Why did morphine welt up skin?

[opm]

Something strange happened to this guy today. He injected a 200mg Kadian (which isn't uncommon for him to do, but usually a slightly lesser amount and a different pill /brand ie. 30mg MS) and his back started to itch insanely among other areas. Itching isn't usually a prevalent side affect for him when using opiates... So he went and looked at his back in the mirror and there was raised patches all over his back causing the itch. It looked like welts almost. sort of like those tiny bumps one would get after injecting some morphine around the injection site, but on a much larger grandiose scale.

I am assuming this is something to do with histamines, and nothing to worry about; however, I am just curious if anyone knows or has any information on it to contribute.

Oh yeah if it's of any significants, his preparation methods for this particular case was like this: Crushed up beads from the capsule; Added approximately 130 units of room temperature tap water; Stirred and filtered through a Q-tip left on the stick; Injected.

Thanks.

[Markov]

Histamines yes. Allergic response - you generally get a histamine response anyway, but this sounds quite a bit more significant than that. If it happens and the person takes some benadryl and it goes away... you have your answer. BUT, it could also be a warning/precursor to a full-on anaphylactic reaction. The shot you're referring to in your post could have sensitized his system such that the next shot ---> anaphylaxis (I'm afraid you'll have to google it, I'm too eyes-half-open to go into detail, but it's bad). Kind of like how someone can have a bad reaction to their first bee sting, but the 2nd one leaves everyone asking why the person is blue.

[9177]

He could've hit a nerve.

[AGV10]

Histamine release - no question about it.

I know nothing about heroin, thebaine, ketamine, oxy or any of the other narcotics, but I know about MO and have read up everything I can on the subject for close on 10years - in particular the pharmacuetical preps that are used in commercial production. So let me add my 2 cents worth here:

Why this time a re-action, but not previously?
Well, you say he used a different tab this time round and the only plausible explination for that lies in the viscocity compound in the tab.

If you come back with both the current tab manufacturers name and the manufacturer of the tab's he normally uses, I bet you will find one significant differance. It wil be in the viscocity compound used.

You say he was using crushed up beads (meaning microbeads from a capsule) the guilty party is almost certainly a compound known as hydroxy-propyl-methyl-cellulose. It is used as a binder to thcken the overall compound mixture of the tablet and hold it together.

A short intro on Hydroxy-p-m-c.......
Hydroxy-propyl-methyl-cellulose is used to enhance viscosity in oral medications (very common) and was first used in anti-biotic tablets developed for conjunctivitis (red-eye), where it was found in some patients to complicate matters as it induced itching - the last thing you want in someone with red-eye, because what do they do" - they then rub their eye!!

In some people it can have an affinity for the H1 histamine receptor - acting in much the same way as an opiod antagonist acts i.e. causing an adverse effect - hence the itching.

To cut a long story short (excuse pun!) - tell your buddy to ask for a generic that does not use hydroxy-p-m-c as the viscosity component. No, better not - he'll just confuse the pharmacist. Best he reads up a bit on the various generics and what the are made up of, and if IV'ing then select one that does not have Hydroxy-p-m-c in it.

But their is a far greater potential hazard to using MO oral preps for IV, than the histamine release it can cause in some poeple: hydroxy-p-m-c is the primary cause of hyper-coagulation in damaged veins of drug users who extract from oral preps - because it makes things stick together: it is the number cause of thrombosed veins in drug users who IV MO extracted this way
The rule: make sure the solution has settled and never short-cut by leaving out the cotton wool when drawing up into the syringe

Take and all the best

AGV10





AGV10