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Misc Shivering after IV

D

DroneLore

Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 8, 2009
Messages
923
Last night I did two shots from an IR morphine pill. After each shot, I got very cold and started shivering. It wasn't terribly pleasant, but I was more concerned that the people I was with would worry more than they had to.

A friend said it might have been a 'dirty shot' (particulate in solution due to sloppy filtering on my part), but after the second one he said he thought it might be something else. I don't know though, since it only happened after I shot the morph (I was doing coke too), I think that was it. I don't think it was cotton fever, because that lasts for like 24 hours right? I would shiver for 1 - 3 hours after doing the shot then be normal. Also, the shivers wouldn't start until 5 - 10 minutes after the shot.

Can anyone offer some insight into what went on? What are some things I should keep an eye out for, in case this incident was a symptom of a longer term problem and not just a short term thing?

I have access to micron filters and will be using them more liberally from now on. I learned my lesson (if I had a nickel for every time I said that...)
 
Considering the symptoms you had seems to be a cotton fever, the few dirty shots I had always lasted no more than 3-4 hours, then I was like new. A suspect 24h cotton fever can be a serious blood infection.
Have you been clean and used new and sterile equipment ? Where you stored the pills before shooting ?
 
I shot the pill almost as soon as I bought it, but then I did a rinse a few hours later. Another hypothesis is that I was coming down from the IV coke.

To be honest I did some gross shit. The rig wasn't sterile and I could tell as I was filtering with the cotton that I wasn't doing a very good job. I was just being dumb as fuck.

Are dirty shots and cotton fever different? My experience was what you said: shivering for a few hours, then normal (well, nodding out, but not shivering). I'm afraid to look up the symptoms of a blood infection because it will just cause me anxiety. I'm pretty sure I'm OK, I just wanted some reassurance as to whether this was a serious medical issue, or just me being an idiot.
 
Cotton fever should not generally last 24 hrs, in fact someone should be worried and seek medical attention if their symptoms have not improved within 24 hrs. I'd say it's likely to be "cotton fever" or some other type of adverse reaction to something in the pills (inactive ingredient) or a contaminant.

If you're feeling normal now, not sure what you should look out for aside from injection site complications, signs of infection or other illness, as usual.

A normal infection would not come on suddenly and then resolve quickly like that.
 
I think they're the same thing, just 2 different terms, looking to wikipedia I got this :

Symptoms of cotton fever usually appear with 10–20 minutes after injection. In addition to fever, they may include headaches, malaise, chills, nausea, shortness of breath, and tachycardia. The fever itself usually reaches 38.5–40.3 °C (101–105 °F) within the first hour.
The symptoms of cotton fever resemble those of sepsis and patients can be initially misdiagnosed upon admission to a hospital.
Cotton fever rarely requires medical treatment. It will usually resolve itself within a few hours to a day. Extreme cases (particularly severe or long-lasting) can be treated with antibiotics

It's corresponding to the sickness you had ?

Also check this thread on BL: http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/threads/428437-What-is-cotton-fever
 
In my few cotton fevers I had symptoms like very high fever, starting from 38,5 C to 40,5 C, intense feeling of cold, intense shivering and shaking resulting in muscular pain expecially in my back where already I have some problems, profuse sweating and 1 got also nausea and vomit.
After 3-4 hours the fever stopped with all the correlated symptoms, I just took some paracetamol or another Otc FANS like aspirin, keeping myself well covered inside the bed and changing T shirts when too wet.

Those symptoms may mislead the doctors when checking you, so if you're at the point of calling 911 because it's getting worse or many hours passed from the first symptoms, explain clearly what you have taken by IV route and which instruments you used, maybe bringing the cotton and other instruments you used with you maybe can help identifying pathogenic agent if the situation's aggravating.

Hope my explaination helps you. If there is something not clear to you feel free to ask.
 
Sounds like good old cotton fever to me. IV use without using the proper precautions and tech is a dangerous game to play.
 
What kind of extraction and filtering method you used ?
Which non-sterile elements you used in the process ?
 
i.v. coke almost always leads to reckless intravenous practices. it's the nature of the beast. the only times I've shared needles+equipment was with i.v. coke, getting the next hit is paramount to everything, and leads to short sighted careless behaviour. it could have been a slight reaction to a germ or a filler in the pill. it was also most likely multiplied by the cocaine comedown. in the future, especially with a pill like morphine, you need to take every possible precaution, because if it's not cotton fever or infection it's pulmonary fibrosis or some other unpleasant/life threatening condition.

I feel like somewhat of a hypocrite saying this, because I don't use them myself (and I've suffered the consequences/complications many times), but you should be using micron filters if you are i.v.ing pills, especially morphine pills. there is no 100% safe way to inject drugs. the safest way is by getting sealed i.v./i.m. usp vials, prepping the site with isopropyl alcohol, and using sterile + brand new equipment, dipping a brand new needle into the vial every time. even then there are still risks. I cant give you in depth advice on using micron filters, but I'm sure Captain Heroin, the resident micron filter expert, will be able to answer any and all of your questions/

unrelated, you know what's wierd? I've injected various street drugs for 4 years and at times have used downright dirty practices including reusing needles, reusing a cooker without cleaning it, reusing cottons, using the same water source for several days dipping used needles into it (sometimes with blood on the end), taking a syringe full of semi coagulated blood several hours old and adding water and injecting, and I have never gotten cotton fever. granted I've gotten cellulitis, but for some reason if I have gotten cotton fever it was so mild I didn't notice it. I'm not saying any of this is good practice, I'm just saying you never know when you're gonna get it. I've heard of people digging used cottons out of the trash (I feel like throwing up now) and getting, but I've been extremely lucky. oh yeah and I've never had a vein collapse, closest I've come is a case of thrombosis that healed in a month. thankfully my technique and hygiene has since improved since I stopped shooting coke, but if you insist on i.v. coke (italian coke too, I can only guess at the various cutting agents mixed into that shit on it's journey through west africa, buffalo dung comes to mind) you need to be vigilant,
 
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i can say, with more experience than id like to, that this was definitely cotton fever.

ugh... when i was a noob i carelessly saved my cottons in the back of my dresser drawer for rainy days and EVERY time, got the symptoms you're describing when i would wash them.

it took awhile before i found out it was cotton fever. the first time i got it i had a friend take me to the ER. i of course didnt mention the shot i just did and they just assumed it was an allergic
reaction to some caffeine tablets i had taken way earlier at work.
But hey, they gave me 10mgs of valium and sent me on my way lol. =D
 
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