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Opioids *Impossible* to get a cold/flu while on opiates?

I did not have a cold or flu for years on end till I got clean, it then seemed like all the colds and flu I missed hit me at once and lasted weeks on end haha
 
I'm another witness to the lack of colds or flu on opiates. Never happened to me outside of stomach flu/food poisoning. I'm leaning towards the food poisoning since I'd eaten some dodgy indian from a place that is known to be hit or miss. I knew I took the chance, so I got what I'd deserved.

I do wonder if the elevated body temp might be a factor. One thing is for sure, this topic has been in the collective junkies' brain for longer than a hundred years. I remember reading some piece by Kipling, or another Anglo-Indian/Central Asian writer/memoirist- perhaps Richard Burton?, who'd lived in an area of India in which a small percentage of the population were chronic opiate users*, and he commented on the community's acceptance of the fact that the opiate eaters were immune to colds.

* In India and England, one could purchase bottles of opium pills for use like aspirin tabs, from the mid-to-late 1800s to the early 1900s (through WWI most certainly). Before officers would ship out to France to fight in the trenches, they would visit Fortnum and Mason's, I believe, or a similar store, and stock up on their toiletry needs, and a few bottles of opium pills were considered a necessary addition to their kit. The Opium was intended for regular aches and pains, cuts, burns, etc. outside of the morphine that the medics would inject for serious wounds. Siegfried Sassoon's "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer" (excellent book) has a couple of references to this.
 
Cane2theLeft said:
I'm not sure if any formal research has been done on this subject, but its a phenomenon that has been discussed a few times around here and nearly every respondent has the same experience. I suspect symptomatic relief probably plays a role but it seems that people are getting sick from common colds and the flu less often still. I wish I had more definitive information on this.
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I've had this discussion with many opioid users. For some reason, none of us get sick, unless we're dope sick of course.

I read somewhere that endorphins boost the body's immune system, being that we're all filling those spots with opioids, we're essentially boosting the fuck out of our immune systems. I read a paper on it, I'm going to see if I can go dig it up. . .
 
That would be interesting, and VA is one of the states where codeine is technically OTC, I've asked pharmacists and they all say that they either don't do it per store policy or they only give it to people they personally know.

(Sorry CH for derailing it, I'm actually very interested in this whole people-dont-get-sick-while-on-opiates thing) :p
 
I dont know about imposible, but for the three years or so that I never missed a day of using Heroin I dont think I was ever Sick at all....... that is exept for dope sick!
 
As someone has previously mentioned, this has been brought up in the past. Also being an opiate addice, I cant remember once being sick while high.

Now that I have been on suboxone for over 3 months, I have gotten a cold/headache/virus here and there. Since bupe doesnt make the tolerant individual "high", this strongly leads me to believe that full agonist opiates supress the symptoms.

Also, this is an awesome and very interesting topic :)
 
oi cant think of a time I got too sick whil eon opiates, then again I cant think of a time I got sick since being off opiates.....IMO i think dope is a hell of a cold remedy, watch out for Wds though, all the colds you were supposed to have will gang up on your system....
 
I actually am coming down with a cold right now the whole works stuffed up nose sore throat and I have been using every single day since last 9 months
 
yes you can get sick whilst on the gear, opiates dont prevent catching influenza or the common cold. Otherwise, science would have found a way to utilize their properities to prevent those illnesses and probably without the euphoria, the bastards!
 
I thought I was crazy or just plain missing something, but I have almost the exact same experience. I take hydrocodone and morphine for chronic pain, and I have not been sick at all the past two years. My husband, mom, sisters, and children have all had their bouts with colds and the flu, and I have been untouched. I always catch it after I am worn out from taking care of everyone else who has been sick first. My two thoughts on this were that the drugs were somehow responsible by blocking the pain, or raising my body temperature. I have been able to stop taking niacin for poor circulation because I don't get cold anymore. My other thought was that since I had a hysterectomy to get rid of one of my chronic pain sources, I no longer have anemia from the massive amounts of blood I would lose each month. Just some food for thought.
 
I know a real easy way to get a cold while on opiates, stop taking them and wait 12 hours, and voila! The sniffles will appear!
 
Actually you're susceptible to get infections abusing opioids because they impair the immune system, not strengthen. During a hardcore ride on heroin or whatever you may simply just not feel symptoms of cold/flu.
 
In my country there was a so called “pig flue vaccination”, which was meant to cover the whole population. Directions were that chronic opiate users are one of the first in line because of their lowered immunity system. Personally, I have never had flu while on opiates. I think that in most cases opiates just hides the common flu symptoms as many people earlier stated in this thread.

I don’t speak or write English very well, so excuse me if there are sentences in my posts that don’t mean anything.
 
^ Made sense to me.

So if opiates lower the immune system that makes us more likely to catch a cold or the flu, but since opiates ward off cold and flu germs that means that we should not stop taking opiates due to our weakened immune system!

Joy, Iv'e justified another reason to keep taking opiates!
 
As far as opiods (trams) go I can tell you this:

Using daily at moderately high dosages for a while now I came down with seasonal flu. This despite being inoculated, taking a multi with extra c daily, and observing proper (obsessive) hygiene.

Oh and viruses aren't afraid of me either. Maybe they like trams too. ;)
 
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