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A Lapse of Judgement
Codeine & Promethazine
Citation:   Barnes. "A Lapse of Judgement: An Experience with Codeine & Promethazine (exp34623)". Erowid.org. Jun 27, 2007. erowid.org/exp/34623

 
DOSE:
3 cups oral Pharms - Promethazine (liquid)
    oral Codeine (liquid)
BODY WEIGHT: 175 lb
[Erowid Note: Lean traditionally refers to a mixture of sprite with a prescription cough syrup containing both codeine and promethazine. See http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lean. While it is not clear what the syrup used here is, it is likely a mixture of codeine and promethazine.]

It was a Tuesday night around six-thirty, and I had met up with some friends, and we were hanging out. Shortly after arriving, I was offered a cup of what one of my friends called 'lean, mixed with sprite'. It was a purple liquid, smelling faintly of medicine, and a little thicker than soda. I was told that the friend had gotten a rather large bottle of it for free from a relative of his, and I couldn't get him to expand upon 'lean', so I assume he basically had no idea what it was.

So, it was about seven by this point, and I had established in my mind that it was probably codeine or something like it, and I knew that it was fairly safe to drink, as one of the friends that was with me had drank some the night before, but apparently just enough so that he felt 'heavy, and a little tired.'. I had more or less convinced myself that it was codeine, which I knew little more about than that it was an opiate and was found in some over-the-counter medicines. I also knew that the following morning, I would have to wake up early (Around six-thirty AM) and do fairly tough physical work on fixing a house for the entire day.

After considering it shortly, I downed a cup of it quickly, without much trouble. I figured that I had a little under twelve hours to be back in normal, working condition, and that it couldn't hurt to have a little fun tonight. I planned to fall asleep around midnight, at that point. Before this, the only drugs I had tried were weed, a few small doses of mushrooms, and an uneventful try at salvia. Anyhow, about five minutes after my first cup, I decided to down another one. So, I had chugged two cups of it, on an empty stomach. The situation and environment were both great, pleasing conditions, and I was in a pretty good mood. Well, after about twenty more minutes I had drank about a third cup, bit by bit. I figured that that this would be enough for me to definitely feel it, which is what I was looking for.

About an hour and a half after ingesting the first cup, I was feeling very chill, and sitting back, enjoying myself. I felt a little sleepy, and was generally pleased with the night thus far. Any time I got up to move around, I’d feel considerably sobered up, but after a small amount of time sitting down, I’d feel slight effects of the drug. About two hours after ingesting the first cup, I felt the same, and some of my friends had begun to disperse. I decided to catch a ride home, as it didn't seem like anything else was going to happen, and the idea of sleep seemed like a good idea, as I had a big day ahead of me.

I arrived at home around nine-thirty, two and a half hours after ingestion, and was feeling a little nauseous. I walked into the house, and went back to my room, feeling pretty sober. I laid down when I got to my room, and turned off the light, as I wanted to experience some more of the effects of the drink. I turned on some low music, and just laid back. Mostly I just felt much more relaxed than normal, but the nausea seemed to be getting stronger. I went ahead and shut my eyes, imagining I would probably fall asleep shortly. This wasn't the case.

After what I imagine was around twenty minutes of laying down, I decided to get online and find out a little more about codeine. Most of what I read described the effects I was feeling, and made sense. I didn't think to look for any kind of time-table, something to tell me how long to expect the effects to last for. The nausea was getting stronger, and I went to lie down, hoping to quell it. After about five minutes of laying down with my eyes closed, I opened my eyes and looked up at a poster on my wall, which began to flash different shades of colors, all fairly dark colors. After looking at it for a moment, I just sort of shook my head and laid back down. That turned out to be about the strongest visual effect of the night.

I felt like I should have been able to easily go to sleep, although it just didn't come. I was in a half-sleep for some time, but I would look at the clock very often, and time seemed to be completely different from normal. I would look at the clock, expecting to see ten minutes had passed, and it would have been three, or I'd look at it expecting only a few minutes to have passed, and it would be twenty. Finally, about one AM, I got up and walked to the bathroom. As I got out of bed, the way things looked was very similar to the way things were on the few small shroom doses I had taken - Normal, but in a slightly different perspective.

As I walked in to the bathroom, I looked at myself in the mirror, naturally expecting the sleepy, bed-headed self that I generally see when I wake up in the middle of the night. This wasn't the case. I looked like I had just drank enough coffee to jolt me for hours. My eyes were wide open, and I was shocked by the way I looked. I was starting to get very, very worried about how I was going to go to work the next day. Blowing it off wasn't really an option. The nausea was also fairly strong at this point, and I realized I had taken the drink on an empty stomach and hadn't eaten or drank anything since. I quickly went to the kitchen and drank about two full glasses of kool-aid, hoping to possibly reduce the nausea, and tried eating a few crackers, which didn't help. I tried going back to sleep unsuccessfully, and morning came.

The effects of the drug weren't worrying me, as they were small and mostly had gone away, but the nausea was really kicking my ass. We had no anti-nausea medicine that I could find, and I ended up going to work late. I spent the entire day on the verge of being sick, and it wasn't a fun time. The nausea actually persisted for nearly a full 24 hours after drinking the liquid, and now, about 30 hours after drinking it, I still haven't eaten, after a full day of physical labor. Had I been better prepared and perhaps thought more about the situation before doing what I did, I think I could have enjoyed the time, because the nausea wasn't so bad that I couldn't enjoy myself, but the thought of working while nauseous tortured my mind the whole night.

Exp Year: 2004ExpID: 34623
Gender: Male 
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Jun 27, 2007Views: 94,023
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Pharms - Promethazine (336), Codeine (14) : Various (28), Hangover / Days After (46), Health Problems (27), Difficult Experiences (5), Combinations (3), First Times (2)

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