My First CWE - Tips and Help Appreciated

Today I preformed my first CWE on 20 x 300/15/8mg APAP/Caffeine/Codeine pills, OTC in Canada. I used a mortar and pestle to grind the pills into a quite fine powder, then dissolved that powder in hot tap water. I placed the mixture in the fridge and waited for it to become less cloudy. I then transferred the liquid into a glass through a coffee filter. Here is where my problems began.

Very little fluid flowed through the filter. It clogged quite quickly and slowed to little more than a single drip per second.
When I attempted to remove the filter holding it above the glass to transfer it into two-three more filters to squeeze out the water I spilled it all over my counter.
So I used filters like paper towels, soaking up the mixture from the counter and squeezing it into the glass.
I then transferred that mixture through another filter into another glass.
At this point I saw a lot of sludge built up on the sides of the original glass.
I scraped this off with a knife into my filter, and this time when it clogged, successfully transferred that filter into three others.
I squeezed those very tightly with my fingers against the inside of the glass getting out as much fluid as possible.
I drank the mixture. Quite bitter.

Anyhow, obviously there were some errors along the way. Perhaps I was over cautious? Earlier this week I was hospitalized after accidentally ingesting 12000mg of APAP. I didn't realize a cough syrup I was taking contained 1000mg/30ml. So I admit I am pretty paranoid about APAP at the moment. What I would like to know is the following:

1) Is my general technique sound? (i.e. Using multiple filters in the process to ensure I am not forcing APAP through the filters while getting the most possible fluid out.)
2) Was my damage control likely effective? If you do spill can you just use the filters to sop up the mess and re-filter it?
3) Any advice on how to improve the technique? I don't care much about complexity as I do eliminating as much APAP as possible. I am willing to take up to a 30-40% hit on Codeine if it means an 80-90% APAP reduction. Simplicity isn't a factor, although I would like to limit the time to an hour or two at most.

I have used up to 400mg of oxycodone at a go in the past, and tapered down to 30mg a day. I don't expect to feel much from 160mg of codeine, especially since I probably lost half of it with my shoddy workmanship. However I am feeling a bit of a tingle so I am guessing I got SOME codeine out of it.

Mods: I know there are a million threads/articles on this and we probably don't need another. With my recent APAP OD I am feeling a bit on edge and would appreciate your indulgence in leaving this open for a day or so if for no other reason than to set my mind at ease. Thanks if you can oblige!

Well i wont kill you for not UTFSE. But here: CWE Mega Thread

If you're using coffee filters you have to be patient and remember those things are fragile. Don't try and hurry the filtration process too much.

Hi there, I remember sending you to hospital! Nice to see you back and know you are okay

Coffee filters do take time - 1 drip per second can be standard towards the end.. what I tend to do is roughly filer first through some cloth (like a t shirt) to get mosy of the gunk out, the re-filter through a coffee filter. It can take a few attempts to get slick at it, but as you know too much APAP is dangerous so always err on the side of caution.. squeezing filters is not a good diea, unless you are squeezing into another filter, as it can tear or force APAP through it.

Do you know if your liver suffered any damage? If so, you really need to be extra-careful to get all the APAP out.. use the minimum amount of water necessary (as APAP is still slightly solublein water) and as cold as possible (tap is usually fine, but refirdgerated is best.)

Nothing wrong with absorbing spill and refiltering, although obviously a lot of liquid will remail in the towels, and the liquid contains the opioid.

Also be aware that caffeine is water soluble, so won't be removed by CWE!

Apart from that.. check the thread Tripman kindly linkrd you to

I am unsure about the liver damage. I have been having some upper right quadrant pain, but not continuous and I am thinking it's just my back, which tends to ache in various places from time to time anyhow. I've been checking the whites of my eyes every day since the hospital visit, and I have a doctors appointment tomorrow, so I guess I will know for sure soon.

Thanks for the replies and advice. I managed to keep the water to about 3 ounces total. It was really just the bare minimum to make a cloudy solution. When doing my final filtration and squeezing, I did transfer the filter into 3 other filters, but honestly it seems the vast majority of the particulate ended up stuck to the inside of the first glass. I am guessing I probably lost a lot of codeine to this mixture? I just scrape a fair bit out, but I didn't rinse it through a filter because I liked the look of all that gunk. Meant (to me at least) that I'd gotten rid of a lot of APAP.

I have read through the CWE megathread, but you know how it is. I am just a bit paranoid and looking for some reassurance more than anything. Thanks again!

No problem, I understand! It really is a matter of practice.. I do find the filter-through-cloth to remove the worst of the gunk, then just be patient with a coffee filter to work the best.. my approach has always been I'd rather lose yield than ingest APAP, but as you get more practiced at it you can get a high yield without any APAP except the tiny bit dissolved in the water

It will taste bitter - that is the opiate taste, yum! Paracetamol also tastes bitter, but a bit different - hard to tell apart initally, until you are used to jow they taste, so tasting the filtrate is a very unreliable of knowing if there is APAP in there or not. Unfortunately it always tastes vile! But if you coffee-filter it (ideally prefilter beforehand) and don't squeeze the filter, you are going to be fine.

If the hospital had been concerned about your liver, they should have asked you to arrange follow-up bloods with your family doctor. However, if you are getting right uppr quadrant pain I would go back anyway and get liver function bloods to be done, just to be on the safe side

Oh, one more thing - after a while coffee filters can lose some of the gum that sticks them together and start to leak (mine did after about 6 months) so try to use fresh ones or test them by running water through one - if it cascades through rather than trickling, get yourself some new ones!

No problem, I understand! It really is a matter of practice.. I do find the filter-through-cloth to remove the worst of the gunk, then just be patient with a coffee filter to work the best.. my approach has always been I'd rather lose yield than ingest APAP, but as you get more practiced at it you can get a high yield without any APAP except the tiny bit dissolved in the water

It will taste bitter - that is the opiate taste, yum! Paracetamol also tastes bitter, but a bit different - hard to tell apart initally, until you are used to jow they taste, so tasting the filtrate is a very unreliable of knowing if there is APAP in there or not. Unfortunately it always tastes vile! But if you coffee-filter it (ideally prefilter beforehand) and don't squeeze the filter, you are going to be fine.

If the hospital had been concerned about your liver, they should have asked you to arrange follow-up bloods with your family doctor. However, if you are getting right uppr quadrant pain I would go back anyway and get liver function bloods to be done, just to be on the safe side

Oh, one more thing - after a while coffee filters can lose some of the gum that sticks them together and start to leak (mine did after about 6 months) so try to use fresh ones or test them by running water through one - if it cascades through rather than trickling, get yourself some new ones!