroin addiction when you don't know for a fact that it was.

i've been desperate for a shot before, but i NEVER would have used piss or spit or anything of the sort. and i especially NEVERRR would even THINK to use a dirty needle i know is infected with Hep C, that is just horrible. you obviously don't give a shit about yourself, or at least didn't then. i don't know anyone that would do that unless they just didnt give a shit about themselves. and yes being an addict sucks, but being addicted to heroin isn't reason enough to do that, just because your down and out. its because you just didn't care.

another thing, there are people that can have horrible heroin habits, but not do dirty, disgusting things to get high. some people care about hygiene and using sterile equipment, etc... and you also don't have to be homeless to have a bad heroin habit. i know someone who shot about 3-4 grams of heroin a day and used a new syringe everytime and used sterile equipment, etc...and i've seen him desperate and do bad things, but even then, with a huge tolerance and being dopesick, he still didn't do anything like you did.

i would rather be in withdrawal than shoot myself up with a dirty needle like that. hell, using unclean water is bad enough, but piss?

c'mon man, have some respect for yourself, and don't try to blame a heroin addiction as the reason, cause i know what it feels like to have one.

sorry for tha rant.

 

[GbizzleMcGrizzle]

Look I've been a junkie for 8 years, before a few months ago, I would never have done the things I've done to get well. I was ready to shoot piss, risk jail every day ( and not just for trying to cop on the block), feel humilated asking people for change for food or clothes when all I would spend it on was dope, use dirty rigs etc... I however haven't sold my body for drugs, and can't imagine every doing that. (I couldn't imagine using piss or a dirty rig either) and i've met kids who will do a lot worse.
And you're correct you can be an IV drug user and be sterile all the time. I did for 7 years, I had a good job went to good schools, made good money... but then the addiction took over my life, and i lost all that. Whereas if I hadn't been an addict I would have taken time off to get through it as an addict i just got lost in the perfection that is heroin. And it is self destructive. i've had a larger addiction and used sterile equipment. In NY it's a lot easier than other states, there are exchages open every day and you can go buy a pack of rigs if you need to. In my case i would have had to wait 3 or 4 days to get a new set of rigs, possesion of a needle in Louisianna is 1-3 yrs, and the ONLY place to buy rigs without being a diabetic is the exchanges, which are technically illegal.
Believe me after 8 years i don't have one collapsed vein or any really permanent track marks. I do belive in harm reduction and educated use of needles. But after all that I'll admit that I could have walked a few miles to find an open bathroom somewhere but no matter how i look back on it, even now that i'm not homeless anymore and and pulling out of the gutter, I don't see me not using that dirty hep c rig, i wouldn't have waited 4 days in any situation.

oh and in a lot of places in the US you gotta buy something to use the bathroom. So unless you have a dollar for a cheeseburger you can't piss. That's part of the reason I gave up my vegetarianism i was tired of buying cheeseburgers for other people so i could go shoot up.

 

[Khadijah]

OMG, yall really dont know how to do a cotton shot???

Its so easy....

IDK wats up with all this ridiculous shit about putting them inside the needle, etc...No....


You get a spoon / cap / watever....Fill your set with enough water to cover all the cottons....then push down and mush it around with the plunger of the set, like you would if you was mixing up a regular shot....You just mess around with that for a while, pressin down and squeezin the water out mixin it all up, then you suck the water out of the cottons and boot it.

It may not be harm reduction but I do it all the time and it aint as complicated as some of these ridiculous-ass processes that some of yall is writing about.

 

[Komatose]

in my mind doing old cottons is a 20/80, 20% of the time u might get cotton fever, but realistically most the time you won't. I have done countless cotton shot over a 7 yr period and have gotten cotton fever only 3 times. But that 20% of the time it happens...it SUCKS! Try dbl or triple filtering your old cottons with new ones. Every since i started doing that i have not gotten cotton fever. Maybe its just luck...

 

[darkvein]

For real, just put your old cottons in a spoon, squirt some extra water in there, (like more than you need to fill your rig) and squish the fuck outta them. Then take a new cotton and stick it on top of the whole pile. Suck that shit up! Then, you take each cotton one by one and put the new piece of cotton on top of the old one, and squeeze it, as long as you have the new cotton on top, you should be fine. Do this one by one until they are done, and flipping the old cotton over after you do one side helps. Then, and this is an important part, you need to hold your rig up to the light to check that there is no piece of cotton sticking out of the tip, or even in the liquid that is in your rig. You still might get cotton fever I'd say about 5% of the time, just cause what your doing IS dumb. But basically the trick is using a new cotton to suck it up. If you put your needle directly into the old cotton, you most likely WILL get cotton fever.
I do this sometimes, but I always have fear of cotton fever in the back of my mind as I'm doing it.

 

[Flexistentialist]

^ Filtering it with another cotton is no way to prevent what you're calling "cotton fever". What people describe as "cotton fever" is usually a reaction to bacteria particle in the shot. Filtering it with cotton will do nothing to reduce the bacteria.

 

[jamesBrown]

If you put your needle directly into the old cotton, you most likely WILL get cotton fever.
I do this sometimes, but I always have fear of cotton fever in the back of my mind as I'm doing it.

Im not sure that I agree with this completely. I was an IV heroin user for quite a long time and injected it tens of thousands of times, and each and every injection i did, I saved the cotton and even left it nice and wet/juicy so that i will have some nice cottons for a cotton shot later on. So you can do the math and figure out how many cotton shots I have done in my day. I would do my heroin during the day/early evening, and then at night when it started to wear off, I would do my cotton shot using all the cottons I had used throughout the day(around 4-6). My method was different than yours but I can guarantee you I got almost every last bit of opiate alkaloids out of those cottons that was possible.
Also, we dont have needle exchanges in my state so I would basically use a needle until it broke(around 30 times), and I didnt usually have access to sterile supplies.....I was a straight up junky, I just needed my fix and to hell with the consequences. So, needless to say, I was constantly taking risks of getting infections, etc....allthough I will admit that I am very good at injecting and always have been. It is an extremely rare occurence for me to miss a shot, so I was at less of a risk of getting an abscess,
Anyway, my point is, when I did my cotton shots(every night for several years), I would basically just thrown all the cottons in a spoon, add about a needle and a half worth of water, and then heat it, then squish it with the needle cap, then heat it, then squish, then heat, etc...about 3-4 times. This usually made the water very dark and it also reduced the amount of the solution down to a size that could fit into one needle because of all the heating.
So after I did all that I would pick all the cottons up with my fingers(they were usually burning hot cuz I was usually to impatient to wait to inject) and then squeeze all the juice out of them until the cottons were almost bone dry.
I would then take a new little cotton piece and put it in there and suck the solution up through my syringe and then inject. It would usually get me atleast a nice little buzz.
Anyway, I NEVER got any infections or diseases or cotton fever.....EVER. And I did it tens of thousands of times. So when you say that you will get cotton fever about 5% of the time if you always filter through a new cotton and that you almost definitely will get cotton fever if you filter through the dirty cottons, I have a hard time just sitting here and not saying anything. because that either makes me an UNIMAGINABLY lucky man, or your fgures are off.
Im not trying to say that shooting cotton shots are safe, or that my method is safer than anyone elses, but I am saying that you seem to be making the risks of doing a cotton shot out to be a bit more dangerous than they really are. No offense, its just I have also known many people who injected just like me and did there cotton shots just like me for very long periods of time, and sometimes in even more dangerous ways, and none of them have gotten cotton fever either, or any other complications.

But please, anyone who reads this, dont think that im saying that this is safe...it is most definitely not, I just wanted to be completely honest about what risk you are taking if you do choose to do a cotton shot.

 

[Captain.Heroin]

It might have something to do with the sterility of your heroin, and the way you store the cottons. Also, probably if the water you use is clean. Or, you may be ridiculously lucky.

 

[jamesBrown]

It might have something to do with the sterility of your heroin, and the way you store the cottons. Also, probably if the water you use is clean. Or, you may be ridiculously lucky.

when i said i was a hardcore junky...i meant it. i would even sometimes use toilet water at a gas station. And my heroin would come from different people depending on the time period so it wasnt like I was using one kind of somewhat "sterile" heroin, and I would store my cottons by just putting them in a plastic baggie and letting them sit there until I used them. On some occasions, I wouldnt need them for days because i had enough money for more brown, so they would just sit there, sometimes in the sun and heat, and then i would eventually use them. So trust me, I was being EXTREMELY wreckless. I was the definition of what NOT to do when using heroin.

But like I said, I never got any complications. And given the amount of times i injected, the odds of me jsut being "extremely lucky" are just to small for me to believe. I believe I was somewhat lucky, and also, shooting cotton shots isnt quite as dangerous as its made out to be sometimes.

 

[homeydontplaythat]

this is a harm reduction site. not a guide to using drugs to get high. sure the latter happens but its not a priority over the former. so what the fuck did you expect as far as replies? just wade through them and take what you can.

as per the question. just use a spoon and warm water. mash em draw and shoot.

i will say this, i have gotten FUCKING DEATHLY SICK from shooting cottons. generally you need to smell any old rig or cotton. if it smells like mildew you are gonna get sooooooooo fucking sick. i mean its waaay worse then being in wd.

one time i thought i was actually dying. i puked on the floor and staggered to the bathroom and had liquid shit coming out while puking at the same time. my head hurt so bad that i was crying. i was so cold that my teeth were chattering. my back was aching from my muscles spasming. oddly, cotton fever IS exactly what dopesickness is portrayed in the movies.

anyone that has never gotten sick from heroin thinks of people becoming violently ill. in my experience i never got so sick that i was shitting and puking at the same time and convulsing and crying. i mean..ah fuck it. i dont care. im not a junkie anymore. i dont use needles anymore. i do feel for you man. its a horrible life. just be lucky you are not homeless in downtown LA and developed PTSD from being raped. be fortunate you are not paranoid from meth and dont feel safe and yet have to sleep on the street. i knew a guy that went through all that. he looked kinda like me too...wait.

 

[candycandy]

I honestly have never gotten sick doing cottons, and I've done cottons countless times... I've almost always saved cottons (got the tip from an old hand friend early in the game.) I did store them in a cool & dry place and heated them up before doing them. I know this is a harm reduction site so I guess I shouldn't recommend it... but that's my experience.

 

[macbrown21]

If I haven't thrown a couple out and I've been desperate...
I'll add water and try to get everything outta them. Then squirt it up my nose, not shoot them in my arm. Pulled me outta WDs 2 times I did it, I could never stick that dirty solution back in my arm

 

[fryingsquirrel]

I know I'm just a greenlighter, so my opinion might not count for much, but I lurk these forums quite a bit and I see this sort of thing happen in A LOT of threads. If someone's going to do something that's been established as detrimental to their health they get chewed out, which is somewhat understandable as this is a harm reduction site, but this guy said he was going to do it despite the risks and he just wanted to know the best way to do it. Now he knew, and we all knew, that he was still going to do it even if we said cotton fever a million times, so wouldn't it be more so in the interest of harm reduction to give him suggestions on how to clean out old cottons in the least harmful way rather than just say the same risks over and over that he acknowledged understanding in his post?

Once again, I'm kind of an outsider looking in, so this is just way I've noticed things happening and why I disagree with the way things are happening.

Post count is not a substitute for post quality, but the warnings are less for the OP (who did his shot already anyway) than for the many others who will read this thread and likely never post at all. I wish I'd realized what could happen before I got cotton fever. I wasn't even dopesick, just careless. Going through that while also going through WD's is something I don't even want to think about.

 

[RidingtheBrownline]

I have always left my cottons a lil wet and saved em and always get high if not really high off about 7 to 10 cottons.

I just throw em in my can, add 150-200cc of water, heat it up really good, end up with about 120 to140cc, throw in a new cotton, suck it up, then squezze out the cottons, throw new cotton in and suck that up, resulting in 2 shots or one massive ones.

and i have never got cotton fever or and infection in the 3 years i been doin it.