Cotton Fever Question

[Junebaby850]

My bf and I have both had an unfortunate run in with cotton fever. Luckily we have both only had the experience one time. And as anyone who has gone through this horrific experience knows, once is enough. We have always used fresh q tips to shoot H. We do tend to use our own rigs more than a few times. I know it's not a good idea but honestly spending the money on dope instead of new syringes is usually where my addict mentality is. And I try to clean them very well before I put our stuff up after we shoot. Now that I feel like I got my defensiveness out of my system lol on to the question...

My bf usually loads our rigs. He mixes mine for me and then he makes his and we shoot together. It's just our thing. Not really relevant... so he was the first of us to go through this. We had no idea what was happening. I thought maybe it was a reaction to the dope. Maybe we did too much or whatever and then a friend told him about CF and I had done some googling of my own and came to the same conclusion. Then last week he was laying in bed after his shot (it usually takes me longer to hit a vein) and I finally hit it and BAM I was grabbing at him for help cause I wasn't sure what was happening. He took care of me and tried to help me warm up... I was ok after a couple hours thankfully.

Ok long story short. We use the same spoon, we use the same cotton but use separate rigs. Why in both cases did it only happen to one of us and not the other? Is this rig related maybe? Whatever it is that causes this to happen could've been in our syringe, not the cotton itself? I just don't know enough about it to make any kind of assumptions. Since it happened I've been more thorough about cleaning and made sure we bought new needles. I don't want it to happen again. Any thoughts on this will be extremely accepted. We've had several discussions about it but in the end we just can't grasp it happening to one of us and not the other then vice versa. It kinda has us baffled. Thanks in advance for any enlightenment anyone can offer!

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

I moved this to other drugs for you. Stop sharing needles, and everything else. You can get free sterile equipment at needle exchanges, or just buy it.

 

[tacodude]

They aren't sharing needles.

Try buying a box of sterile cotton balls, after first opening the box put the extra balls in a plastic bag after washing your hands strerile, rip off the smallest amount of the cotton ball you plan to use, roll it as tight as possible so no fibers are loose and it's size of a ball bearing, and hopefully this reduces the problem.

Do not reuse needles as even after one time they become extremely bent and that causes it to catch cotton for sure.

 

[Junebaby850]

Thanks for moving this. Wasn't sure where to post it exactly.

And yes we do NOT share needles. We have never done that. After me getting CF we have since bought new needles. I actually just looked into the exchange program. The closest one is pretty far away from us but ty for the advice. I've read the pamphlet the pharmacy gives you when you buy syringes here and thats when I called about it.

Thanks for the cotton advice. I'll tell my bf about it an maybe give that a shot. I'm hoping we are taking the right precautions to not go through that again. Still kind of curious why it only happened to one of us at a time and not the other. I thought that was weird.

 

[tacodude]

My local exchange gives me 100 needles at a time even though it's only halfway up the block. Definitely hit up the exchange..... They should have bags of little prerolled sterile tiny cotton balls, plus sterile water packs, cookers, tie offs, and if your lucky sterilfilt pill filter tips even sterile saline water solution. Plus needle disposal bins.... Narcan too. The exchange is your friend : D

 

[Junebaby850]

Wow I guess so! I had no idea they did all that! We have to go about an hour and a half to the closest one but if it's like that it would be worth a trip every couple months. Thanks for the info

 

[SS373dOH]

You could've gotten more cotton fibers sucked up into one shot, than the other. Also plz look into a micron filter, if you're going to continue shooting, they're fairly cheap and available anywhere online. Plz for your safety, only use the needle one time! There's needle exchanges you can go to and get them for free. Here a link to see what needles look like after a few uses: http://www.google.com/search?q=image+of+needles+after+multiple+uses&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjzwpWztdDLAhXEpR4KHdINDGYQ_AUIBw



- Hopeless Soul

 

[crzydiamond]

And....you really shouldn't share the other stuff either. Sharing the same water and spoon and cotton is just as bad as sharing a needle--transfer happens this way as well


But as far as cotton fever--sometimes it's really random. I too used to use with someone and at times one of us or the other would get it. It happened with cotton fresh out of pack as well as some off a Qtip that had had cotton picked off before as well as cig filter cotton. It's basically when some bacteria your body doesn't like gets in your bloodstream and your body starts defending. But wow yeah the first time I got that splitting headache and starting violently shivering on a 95 degree day --I was freaked too

Cleanliness helps prevent it of course, but as I said it's happened with using good hygiene and fresh sterile cotton. So...you never know. Oddly, years ago before syringes were legal to buy from a pharmacy and I re-used more than I'd like to admit, back then I never got it. Fast forward to 4 years ago and using fresh stuff and there was about a month period where I had it 3 times. (I did hear that cig filters are more likely to cause it if they are Newport due to fiberglass fibers. But i dont know if that's true or some urban myth)

Anyway if you ever start feeling that telltale head ache and freezing, take ibuprofen(Motrin/Advil) immediately and drink a cup of water. And get under a big blanket. And it'll subside in about 45-60 minutes. Usually.

 

[sm0kestack]

I looked for the needle exchange in my area and could not find it. And they made it illegal to buy needles from most stores here unless you're buying in bulk. I guess I have to start buying in bulk , but I am kind of homeless so storing all the shit is difficult for me. But I am very concerned about sterility, but most of the time I am forced to reuse needles, and it sux.

 

[SS373dOH]

What area code are you in, maybe we can locate one for you.



-HS

 

[manboychef]

Bulk just means buying a box instead of a bag of needles. So instead of ten you end up with 100. It is really not that much space and it is very easy to find addicts to split the cost for a couple of bags of needles. Also, other addicts will buy single needles off of you for a dollar.

Just be careful. I have no idea of your situation.

 

[Nether Animal]

Using fresh q tips is better than the alternative, but not a foolproof failsafe in my opinion. I used to have a huge thread on cotton fever on another heroin-specific board that is no longer with us, and I've attributed it to general bacteria more than the theory that it's your body's reaction to pieces of loose cotton getting in your bloodstream. It's hard to predict. Sometimes I've felt it coming on but not reach a "head", other times it comes out of nowhere and almost totally cripples you. I wish I had a better answer. I've suffered through a couple-dozen bouts of it over the years, and I've actually had it happen once when I didn't use a cotton at all! Still, cottons seem to attract bacteria like mad if the conditions are right, so please don't make doing rinses a habit and/or reusing cottons again and again.