Cotton Fever?

[morpheos]

A strange thing happened when I took a shot this afternoon. First, I immediately got these welts on my arm, at the site of injection but also going up my bicep about six inches. They were like hives, but huge (one of them like the size of a quarter) and itched like crazy. I didn't get a rush, but eventually did get high. The vein I was hitting was pretty small, and I guess maybe I missed the shot, though there was blood in the needle when I drew it back.

Then, about fifteen minutes after fixing, I started to feel like shit - a sudden splitting headache, dry heaves, a sudden fever. It got worse for about an hour and then I fell asleep. I feel better now, but, since I'm new to this whole IV thing, it freaked me out a little. I'm starting to think that my friend who taught me how to fix doesn't know what the hell he's doing, and I should either research more on the technique or stop fucking around with the shit. Sure is hard to think about blowing lines, though, after that rush that shooting introduces you to.
~Peace

[rcb]

Could've been cotton fever.. couldve just been shitty H. When I use dirty ass cotton.. if i get sick.. I usually get the chills, a headache... my legs start aching.. shit like that. Duno about the hives..

[SeVeN]

A strange thing happened when I took a shot this afternoon. First, I immediately got these welts on my arm, at the site of injection but also going up my bicep about six inches. They were like hives, but huge (one of them like the size of a quarter) and itched like crazy. I didn't get a rush, but eventually did get high. The vein I was hitting was pretty small, and I guess maybe I missed the shot, though there was blood in the needle when I drew it back.

Then, about fifteen minutes after fixing, I started to feel like shit - a sudden splitting headache, dry heaves, a sudden fever. It got worse for about an hour and then I fell asleep. I feel better now, but, since I'm new to this whole IV thing, it freaked me out a little. I'm starting to think that my friend who taught me how to fix doesn't know what the hell he's doing, and I should either research more on the technique or stop fucking around with the shit. Sure is hard to think about blowing lines, though, after that rush that shooting introduces you to.
~Peace

Also could have been simple histamine reaction.

[RobOC]

kinda sounds like cotton fever but it's usually got a pretty rapid onset and is fairly intense. One thing that will stop cotton fever right away is another shot, with a new cotton.

[Raz]

IN the UK, this is called a dirty hit.

Use vit C powder when cookin your gear.No more dirty hits..

[bindegal]

The first sound as some histamine thing, but the "sudden splitting headache, dry heaves, a sudden fever" is probably cotton fever.
Take some NSAID, to take the fever down. Acetylsalicylic acid the active stuff in Aspirin, works wonder. Here i DK we use something call Kodimagnyl with 500mg acetylsalicylic acid and 9mg codeine, 2-3 of them and then try to get some sleep.

[underide]

Use vit C powder when cookin your gear.No more dirty hits..

I doubt it would ever work, Raz

The exact causes of 'cotton fever' are not completely clear yet, to my knowledge.

The most prominent explanation that is mostly used now is that you get cotton fever because of bacteria that resides in cotton that you use, but that doesn't seem to always explain it.

There was one very interesting paper detailing another quite feasible theory: 'cotton fever' might actually be an internal allergic reaction. It (supposedly) happens because your immune system rejects a certain foreign particle and because of that your body goes into overdrive - you get fever, headaches and uncontrollable shivering lasting up to a couple of hours. It is almost like a mini version of your body rejecting someone else's donor organ.

People have been known to get 'cotton fever' without even using a cotton, and i'm one of those people.
It has been noted that tiny specs of cigarette ash dropped into one's shot have been known to cause all of the above symptoms. Also - old coagulated blood (when re-using your needles)

[mollywopped]

kinda sounds like cotton fever but it's usually got a pretty rapid onset and is fairly intense. One thing that will stop cotton fever right away is another shot, with a new cotton.


Cotton fever is caused by bacteria, so doing another shot WILL NOT cure it. It will make you feel better, but that is because heroin is a great painkiller.

As for the OP's question, that does sound like cotton fever. You usually get it from re-using cottons, but it is possible to get it from new ones. The hives were no big deal. Most people gte that from time to time, it is just a histamine reaction to something in the dope or water, no big deal.

[CTdopeLove]

kinda sounds like cotton fever but it's usually got a pretty rapid onset and is fairly intense. One thing that will stop cotton fever right away is another shot, with a new cotton.

This is entirely untrue. Another shot with fresh cotton may make you feel somewhat better because you're getting high and this will cause you not only to feel warmer, but will ease the aches and pains, but the only thing that stops cotton fever is time. Also, if this ever happens again, take some Tylenol or another fever reducer immediately, as it can make a world of difference.

The symptoms you describe sound exactly like cotton fever although the onset seems awfully fast (did you do another shot an hour or so prior to this?), except for the hive-like welts, which suggest a missed shot which is verified by the fact that you didn't get a rush although got high a short time after (as the dope slowly entered your bloodstream).

~CTdopeLove

[kchampagne]

A strange thing happened when I took a shot this afternoon. First, I immediately got these welts on my arm, at the site of injection but also going up my bicep about six inches. They were like hives, but huge (one of them like the size of a quarter) and itched like crazy. I didn't get a rush, but eventually did get high. The vein I was hitting was pretty small, and I guess maybe I missed the shot, though there was blood in the needle when I drew it back.

Then, about fifteen minutes after fixing, I started to feel like shit - a sudden splitting headache, dry heaves, a sudden fever. It got worse for about an hour and then I fell asleep. I feel better now, but, since I'm new to this whole IV thing, it freaked me out a little. I'm starting to think that my friend who taught me how to fix doesn't know what the hell he's doing, and I should either research more on the technique or stop fucking around with the shit. Sure is hard to think about blowing lines, though, after that rush that shooting introduces you to.
~Peace

In my experience this happens often and I thought it was from the heat, the bumps are not caused by missng, as that would be contained to the injection site. you must have been hitting a hot solution, it could have beena bit too hot. They look just like hives, I get them often but they are never accompanied by the "fever symptoms..which I have had on a few nasty occasions!"

Now the seconds paragraph of symptoms that is a little more like cottone fever, the headache, the compulsive need to shake from being freezing, muscles tighten up and your jaw tightens, you kind of convulse, then you are so hot, then cols, then hot, then cold, this also could have been just a contaminated hit, where you got a little dirt or other particle naked to the eye into your hit. Try to be very very meticulous about how you keep your equipment and also how you prepare!

The actual fever is caused not by th ecotton fibres, but the bacteria in the cotton that rapidly brings on a kind of septic shock, all of the symptoms are your body finding, isolating and attacking the foreign bacteria your body has identified in your blood stream, very nasty!

Hope you are feeling better though, Kerry

[Xavier]

whenever i feel cotton fever coming on i take a few grams of vitamin c and it does help it pass faster. also does endocarditis have similar symptoms to cotton fever?

[Chicago]

IMO, when I get the little bumps or spots on my arms or whereever I have shot up is b/c that a little of what you were shooting happend to seep out, for example some might have got at the tip of the needle while you were shooting up & that litle bit by going under your skin or threw the vein will cause your skin to look like it broke out.

I get this sometimes even when I hit it full on, but when trying to find a vein I tend to stick myself many times & when I finally regester all the blood I would have poked in & out a few times & some of the dope may have been pushed in then noticed it was making a little bumb so I had to twist the dart to make sure I was pulling a full hit of blood, so by going in & out a few times some tends to seep out to go under the skin to make this for you to break out for awhile.

I hear alot of people take a histamine after they notice this, but since I no it will go away for sure, I never bother b/c it will not kill me & the spots & bumps tend to go & never to worry.

I NEVER HAD COTTON FEVER IN 15YRS OF HEROIN OF DAILY USE...LUCKY I GUESS.:rolleyes:

[HowLongIsTooLong]

Hey,

Cotton fever is a very controversial subject around here...

From what I know it is caused by a bacterium called 'E. Agglomerans' that can reside in cotton, new OR old, or it may also be lurking in your equipment or in the dope itself. This explains why some folks get it without using a cotton...

The sickness is very fast-acting, and while another shot of dope won't *cure* it, per se, it will make you feel a hell of a lot better. The cure is simply time enough to allow the somatic reaction to subside.

I have had the hives that the OP described, seems like a simple histamine reaction; in every case I have experienced, the hives disappear within a couple of hours with no lasting or significant effects.

Don't worry so much, dude, about the fever or the hives... just another price we pay for performing medical procedures on ourselves without the proper environment, preparation, or reason.

Good luck, and try to keep your procedure clean, with alcohol swabs, new darts, etc. This will reduce the incidence of any untoward shit.

Re: Endocarditis... endocarditis has few 'symptoms' per se; when you've got it bad, you will have a low-grade fever and minor pains, but the only way it is really indicated is by excessive redness at the base of the nail bed (on your fingernails), and by tiny spots on the retina of your eye. Sounds weird, I know, but it is true shit, buddy.

D

[SpecialGuy69]

Totally off-the-wall cotton fever theory: if some idiot cut dope with a partial agonist, like buprenorphine, talwin, stadol, or nubain, you would get all the symptoms of cotton fever. The thing that doesn't make sense to me is the rapid onset- you often hear people say they got full blown effects of cotton fever within minutes of pushing the button (plunger). I've never heard of an infection developing that quick. Allergic reaction, sure, but the symptoms are a bit different (for a run-of-the-mill allergic reaction).

My theory doesn't work because if "Cotton Fever" was caused by dope cut with partial agonists, you would get it every time you shot that dope, and this doesn't seem to happen. Nevertheless, it does sound promising.

I've also heard people say its due to an actual cotton fiber going into your vein, and all sorts of less likely explanations.

Who knows...

[HowLongIsTooLong]

The thing that doesn't make sense to me is the rapid onset- you often hear people say they got full blown effects of cotton fever within minutes of pushing the button (plunger). I've never heard of an infection developing that quick. Allergic reaction, sure...

My theory doesn't work...

well, you answered your own question!! (I couldn't resist... sorry sorry sorry!!!)

haha!

D

[20Dollarholla]

I just dont understand cotton fever. I mean I understand what the symptoms are and how you end up with it, but I am wondering if some people are more susceptable to it than others. In almost a decade of I.V. use, and not being very clean until recently, I have never had it.

The hives or whatever you had on your arm sound like a histamine reaction to me, if I get a new batch or use after a long period of abstinence I get these histamine reactions. The injection site and about 12 inches up my arm will all turn into a giant welt looking thing, it always is gone in 20 minutes or so though.

The rest of your synptoms sound like cotton fever, but like I said I have never experienced it personaly so I cant say for sure. Maybe you had cotton fever and a histamine reaction ???