One thing that really worries me is that sometimes I am drinking 6-8 big cups of liquid and then suffering SEVERE urinary retention. I can't get a flow going for 12+ hours. Is this from thebaine? Or from more severe than usual (I don't drink water) dehydration?
interesting! i find the effect to be very much a diuretic.
do you drink much water/fluids usually throughout the day?
i tend to use quite a lot of liquid in my PST (1st wash GFJ, 2nd/3rd = water) and drink a pint or two of fluid when i dose and i usually need to take a leak pretty badly half an hour later, to the extent that i'm mindful of this when i have some before heading out.
perhaps it is a personal chemistry thing, or maybe you have been dehydrated prior to drinking it?. PST has literally the opposite effect on me - it's more like having a pint of beer or a strong coffee.
edit -- it has just occurred to me that you may be referring to that annoying opiate side effect where you try to piss but you can't push it out?! like, the muscles relax too much for you to empty your bladder? i used to have this problem but since i developed a tolerance it is no longer an issue. sometimes happens with stronger opiates though.
i've been using PST since before seeds became hit and miss (they used to
all be of very good quality - always reliable) and trust me, i've pushed it as far as you'd want to. much further, in fact! several horror stories mentioned above.
while i welcome any calls for restraint and care to be taken, you're far more likely to get
really sick for a couple of days than to drop.
i don't mean to play it down, but that's just my experience. but you're absolutely right that people should dose conservatively, dose slowly, and keep in mind that you can always re-dose. it's not like codeine where re-dosing is useless - it is very effective.
but yeah, good call on doing a first wash and seeing how you feel before downing a second or third wash. it's all too easy to assume that all/most seeds are washed and useless, but they're definitely not.
i never used to even think about whether they were good or not (between working out how to make PST in 2002 and ~2006) i just figured that poppy seeds were poppy seeds. never had dud batches, except if i fucked up the washing process. the whole thing is much more hit and miss (risky) now that you can't predict the strength. some seeds are
inactive.
but there are still plenty available that will do the job - you might need more, or just to be really economical with your method of making the tea. some are strong, but i don't think the "good" batches are dangerous, just that you need to assume that they're
all going to be good and dose accordingly.
they're nowhere near as strong as poppy pods, and i've over-done it on both.
i'm not suggesting people be complacent - far from it - but i also would hate for people to see this thread and go "oh my god, killer death seeds!"
sure, it's possible, but no more than alcohol or something. you're far more likely to get sick. i stopped drinking PST when the variability in quality came about, but i came back to it because even if it's not as reliable as it used to be, it's still fairly easy to maintain on.
i think if you have respect for the potentially heavy consequences (namely addiction and overdose), you'll be fine.