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Persistent cough ever since heroin near-overdose

Libby

Bluelighter
Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
2,770
Location
Outside of Society
Background -
On occasion I inject heroin, I'm pretty careful with it since I've seen documentaries and heard stories from friends about how horrible addiction/withdrawal is. I never do for more than 3 days and I have ample break to make sure I don't start to develop any withdrawal symptoms (evidence of a problem developing)the closest I've got was very minor restless discomfort in my legs for a day or too and a smoother bowel movement. I have decided even if I suffered actual pain on any occasionin there is no way I would soothe it, obviously if you don't tough it out in it's infancy you won't be able to tough it out once it's built up to the full monster and I don't want to destroy myself I just enjoy it so want to do it so long as I can get away with it without taking too great a risk.

Incident -
I slightly overestimated my tolerance level on one occasion by not waiting long enough between equal sized doses and not realizing that the latter would be slightly stronger as it was from a batch my friend cooked and she is not a novice like me so would have probably done a better job than the batch I had cooked up. (I live in New Zealand, Poppies aren't grown here and heroin isn't imported because it wouldn't be worth the risk, they'd take it to Australia instead, so junkies in my country cook it ourselves from morphine tablets/capsules using AA, an oven and household ingredients. It's not like buying heroin of the streets like overseas where you have no idea whats in it or how strong it is, your cook will have a potency relative to how many milligrams of morphine the tablets are that your using, so it was just that she must have turned a higher percentage of morphine to heroin and I had more of a mix of heroin and morphine or that I lost more of the drug by not separating enough of it from what gets filtered out).

A few hours later we were all still high and wanting to nap in bed for a bit like we enjoy. I don't remember anything, my friends told me that they woke up to gurgling sounds coming from me and recognised this as warning sign, the say I was smurfing (turned blue in the face) more than they've seen of anyone but since I was gurgling I must not have stopped breathing completely. They apparently slapped me in a few times to wake me up but I wasn't responding and they had a hard lime lifting me but they were able to wake me after body slaming my chest against in the wall in a standing upright position.
I only remember them asking me if I'm alright and I was like yeah I feel fantastic why do you keep asking me. I didn't believe them when they said he slapped me, my face didn't feel slapped. Then I went and puked a few times and started wondering if they could actually be telling the truth that I OD'ed lol.

Problem -
I've had this annoying cough ever since, 3 and a half weeks, almost a month. That's fucking ages for a cough to last! I'm not sure if I ever had some mild viral infection like common cold that caused it or if it was from whatever the gurgling was doing (breathing in saliva/water??). I didn't have other symptoms and the caugh isn't severe I just have never experienced coughing lasting longer than about 5 days before. Is this duration anything to be concerned over? I don't believe I'm sick enough to see a doctor, it feels like a mild cold, a viral ailment so antibiotics wouldn't help they'd probably tell me yep you have a cough, stop using heroin. I havn't had any more since, but I will likely feel like having a small taste when I feel my body is 100% sound again and capable of repairing any damage toxins cause.

I don't want to pay $80 for my doctor to say it's just a cough just let it run its course also you shouldn't do heroin - and labeling me a hypochondriac drug addict from now on every time I come in.

Does anyone know what the deal with this cough is? It's mostly dry ticklish but flirts just on the edge of being a productive cough, I can sort of feel like theres phlegm there but aren't able to cough hard enough to bring it up, only occasionally tiny flecks will be coughed up. I tried to google for heroin overdose and coughing but doesn't seem like it's a thing caused by nearly overdosing, just that opiates have ability to temporarily suppress coughing, I didn't have any cough the day before.

Oh and I don't smoke cigarettes or anything if anyone was going to guess my persistent cough as a smokers cough.
 
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sounds like chest infection/pneumonia. you were drowning/lungs filling with liquid. please be careful.

libby you need to report to the lounge.
 
Go on a course of antibiotics and you should be fine. You most likely breathed in some saliva or even stomach contents when you vomited while out of it. It can be extremely acidic and also likely to have burnt your lungs. Simply tell your DR you have had a chesty cough for almost a month and they won't even quiz you if you are concerned.
 
What you can do is to go to the doctor so you can get checked up for your symptom. State what had happened so the doctor can give you proper diagnosis and the treatment necessary for the coughing. I hope it is nothing serious and you feel better after. Please let us know and update us with your condition.
 
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1000 words - antibiotics only work if it's a bacterial infection and coughs are usually viral.

ilikestims - I have, I'm not doing it again until I'm better, doing drugs while you're sick is stupid it makes your body take longer to heal.

Yea I guess I'll see the doctor if it's not better by Monday. I hate going to the doctor they always tell me I'm fine and then I'm like so I just wasted 80 bucks, cool.
 
Pneumonia is usually bacterial. Even if it was initially viral there is usually a secondary infection that would benefit from antibiotics. If you are coughing up green phlegm then antibiotics will be indicated. If it is related to inhaling fluid during your OD then its unlikely to be viral.
 
Sounds like the original heroin use caused depressed breathing, which caused fluid to build in the lungs. When the lungs are depressed, pressure from the heart can cause backflow to the lungs.

The kind of chronic cough you have is, in my branch of medicine, called a residual pathogen. Maybe that original fluid build up caused lung irritation, which has lasted. Are you sure you didn't have some kind of acute cough/cold somewhere in there? Normally this kind of dry, itchy, unproductive lingering cough happens when someone had a cold with a fever, and the heat of the fever dried up the lungs.

In any case, you can hit up a pharmacy to get an OTC decongestant, or you can buy some herbs like slippery elm, mullein, coltsfoot, or marshmallow and brew them as a tea... or you can simmer them in some water for 5-10 minutes to make it strong. The first three I always use for chronic cough because it gets any leftover crap out of the lungs.

All those herbs are expectorants and demulcents for the lungs. They're also very cheap to buy. You should notice improvement within a day's use. If your cough is worse in the night, then take the tea before bed. You can add honey or a tiny bit of sugar to amplify the moistening effect.
 
1000 words - ahh I see, but I think pneumonia is like a way more serious thing than what I have.

Foreigner - yay! I shall buy these thanks so much *hug*
I don't think I had a cold but I may have had one without realizing it if heroin is a cough suppressant, as for fever well I don't have a medical thermometer, it has been fucking hot here lately though if that means anything.
 
In case anyone's interested, turns out I now have something called cough-varient asthma and it's related to allergies. It's like asthma but milder in that your bronchials aren't irritated enough to make breathing difficult just causes coughing. Treatment is the same as for standard asthma. I have inhalers now.
 
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